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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To refuse to take DS to hospital for a sprained ankle

290 replies

Paurie · 11/03/2020 10:47

He twisted it badly enough that it can’t weight bear. I’m confident it’s not broken. Strapped it up, iced, elevated - & picked up a crutch so he can be mobile without stepping on it while it heals.

School say the crutch can’t come to
school unless it’s signed off as necessary by a doctor and is fitted by a professional.

AIBU to refuse & just keep him home?

It seems really not sensible in this climate to burden doctors with signing off on a self-limiting problem that I’m confident I’ve treated correctly - and batshit crazy to take a healthy child to sit being sneezed on in minor injuries unit for however many hours it takes to be seen.

OP posts:
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7
showmewhatyougot · 11/03/2020 14:08

Yabu, and the fact you have taken him to a&e after people didn't agree with you proves it tbh. Even the hospital staff cant magically just look and guess if it is broken etc. Kids can surprise you, they can be really good with broken bones and you would never know. Some turn bright yellow and you can tell straight away it's broke, everyone is different. You seem to be angry that you have had to take him in, hope he's ok.

Theresnobslikeshowb · 11/03/2020 14:18

Me:- ‘sprained’ my ankle, walked on it for 3 days’ then thought mmmmm maybe I best get it checked. Turns out I had broke my foot in three places.

Ds1:- fell on his am. Ouch. Carried on playing. Played on the PlayStation etc no problem. Next day he said it was beginning to hurt a lot. Took him to A&E and he’d fractured his arm in two places. (Yep mum of the year wars obviously didn’t go to me!)

I think what posters are trying to say, as in my personal experience, is you don’t know and can’t be sure. So the best bet is to get it looked at.

TryingToBeBold · 11/03/2020 14:24

But, as has been pointed out, you didn't follow the NHS advice for "broken ankle". You followed the advice for "sprain", despite not knowing for certain that it was a sprain, and against the advice of 100s of posters

This. Just so it doesnt get missed.
You only assumed it wasnt broken because you didn't hear it break.

LIZS · 11/03/2020 14:30

@Porcupineinwaiting advice has changed in recent years.

chinateapot · 11/03/2020 14:34

I hope the x-ray is ok.

As others have pointed out you followed the advice for a sprain or strain - but without knowing it was a sprain rather than a fracture.

Can I suggest using the NHS 111 online symptom checker in future? I tried putting the info you shared in there and the advice was to go to an emergency treatment centre urgently (within the next hour). Which is the correct advice.

Furrydog7 · 11/03/2020 14:41

I once hurt my ankel at school and they never even made the effort to contact my mum. I was made to soldier on and i was sent to the school nurse. Anyway when i got home my mum made it clear that she was angry with the school and she took me straight to the hospital. It was only a bad sprain but the doctor said that the school nurse had not bandaged my ankel correctly. Anyway my mum decided to find a place for me at another school which was far better in every way. The school that made me soldier on with an injured ankel ended up shutting down but that's a story for another day.

firsttimemum30 · 11/03/2020 14:45

I'm a nurse and I would take him. Bit Hmm why anyone wouldn't tbh.

Porcupineinwaiting · 11/03/2020 14:46

@LIZS that was from a first aid training course in Nov '18. I stand corrected!

User12879923378 · 11/03/2020 14:52

Hi @Paurie - obviously it's going to feel like a waste of time if it's all fine, but it is better to be sure, I think, especially when you're making decisions for a child. As well as my broken wrist anecdote above, I broke my leg really badly some years ago - I had very little pain from it when I wasn't trying to move it and no one thought it looked broken, but it needed two operations to reset. So it won't actually have been time wasted.

User12879923378 · 11/03/2020 14:54

Also, you have to beware of GP parent syndrome - being the parent who's so sure that it won't be serious that you accidentally end up being the parent who leaves their kid walking on a broken bone for days. I have a GP friend and a nurse friend who are both very sensible and no-nonsense but have also both nearly missed quite serious injuries in their kids!

sueelleker · 11/03/2020 15:14

I sprained my ankle and had an X ray- 2 days later they rang me to say they'd found a fracture, and I had to go back to have a cast fitted.

user1497787065 · 11/03/2020 15:28

I thought I had sprained my ankle until I had it xrayed days later and the radiographer asked me to stay on the X-ray bed whilst she fetched a wheelchair for me! Broken, plastered, then surgery and then plastered again. I would take him.....

Willow2017 · 11/03/2020 15:30

I went over on my ankle/foot just coming off a 2" sleeper. Foot and ankle swelled up like a balloon! I couldnt go to a&e as its an hours drive away and it was late at night. Saw gp couple of days later on the monday as it was still swollen and damm sore and a lovely multicolour of bruises down to my toes, who got me to have xrays. Seen at fracture clinic by a junior Dr who decided that it was fine. Cue the consultant telling him to get another xray as it wasnt clear at all and turned out I had a fracture in my foot! No plaster or anything needed but it was strapped up properly and non weight bearing for days and I had to go back to get it checked a couple of weeks later. And otc meds didnt touch it I got stronger ones from GP.
Hopefully there is nothing else wrong with your ds but its much better to be safe than sorry, damage can be permanant if not treated promptly.

Original poster
Paurie · 11/03/2020 15:55

We’ve been.

It’s a sprain.

I am hearing all the reasons why it needed to be seen just in case.

(Though also I did follow directions for ‘what to do if you think you have a sprain’ - which is what I thought. And I did take my child into a place which was under periodic ‘violet alert’ lockdowns and ‘hazard’ stickers slapped all over the place to separate the coronavirus patients from the rest.)

But anyway. DS is well. He’s upset that nurse insisted he take paracetamol - but happy to be back home.

OP posts:
SquashedFlyBiscuit · 11/03/2020 15:59

Well done x

woodencoffeetable · 11/03/2020 16:01

good he has been seen.
and I'm glad it's 'just' a sprain.
wishing a quick recovery!

LakieLady · 11/03/2020 16:04

Take him to a&e. I sprained my ankle bad enough that it has left me with a lifelong weak ankle

Same here.

I went to A&E when I did mine, and they sent me home with a tubigrip and a few paracetamol. I would have been better off going home and getting ice on it straight away, instead of hanging about in A&E for a couple of hours.

SuburbanFraggle · 11/03/2020 16:09

@Paurie

Your thought process was flawed. You started with an assumption "sprained" rather than "could be a sprain or break". Subtle difference but important.

I could do my grocery shopping on the assumption I've won the lottery and the money's been deposited into my account.

In your case the odds were 50/50 rather than 1 in however many millions. But the principle is the same.

Original poster
Paurie · 11/03/2020 16:13

@suburbanFraggle I also assumed it wasn’t osteoporosis or epilepsy.

I rely on the advised triage to bring me to
a reasonable decision.

OP posts:
Quartz2208 · 11/03/2020 16:15

The problem is with this is that the only way you can tell with these things is an x ray

FAQs · 11/03/2020 16:18

That’s good news hopefully the school will let him back with his crutch now.

SuburbanFraggle · 11/03/2020 17:11

@Paurie

That's what I mean. You guessed it was X and then proceeded as if your guess was a fact.

You guessed it was a sprain so looked up what to do with sprains.

The correct thinking is it could be a break or a sprain. Look up what to do with sprains AND what to do with breaks.

The bottom line is that without an x-ray there was no way for you to know either way.

As you are not living in Medieval France, on Everest, in a place where you have to pay your last $ for medical care, hundreds of miles from another human etc. you go to an x-ray place i.e. hospital.

Good that you are not going into a&e for a papercut. Good that you don't want to take the piss when healthcare workers are stretched. But when you get down to it, the only way to know is with an x-ray. And unless you live above a vet who doesn't mind bending rules or have friends with strange hobbies the only place you will find an X-ray machine is a hospital.

chinateapot · 11/03/2020 17:45

Why not use the 111 symptom checker to work it out?

HappyHammy · 11/03/2020 18:01

glad he is feeling better and takes the paracetomol so that he can start walking on it.

cavalier · 12/03/2020 17:39

Always get something like that checked out !
Mine was badly swollen ankle but didn’t know if broken ... most sprains are more painful than a break so I’m told
My sprain was extremely painful but we got it checked out all the same
Rather be safe than sorry