A Classic SPD story

A few years ago I had to have knee surgery. I was very nervous and preoccupied in the week preceding the operation. My 8 yo daughter, Kate, had yet another little one of her ankle strains which, thanks to her SPD, she complained about a lot. I am a physician who worked in urgent care before my kids, so I had checked it out, decided it was a minimal strain, wrapped it in an ACE and asked the school to keep her out of sports for a while.

Well, 2 days after the operation the school nurse called. The homeroom teacher had become concerned that Kate was missing so much sports and had sent her to the nurse for evaluation. The nurse said, "And I'm quite worried about Kate. When I examine her ankle she recoils, I really think it's hurting her a lot. I think you need to get Xrays" Needless to say, this fired off all my "bad mother" buttons! I realized that I might have been so focused on my own orthopedic issues, that Kate might have had a serious injury I had totally blown off. I painfully got myself off the couch, dressed and drove to the school, picked up Kate and went to the local hospital for the Xrays. Everyone there was very nice, seeing me on my crutches, but there was still a long wait after the xrays were done. Kate looked up at me and said, "Mommy--why are we getting these xrays?" I explained about the nurse's call, whereupon Kate looked at me in disbelief.

"But Mommy, do you have ANY idea how COLD her hands are?"