My seven year old daughter broke her hand last year. I was on holiday with a friend at the time. She's a nurse. She immediately inspected it, and after the initial tears, DD could move her hand normally, had no obvious signs no bruising etc. So she ran off and continued playing quite happily. Thought no more about it.
Later on that evening, she started moaning that it hurt, but not in the same place where she had hurt it, so I didn't think much of it gave her calpol and sent her to bed.
By the next morning, it had swollen up and I took her to A&E where she had indeed fractured it. But even then, the doctors didn't think she had because she couldn't identify where the pain was (she said it hurt where she hadn't hurt it iyswim). Then she had to answer some questions by the doctor and they were totally inaccurate! I know because I was there . I think it was the way the doctor asked the questions that made her give the wrong answers. I looked awful, going "it wasn't quite like that".
Children cannot always be relied on to give an accurate account of what happened, especially in stressful situations.
Although that's not my worst, with my eldest I missed a fractured ankle and she did tumbling on it for a week before that fracture was diagnosed. Turns out she has a very high pain threshold and so did not present the usual symptoms. The nurse at the hospital poo pooed the idea of it being fractured, and only did the X ray because I insisted. With DD1, the pain came and went, and was more like an ache than anything else. Everyone thought she had sprained it. (Me, two nurses and a first aider)
Whilst dealing with one of her fractures, we discovered that it was highly likely that DD1 had fractured her ankle previously too. That had never been diagnosed, despite taking her to the doctors. But he had dismissed it because she couldn't identify the exact time it had happened, and passed the normal checks. She was 7 at the time, and wasn't able to give an accurate account of what had happened, or the pain. Turns out her very high pain threshold means she didn't present in the normal way, so it was overlooked.
When she fractured and dislocated her elbow, I was called because it was dangling at a very peculiar angle. So DD just popped it back into place. When I got there, she was fine. Everyone was amazed because she hadn't screamed, she hadn't cried out, she just Got up, looked at her elbow dangling at an awkward angle and popped it back in. She didn't even bother to tell her gym coach. However, another gym coach spotted her, and so she got the first aid. They asked her if she was going to tell her coach, and she just replied "yes, I would have done". Another girl went green looking at the funny angle DDs arm was at . When I arrived, I gave her calpol and drove her to the hospital. It wasn't until a good couple of hours later that she started complaining about the pain. At the time, she hadn't cried or anything. If it wasn't for the fact that she had dislocated it, I wouldn't have thought to have taken her to the hospital. She was in a cast for weeks after that one!
The pain does not always present itself immediately, and children cannot always give an accurate account of what happened.
I think I ought to shut up now, before someone calls social services on me!