A Trip To The Doctor's, or, Why Mamas Don't Post Everyday...

Kokuwagatamushi (Small Stag Beetle)...

Sometimes kids wake up with the *weirdest* afflictions.


Koshi woke up Friday morning... and laid in bed.  I nagged him to get up and get dressed.  He continued to loll.  I nagged.  He lolled.  He finally made an effort to put his clothes on--while moaning that his leg hurt.  I assumed he'd just slept on it funny, and it would be fine if he just got up and got moving.

Nope.  Crimping and hopping down the hall, then back to bed.  Koshi is my Drama Kid (when he was a baby and a toddler, he had two levels of crying:  "Call 911" and "Asleep".  Nothing in between-- so I feel my initial skepticism was justified;-)).  I checked the calendar to see whether there was anything going on at school that he didn't want to do.  Nope.  I finally told him he could stay home for an hour and go later to school, thinking that surely his leg would miraculously feel better if he got to stay in bed a little longer.

I walked the other kids up to school, and found a cute little Stag Beetle on the pavement on the way home.  I picked her up and put her in the camera bag, sure that an adorable Beetle represented an Instant Cure for Mysteriously Gimpy Legs.

Consultation and an xray for twenty bucks

No such luck.  So, around eleven o'clock,  we got on our bicycles and went to the hospital (I figured he'd need to be seen by the Seikeigeka--the orthopedic surgeon--and would probably need an xray, so the pediatric clinic was out).  We waited about half an hour before seeing the doctor (no appointments are necessary at hospitals or clinics--usually only the dentist requires an appointment).

He did need an xray, and so I learned more new words-- pelvic bone (choukotsu) and femur (daitaikotsu), joint inflammation (kansetsuenshou).  *Sigh*.  The things I learn at the hospital...  Some water in the joint, apparently--though for no readily apparent reason (*possibly* a cold virus or bacteria that had made its way to the joint).  The cure?  Rest.  No running.  No jumping.  No playing.  No exercise.  No baseball.  No walking.  At all.  For three days.

The follow-up visit... get a real health care system, America

I spent Saturday, Sunday, and Monday alternately entertaining and attempting to sit on my most energetic child.  By Saturday, most of the pain in his hip joint was gone... and he wanted to play.

No, honey--no playing.  Rest.

"Tsumannai!"  (bored)  "I can't help that, sweetie.  The doctor said to rest, or your leg will keep hurting and you won't get to play baseball all summer.  And the growth plate on top of the leg bone could get damaged.  No growth plate=short leg forever."  That worked for about ten minutes.

Monday I had to keep him home again, because he still had some pain if I moved his leg outward.  So it was back to the doctor for a follow-up visit (which was very inexpensive, as you can see above-- 360yen, or about $3.60.  That's right.  Three dollars and sixty cents.  I simply do not understand the current "debate" in the United States over health care.  We can provide eighteen years of public schooling for children, but not health care?  And can anyone explain how my paying $3.60 for a follow-up visit represents a loss of medical freedom or a "nanny state"?  Surely it is Americans facing bankruptcy due to crippling medical debts who are experiencing a loss of "freedom"?  I just don't get it...sorry.  Rant done;-))

We love our Very Small Beetle:-))

Koshi did get to go back to school today (thank goodness--I'm not sure I could have taken another day of enforced rest for a kid who is not sick), but the Re-injury Warning is still in effect.  No exercise, no gym class, no pool, no baseball, no playing outside during recess, no running in the halls.  Walking only.  I had to call his teacher this morning and apprise her of all this-- so now she can have *her* hands full:-))  Only one more week, then we're off the hook as long as there's no pain.  One more week.

Mata asobou, ne!