Gabriela's Accident Update

Thursday I took her back to the Dr. The Dr that she had seen on Monday was not there so she saw her other Dr. Gabriela was horrible from the time we stepped foot out of the house. I had to struggle to get her belted in and pop her leg with a spoon twice. We get down Tenant Rd. and she is screaming because she has gotten her leg stuck outside of the seat belt. I have to pull into a driveway and fix her. All this time she had no idea she was going to the Dr.
This picture was taken when we parked at the Dr.'s office. I wanted to get a picture of how she was crying and throwing a fit BUT when I pointed the camera she SMILED! Rotten child!



Once she saw we were going to the Dr she was calm because she had wore herself out in the car. At least until the Dr came in. Of course she was bandaged and we had to take them off. She screamed and trembled. She did not want to be in this Stupid place. They had to soak her hand in some water or I had to hold her hand under water while she screamed. I think she just likes to scream. I think she was OK with her hand in the water she just wanted to throw a fit and call everyone stupid.

The Dr wanted her to start Whirlpool Therapy on her hand to clean it. It is also a necessary procedure to relax her muscles and get her back to moving it, since she has her wrist flopped down and will not move it or her fingers. I asked if she thought it was broke. She said well if we did not have an X-ray then we need to do that ASAP. The other Dr did not want to X-ray it until Friday when I was supposed to see him. So we need to get X-rays but not before:

On top of this trauma she was due for her 4 year old shots and the Dr insisted on doing it today because it included her Tetanus. So as they are preparing for 5 shots she is still screaming from the bandages being removed. I asked for some Motrin. The nurse assured me she would get her some. I had to hold her and rock her so she would calm down and this was before the shots.

Once the nurse came in with the shots she went ballistic again. I told the nurse that she is strong and she may need to get another nurse in here. The two of us tried to hold her down but were unsuccessful. She left the room to get another nurse. Gabriela, while investigating her leg for holes, says "she tried to stab me with that shot". (She is so funny even in distress!).

She was stabbed 5 times and then they sent us for X-rays. Note they did not re-dress her hand so I was able to snap this picture.



DO NOT GO ANY FURTHER IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH!!













It looks pretty bad, but this is SO much better from what it looked like a few days ago.

The Radiologist did get us in pretty quick even though I had to fill out paperwork and wait for them to call the Insurance Company. And since we have a $7000 deductible we have to pay out of pocket. The Dr wanted wrist and hand views for my cost was $80 which she said I could pay before I leave.

Gabriela did pretty good for the X-rays she just freaked out if she thought the technician was going to touch her hand. Upon leaving the receptionist stated that the technician did not do separate wrist views because Gabriela's hand was small enough to get both at once. Thank God it only cost me 1/2 as much.

We were back to bring the films to the Dr and get set up for whirlpool therapy. There were no obvious breaks in films.

Gabriela freaked out when they had to put gauze over her hand. And the nurse finally remembered to get her some Motrin. Which I had to fight with her to take. She still does not understand that this makes her feel better. We did get a therapy appointment for a couple hours later. We were off to lunch at Burger King (Gabriela's choice). We went in and the lady at the door gave her a crown. How lovely! She could not sit still to even eat. She ran all around and climbed on the cabinet to the drink machine. You know like the kids you can not stand when you are in a restaurant. What could I do? If I correct her someone would be there to scold me and it was obvious from her bandage that she was hurt. But her actions said the injury was not holding her back.

This picture is the afternoon before the Dr visit. She has also been jumping on the trampoline and climbing cabinets. She has found her way around without even using her wrist.


While at Burger King I received a call from one of the nurses. It appears that my health insurance believes that whirlpool is an unnecessary and unproven procedure and it is not covered. However since my deductible is SO high it does not matter. I think therapy may cost a couple hundred dollars for the evaluation and maybe $75 dollars for the whirlpool treatments. I do have an idea of what workers comp would pay considering my experience.

Well can I tell you I was in for a rude awakening! They were going to charge me $400 for the evaluation and $200 for each treatment which the Dr said needed to be done daily. They had already called the insurance and was told that I had a high deductible which was not met so this would be out of pocket. The receptionist, she asked "did you know it would be this much?" Are you kidding, "No". She says we could work out a payment plan. And we could waive the charge for the dressings. Oh how sweet. Well I think we need to go ahead and at least try it, since she is not moving her hand at all.

20 minutes later, after Gabriela is climbing the walls, they come out and explain to me that they think the procedure is going to be more than once and that the OT would like for the PT to the procedure. The PT was not in so the gave me an appointment for Friday. They told me that the PT was not yet certified but she was really good. I think they just did not want to have to charge me for an OT, so OK!

We were off to Wal-Mart because Big Daddy promised her a prize. Her shopping was more of a nightmare than her hand. I want this, no I need this one, maybe I could look around some more, no put this back, I don't want that one, open this so I can see, Let's go back to that 1st one...again. Then I was going to get her a movie from the Red Box. Well she dropped her bag and was headed to the parking lot while I was occupied with the Red Box. So I stopped the transaction and picked her up screaming and throwing a fit and walked back to the car. Where I popped her leg again for throwing a fit. No movie for bad little girls, we are going home.

Back to therapy on Friday, Gabriela threw a fit trying to remove her bandages. She threw the toy they gave her to play with, her shoes, and ugly stupid words. Turns out that removing the bandage did not even hurt. But they did promise her brownies if she was good. So on to the whirlpool. She freaked out again and I had to hold her hand under the water. They decided to play Dora Candy Land while she whirl pooled. This got her mind off of the whirlpool. She won at Candy Land, did I mention that the OT was also there and played Candy Land with them.

The unofficial PT ordered gauze and non-adhesive dressings for the other PT's there and she dressed her wounds. This was about the only thing she did besides play Candy Land. Need I remind you they told me this was a $400 charge. Anyway the were to bill the Insurance company first and hopefully they will reduce the charges that I will have to pay.

Amy says I should get my own whirlpool like the one's for your feet, since that is all it does and do her therapy at home. So I am off to find a Foot Whirlpool, if I find one for less than $100 I will gladly call and cancel further therapy sessions.

Wal-Mart carries this one for $29.84 and has 7 spa setting which include heat, vibration, bubble and jets. I am so off to Wal-Mart!