Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Clinical Diagnosis

We took Celeste in for a post-ER follow-up with her pediatrician and he dubbed her "weird." I think he meant it in a good way, but we'll find out over time.

After bending and twisting her wrists, elbows, and shoulders and having her pull/push her arms away, he said that while there wasn't any swelling or signs of problems with the arm, the left arm did seem weaker. Probably it's due to residual soreness from the elbow subluxation, but he wanted us to watch her for signs of favoring one arm over the other.

Evelin noted that Celeste tends to color with her right hand, and that she seems to be right-handed. I countered that she tends to eat more with her left hand. The doctor said handiness usually doesn't affect arm strength at this age.

He also said that some kids will show similar favoritism in walking/leg use. While talking about that, I mentioned that Celeste sometimes walks with her leg stiff and kicking it out to the side à la Frankenstein's Monster or something. Evelin noted that it's always the left leg that she does this with. The doctor thought we were joking around, until Celeste demonstrated for him. He seemed a little stumped for a moment, and then declared her "weird" and compared her walk to Charlie Chaplin. I noted that she was a comic genius; the doctor said "It's been done before." I suggested no more Monty Python for Celeste; the doctor agreed.

All in all, it was a fairly odd visit to the doctor, but we did come away with the warning that since Celeste seems to have loose joints, she may have future cases of elbow subluxation, so we have to watch out for that. It was also good that Celeste got to have a doctor's visit without shots (especially since her l8-month checkup involved three vaccinations to make up for the ones she didn't get at her 15-month checkup because she was sick ...)

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