WWYD DS 4 has been limping for over 2 weeks

[nowit]

DS 4 jumped off of the back of our sofa (about 2 ft) onto our wooden floor. At the time his face went grey and he really screamed. After lots of cuddles and ice and reassuring myself that he could move his toes etc he went about his merry way, limping.

After 10 days of limping (not getting better or worse) I took him to the GP. I didn't feel as though he listened to me as I explained that DS usually runs everywhere but he isn't as it hurts. He is not crying about it but he has stopped running and jumping and is still limping when he walks. GP said it is fine, come back if it gets worse.

Yesterday we went out all day and by the end of the day DS was in DD's buggy because he found walking really uncomfortable. This morning he is weight bearing and back to 'normal' but still has a limp.

I am very tempted to take him to A&E and ask for an x-ray as it has been 16 days since he hurt it, surely it should be improving. Sorry for moaning on, just don't want to make a drama out of it, but also don't want to cause lasting damage to his foot.
WWYD?

I think as it has been ongoing for 16 days I would take him to A&E just to be on the side.

Let us know how you get on if you do take him.

Thank you, I think i will. Just concerned that we will sit there for 4 hours and then be sent home with no solution. He has amazed me with how resilient he is ( not my PFB btw) but he did cry when we left the doctors because "the doctor didn't fix my foot" :(

Go to A&E and demand request an Xray, make the request 'official' and make sure it's noted i.e written. For fear of missing/dismissing fracture or similar they will have it done.

Go to A&E - get an xray. It's Bank Holiday weekend so a GP appointment is not possible. This is not something that you should get an out of hours GP to see as he/she will probably have to send you to A&E anyway. A young person limping after a jump is not normal. It would have been ok to take him to A&E when it happened too. The waiting time for a child is much shorter - if it was 4 hours there would be an outcry!

(GP prob thought you would go back the next day or day after!)

southofthethames is optimistic (or has a better hospital near her) it is often 4 hours wait with kids here, rising to six if busy

Agree you should take him though

I'd go to A&E with that. If you go straight to A& E you'll get the x-ray results while there. If you get sent to x-ray from your GP then sometimes they insist on sending the results back to the GP first, which means a wait.
It may be just a bad twist. My ds did something similar, couldn't weight bear for a couple of days and then limped for two weeks or so. He had several x-rays but nothing seen. Then one da he managed to put his foot down and found it didn't hurt and by the next day was walking normally.

Thank you all for your responses, we did go and waited for 2 and a half hours, he had an x-ray that a consultant looked at. He couldn't see anything obvious so sent him home to rest.
He did send the x-ray over to the radiology (sp) dept who will be in touch if they find anything [buconfused] .

Please ask about Perthes Disease, causes limping in children and is a major cause of hip/knee pain. My dd2 has it - we didn't notice the limping till she had a bad fall.

There is loads can be done though not an easy thing to deal with - but worth asking if the x-ray has been assessed for Perthes (Perth-ays).

Thanks weegie, I will.

littleducks - yes, am v grateful to say we have been v lucky with 2, one was St Mary's Paddington when we were in the Big Smoke, and now with our local DGH.Never waited more than 80min. Could well change with the increasing population size though!! Or with George Osborne's cost cutting.....

I am guessing yours is a busy district hospital with a large catchment area of patients. Not v good IMO to have such long waits where children are involved. Can try and see if you can get on a patient committee (if you have the time) or write to your local MP. Some trusts are able to employ experienced drs (eg GPs) who have had a lot of paediatric experience as additional frontline drs - they can at least see patients and prescribe some treatment to relieve symptoms to get the ball rolling. Thankfully OP did not have such a long wait as feared.

OP, if pain doesn't settle with Calpol, worth asking GP for a paediatrics referral in clinic where they have more time to do extra assessments and tests. Reassuring at least that no massive fracture on xray. But don't dismiss it if pain or limp persists, as often diagnosis is not obvious on the first visit and requires patient (or family) to go back to dr. If it all settles and gets back to normal quickly, no need to worry.

My ds3 had a 'toddler fracture' last year, when he was nearly 4. He fell off the climbing frame at daycare and could not walk on it for 2 weeks, then limped for quite a while.

Nothing showed up in x rays for about 8 weeks (guessing time scales slightly, as have a bad memory, but it was certainly more than 6 weeks). There was a hairline fracture but it only showed up when the new bone grew in as it healed - the new bone was visible on the x ray.

The consultant said it is quite common, lots of little kids get it, hence the name and that it is often never noticed until years later when they are x rayed for something different.

Good luck.