Follow-up appointment

One week ago, Namine fell on her head and back. Today, she had a follow-up with her orthopedic surgeon.

If you’re wondering why she saw her orthopedic surgeon when she fell on her head and back, it’s because he’s also her bone specialist. To be more accurate, Dr. Black has been following Namine’s scoliosis since he became her doctor.

In the past, Dr. Black examined Namine’s spinal x-rays every few months. More recently, he’s scaled the appointments back to every six months. Namine’s scoliosis is still present — without surgical correction, it will not lessen — but neither has it worsened.

When we visited the ER after Namine fell (that’s a very laid-back way of stating that we rushed her to the hospital like Meatloaf himself was driving), we had two concerns. The CT scan alleviated one of those concerns: her skull was not cracked, and she did not have a hematoma. She did have a minor concussion, but we count ourselves lucky that that’s all her head suffered. (My opinion? Namine had a guardian angel that night.)

Our other main concern with Namine’s fall was that she injured her spine in a way that the ER doctors could not see. She had two spinal x-rays when we were in the ER, but there’s a reason Dr. Black is a bone specialist (among other things). Thus, today’s appointment.

Namine and I arrived for her appointment a little early, and they called her back almost immediately. Waiting in the room for the doctor, though, was another matter. Namine hadn’t brought any books from home — something she sometimes does, especially if she knows there will be a lot of sitting around — so she asked me if I had anything to read. I didn’t, but a quick scan around the room revealed a stack of magazines.

I didn’t think Arthritis Today held anything of interest to a six year old, but I assumed there would be in Parenting Magazine. There was a picture of a mother holding hands with her child on the cover. (Aw.) Namine took it upon herself to page through the magazine, looking for pictures of babies. A noble endeavor, if I do say so myself.

I took some pictures of Namine, as any parent is wont to do. I waited in silence, wondering when Dr. Black would finally come in. I worried about Namine’s back, my imagination running away as it is wont to do. Namine read article titles out loud, but I heard and saw nothing alarming. Stuff like managing your child’s inconsolable temper tantrums, dealing with potty issues.

Then I heard Namine announce loudly (because the article’s title itself was printed in giant letters), “Spice up your sex life.” Pause. “Daddy, what’s sex?”

If I had been drinking something, I would have done a spit take. I looked at the article title from which Namine had read. Yep, sure enough, that’s what it said. I grabbed the magazine from off Namine’s lap — yoink — and put it back. That’s enough of that, Parenting Magazine. I had no idea it contained Cosmopolitan-like articles. If I had, you can rest assured I would never have handed it to my six year old daughter to read. I’m not sure I’m ready for that talk yet, and even so, we’re not having it in a doctor’s clinic.

At long last, Dr. Black entered the room. He said hi, I said hi, and Namine said hi and launched into a verbose explanation of the events which led to today’s visit. He listened patiently to her and asked questions of his own, which she answered. He pulled up the x-rays, and explained that Namine’s scoliosis has not changed since our last visit in August. This was definitely good news. Namine may have some bruising on her back, but that’s all the damage she’s suffered — some pain, but no lasting injuries.

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