Hellobee

On our second day during our visit to America, Olive broke her finger. I never broke any bones in my childhood, and I was a pretty rough and tumble tomboy, so I was surprised when my super careful Olive broke her finger!

Charlie was pushing Olive on a swing at the playground. He pushed her hard, she fell out, and put out her right hand to break her fall. Immediately after the fall, the ring finger on her right hand was noticeably crooked. She was crying, but didn’t seem to be in a lot of pain, so I thought her finger might just be swollen and sprained. I’ve had a lot of minor injuries in my life, but my finger never looked crooked! Some googling said that a dislocated finger would need immediate medical attention. Since it was late Saturday afternoon, all of the local urgent care centers and chiropractors (who can do x-rays) were closed. We were going to head to the ER at the nearest children’s hospital, when I found an urgent care center open the next town over.

It was an hour before closing and we were the only ones at the Urgent Care Center, so they saw us right away. Everyone from the receptionist, to the physician assistant to the doctor were so friendly and warm, they immediately put Olive at ease. Both Charlie and Olive were traumatized by getting rabies shots at the local public clinic in the Philippines, and are now terrified of needles and doctors. The experience of a friendly pediatrician in a private office in America like they had been used to is very different from getting a shot in a hectic, crowded clinic with a heavily bleeding and crying child in the bed next to you. Now Olive tries to avoid the doctor, medicine, and any kind of medical treatment, so I was really worried about her even allowing the doctor to examine her!

The first thing we had to do was get an x-ray of Olive’s finger to see if it was broken. The x-ray revealed a fracture beside the joint in the middle of her ring finger– luckily the joint wasn’t fractured as well, which would have made the case much more difficult. Though the doctor had set many adults’ broken bones, she wanted us to go to the children’s hospital to get Olive’s finger set since she had never set a child’s broken finger. Her own two-year-old daughter had badly broken her pinky finger a couple weeks prior and had it set at the ER in the children’s hospital. But when she heard that we had no American medical insurance, she consulted on the phone with the owner of the Urgent Care Center. He is an orthopedist, which is the type of specialist who would set a broken bone. He looked at Olive’s x-ray and was confident our doctor could do the setting.

The moment of truth came. Olive is completely and utterly terrified of needles now. But the doctor was so warm, friendly, kind, and shared the story of her own daughter’s broken finger. She actually convinced Olive to get an anesthesia shot! I was truly amazed. Even getting Olive to take ibuprofen is a battle!

A cold spray was sprayed onto the injection area to numb it a bit before the needle went in. We played Wild Kratts to distract Olive while the doctor injected anesthesia into her hand. It wasn’t just a simple injection though — the needle had to be moved around and injected multiple times to ensure that it got everywhere it needed to be to completely numb her finger. Olive did not like it at all and asked the doctor to stop multiple times, but she sat still and was so brave! I recently got local anesthesia myself and while I’m not afraid of needles, I know the uncomfortable feeling of anesthetic going in.

We waited a couple of minutes for the anesthesia to kick in, and then the doctor manipulated her finger to get it straight. Another x-ray was taken, and I could see the difference in the before and after. Her finger looked much straighter.

A lot is said about American healthcare because of the cost, but having experienced health care in a third world country, the quality of American healthcare is  incredible in comparison. The bedside manner of the doctor also made all the difference. I don’t know why, but the owner of the care center also gave us a $400 discount so we paid very little. Had we gone to the ER, we would have had to pay thousands out of pocket. Good healthcare is the #1 thing I appreciate living in a third world country, and having been through a recent health emergency myself, I’m so glad this happened in the US and not the Philippines.

After the initial pain after the break, broken fingers actually aren’t painful. We have a follow-up appointment at the urgent care center in two weeks to see how she is healing, but Olive is recovering just fine.