<p>Moved D into her dorm last week, and on the third night, she injured her ankle in a frisbee game. Swollen three times normal, blue-black and unable to hold any weight, and it's Sunday morning- Health Service is closed on the weekends. We have "after hours" clinics for injuries and sudden illnesses at home, but none of the older students in the dorm knew of any such place near the campus. D knows that the insurance policy her father has her on has huge co-pays and that, combined with her dislike of hospitals, makes her reject the idea of an emergency room. A look at the web site for the Health Services showed that she could make an appointment on line, except that when she tried, the system refused to co-operate because D had not been there before, therefor, she wasn't in their data-base! Monday morning, classes begin and her ankle is even worse. She has a 7:30 class so then calls for an appt when class ends and the clinic opens. According to helpful person (NOT) who answers the phone, they are all booked up (?!) but someone could see her at 2PM. Now, D was born under the motto, "the show must go on", and such an appointment would mean that she has to miss the first session of a new class. Not an option for D , but she countered with, "could (she) come in right after class"? Nope, according to the receptionist, such an injury is really not an emergency ( and, by now, I hope you, like me, are wondering just how "emergent" all of those other appointments which have taken up the entire day, are?), but the NP could see her (D) the next day at 2PM!! Now we have all heard about "helicopter parents", but I am getting a bit hot under the collar and want someone to rustle up a set of crutches for my D, who is really in pain. I'm calm and polite and the staff at the school is understanding and do their best to help, but there is no prying a set of those crutches from the clinic until D is seen there! My poor D calls and tells me she is starving and her friends were told that they couldn't take a meal out of the dining hall, but, luckily, I had sent her a goodie package which arrived in the nick of time, so she didn't have to go without. She finally gets to the clinic this afternoon and they promptly pack her off to the hospital! The MD there suspected a fracture, but the ankle was so swollen that it was hard to tell for sure, so they settled on treating it as a Level 3 sprain and damage to the Achilles tendon. She is on crutches and will be for at least 2 weeks. I knew I included thos bottle of Advil for a reason!!
I know that it is hard to leave your kid at college and I was expecting it to be difficult, but this has gone too far! I know I've never read about anything so crazy- does anyone else have a story to share?</p>
<p>This isn’t so much about the school as my son’s decision making prowess. First semester sophomore year he and a buddy were in a terrible car accident, the car flipped over three times! He said he was fine. A little later that evening he had a fraternity meeting, he wasn’t there 5 minutes when some of the brothers noticed he didn’t look to good and took him to the emergency room. Why when all of the police and the EMTs were there at the accident site didn’t some one take a closer look at him? Why didn’t my son say he didn’t feel to good? As far as the school is concerned, someone in administration heard about it and went to his dorm to check up on him, I was pleased with that. </p>
<p>Mezzo’sMama I hope your daughter recovers soon!</p>
<p>First - I’m so, so sorry! Sounds like your daughter has a pretty high pain tolerance and I swear health centers won’t take them seriously until they bring their limb in under separate cover!!! The other thing that’s a real shocker is that once your child is 18, no one is allowed to give you information.<br>
Where’s the RA? Have they been any help at all? He or She should have at least taken care of the food aspect - that’s why their room and board are paid for.<br>
On the other hand - Level 3 sprain with Achilles tendon damage - you’re looking at 6 weeks, not 2, for a full recovery. My D wore an ankle brace for competition for 2 years following that type of injury. Again - I’m so sorry…</p>
<p>Oh my!! Hope she remembers to rest that leg and doesn’t push it. Any you’re right…it would be worse if she were a dance major…or drama or MT…or PE.</p>
<p>Oh dear, sprains are worse than breaks. At least with a break you get a cast, sympathy and mandatory rest. A sprain people tend to try to get back on it too fast and re-injure it. No one wants to believe a sprain can take longer to heal than a break. She should go to disability services right away. They should help arrange for transportation to her classes and extra time and support to get around. </p>
<p>It tugs so at your heart to not be able to rush in and take care of them, too. I hope she recovers quickly.</p>
<p>MM…does this give you an reason to go back and visit her :)</p>
<p>sorry to hear what she is going through…at least the music building is close to the dorm…how are the rest of her classes situated? And of course the cafeteria…</p>
<p>Not a student story but maybe an idea . . . My husband stretched/ripped (I can’t remember which) his achilles the first day of our ski vacation. As an unsympathetic bystander, I made him ski anyway - every day. What we found is that the ski boot really protected him and he had absolutely no pain. However, as soon as he came home and put on a regular shoe and walked, he really screwed it up and was messed up for 8 weeks.</p>
<p>“I know I’ve never read about anything so crazy- does anyone else have a story to share?”</p>
<p>Sorry Mezzo. I have you beat. Long story…short> Hurricaine Katrina came by on the first week of Sophomore year, wiped out D’s apartment and all possessions AND forced her to find a new school, teacher, living situation and scholarship in one week.
To top it off, she fell down some stairs the first week of the new school and threw her shoulder out. Don’t fret----all this builds character (yours and hers)</p>
<p>Yes Musica…I do believe that tops Mezzo’s…although doesn’t make her situation any less stressful 
How did your daughter survive the change. Was she happy with her new…although…forced situation:</p>
<p>I was in nursing school at the time…we ended up getting a Katrina student…all the way in Kansas city</p>
<p>I’m not discounting the stress that I am SURE MM has over her D’s injury–on the contrary–I understand it completely. But this stuff happens one way or another to every student and it is actually a good thing to survive it that first semester. I really believe it helps parents realize that their kids are much more resilient and independant than we give them credit for.
D survived just fine. She refused to come home when she evacuated, because she felt it would be a sort of defeat. After a few days of frantic calls, she had some fabulous offers from a few extraordinarily generous schools.The new school she chose even called donors last minute and offered her a few scholarships. The storm was definately what might be called bad luck, but in the long run it helped her learn that the harder she worked the luckier she got. She is now beginning her MM — paid for by several fellowships. She knows that since she beat the big “K”, she can do ANYTHING.</p>
<p>Musicamerica: I have only one word for you and your daughter: WOW!!!</p>
<p>And not to scare anyone, but given the impending spread of H1N1, it is probably a good idea to have your students review your schools health care system before hand. I think Mezzo should find comfort in that fact that her daughter now knows how her schools system works (or doesnt work 
)
I remember when D had a nasty virus her first semester. If it wasn’t for her voice teacher, who sent D to her own doctor, I don’t know WHAT would have happened. D’s room mate caught the same thing and ended up being carried off by paramedics with a 102 temp and delerium.</p>
<p>Musica…glad to hear of the happy outcome for your daughter!</p>
<p>Believe me…I had thought of the H1N1 problem…they don’t have “health care system” at her school…so she has already established herself with a local doctor in case she needs to get into one fast…Now the health care system at my other daughter’s school is not great…but at least she is closer and I can get to her if need be</p>
<p>I’ve sent my daughter a little first-aid and minor ailment kit with some pain reliever, sinus med, gastric distress relief, that sort of thing. You all are encouraging me to pack up the crutches in the basement and my old wheelchair from my Jones fracture of a few years ago! I think I still have some saline solution and wound packing material around as well…</p>
<p>Seriously, the stories are scary, but they’re encouraging, and I agree that our kids are fundamentally strong and resourceful creatures or they wouldn’t be where they are now. Still, and without becoming a helicopter mom, one does wish one could kiss all of the owwies away.</p>
<p>Good idea about the doctor. It’s MUCH easier to be seen right away as an established patient. MSM doesn’t really have a health service either. Maybe I’ll encourage her to get an immunization somewhere first, just so that she can be that established patient if/when necessary.</p>
<p>If you daughter has a severe sprain, it is going to take more then a few weeks to heal. I badly sprained my ankle when I was in college,playing football in East River Park in NYC, and then proceeded to walk back on it to my </p>
<p>dorm, which was in central Greenwhich Village, a pretty hefty walk. To make a long story short, I was on crutches for 3 or 4 weeks, and then it took me 3 months before I could walk on it properly… the standard treatment is to keep weight off of it as long as possible, but of course getting around to classes, etc make that difficult. </p>
<p>I am surprised the health service didn’t consider that an emergency, since she could have fractured the ankle or worse and sprains are pretty nasty. When I went to school at NYU back in the dark ages of the early 80’s, you could drop in when sick or had something like a sprain or whatever…</p>
<p>And yes, our kids are a lot more resilient then we give them credit for, once we become parents we seem to forget what we survived growing up:).My wife went through that when my son started going away to summer festivals, but he survived…</p>
<p>I would talk to your daughter about when to bite the bullet and make that hospital trip, despite high copays. Ankle injuries can be serious and quick treatment can be better than delayed treatment. This is talking as a Mom of an accident prone daughter who broke one ankle in 3 places, requiring surgery. The surgery was delayed because the hospital misdiagnosed it and by the time an ortho saw her the bone had started setting wrong. It would of required surgery whenever it was diagnosed (part of that sticky out bit on the inside of the ankle was broken part off and twisted round and sticking into the joint) but sooner would have been better than later. And she also sprained the other so severely (her foot was just dangling and the ligaments were so stretched out they would not move the foot at all) that it required casting and might have required surgery if the casting had not fixed it. Not stuff to mess with or delay. People often think ‘oh it’s just a sprain’ but according to her ortho a very severe sprain can take longer and is harder to fix than a fracture.</p>
<p>SopranoMom</p>
<p>I called my daughter’s school and asked for a recommendation. of a local Doctor…then I called and set up the appointment…she went in and had a basic well adult exam…saw the Physician assistant…who actually spent about 1/2 hour going over health history…doing the exam and answering all of her questions regarding the city she had just moved to…he even gave her his clinic email address and said to email with any questions she might have…wow…what great service…and now she is an established patient…I would never have thought about it if I hadn’t heard another parent talking about it a few months earlier!</p>
<p>D experienced the Canadian health care system this summer while at Domaine Forget. She ate some soy cheese which contained an unlabeled milk protein and experienced a severe allergic reaction. Now, knowing of her allergies, this is a situation we have planned for for years, and yet I always envisioned that some day I would get a phone call – “I’ve eaten something and I don’t know what to do” – and I would have to talk her through it from afar. That’s not what happened. D administered an Epipen to herself, declared herself in need of an ambulance, arrived at the hospital covered in hives and in need of more epinephrine and antihistamine, spent the night at the (almost entirely French-speaking) hospital, purchased her own follow-up prescription at a pharmacy next day, and declined to come home early because she trusted her relationship with the kitchen at Domaine and her own ability to keep herself safe. We were needed only because the hospital required payment in full – D’s debit card has a fairly low limit on it. Got to fix that before sending her out of Blue Shield territory again.</p>
<p>Oh the things parents have to thing about Astermom…glad everything turned out okay…Do you suppose they would have held her at the hospital and made her do dishes if they couldn’t have reached you :}</p>
<p>This kids are much more responsible then we give them credit for sometimes!</p>