Thursday, January 06, 2011

Kyra's Cool Party Trick

I took Kyra in for a doctor's appointment yesterday because she's going on 8 months of complaining off and on that her back hurts.

The issue was addressed at her 5 year check up last fall with nothing found physically wrong.  Shortly after that visit she stopped complaining, but the whines, cries and tears have been back for a few weeks now.  So in she went.

The doctor started off by doing all the normal pushes, prods, finger feels and eyeballing you'd expect.  Upon finding nothing physically wrong, he started discussing x-rays to see if we can find something amiss that way.  Then, as a last ditch effort he asked her to stand up strait and square her shoulders off so he could get another look.

And that's when we both saw it.

Kyra's right shoulder blade points out.  Directly at you, person standing behind her.  Clearly not matching her left side.  Different, to say the least.

He came around to her front and started talking about possibilities of a loose tendon or this medical jargon or that medical jargon.  And then Kyra, standing there, listening intently to all of this, started to POP HER SHOULDER IN AND OUT OF SOCKET.

I know.  Creepy.

It's like a weird trick you show your friends during a night of drinking.  Hey!  Look at this really cool and gross thing I can do with my shoulder!

Kyra's standing there, left arm wrapped across her stomach, right elbow resting easily on the left hand, right hand tucked up under her chin, POPPING HER SHOULDER IN AND OUT OF SOCKET.  Like it's nothing.

It's just another Wednesday, people, why are your faces contouring like that?

While the doc stands there, dumbfounded, I start asking Kyra questions.

Can you do that with the other shoulder?  No
Does that happen all the time?  I do it when I'm trying to go to sleep and get comfortable.
How long have you been doing that?  **shrugs**
Does it hurt? No.

The doctor regains his composure and asks her to swing her left arm around in a big circle.  She does, with no unusual consequences.  He asks her to do the same with her right.  She puts her arm strait up in the air, swings it forward, down and on the way back up her shoulder makes this weird movement while her arm, instead of going behind her, takes a right turn to the side as her elbow bends to bring her arm back strait, above her head. 

We're still not sure why she's complaining about her back.  Doc says it's not growing pains and children this young should not have any reason to complain about back aches.  So he's concerned.  But this shoulder trick apparently trumps a back ache.

Kyra's been referred to see an orthopedic doctor to find out if this is something that needs fixing or if its something she'll grow out of.  Whatever it is, its weird.  I wish you all could have been with me to see the doctor's face.  Clearly he was not expecting what he saw.

On our way out of the office, he shouts to us, "When you see the orthopedic about her shoulder, mention her back.  Maybe the two will correlate."

I wonder if that's wishful thinking on his part or a last minute Ah-ha! moment.

3 comments:

  1. uh, yikes! i wonder if her complaints about her back hurting are actually in reference to her shoulder blade not sitting right and that's where it really hurts? just a thought ... hope it's nothing major!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Maybe. Who knows. She told the doc that it was her spine that hurt her. But that could be because it's the only part of her back she knows the exact name of, too? I don't know. I'm hoping the shoulder thing will be something as simple as "she'll grow out of it" but then that still leaves me wondering about her back bothering her so much. Double edge sword. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Whoa! Weird. Poor thing, having back aches so young. Hopefully nothing serious but quite strange to watch I'm sure. I was thinking the same thing Joelle said. Hopefully there is a link and it is something she will grow out of.

    ReplyDelete