20 questions to discover where she hurt...

[Guest guest]

Trisha can sign that she hurts but getting her to tell you " where " she hurts

is another story altogether. Last week she came home from school and was

crying and signing that she hurt. Of course she couldn't tell me where she

hurt or how bad. We played the 20 questions of does your head hurt, your

stomach etc. then I just started checking her out to rule anything else out

when I

came to her knee she cried and signed hurt. It was warm to the touch but

not red and wasn't swollen that you could see by just looking at it but when

you felt around the knee cap there was some swelling and the knee cap felt like

there was water on it. Later I got a call from school telling me she had

fallen at school, the thing is she fell on her butt not on her knees which

makes me wonder if we are seeing the same problems developing that we had with

her left leg and had to have surgery because the knee cap slide all the way to

the side of her leg. We have an appointment to see the doctor next week to

have the knee checked out. We know she has a high tolerance for pain so when

she starts complaining I know it must really hurt. I'm just trying to figure

out how to get her to tell us " Where " she hurts instead of just signing

hurt. Anyone else have a similar problem? I really think she fell because of

the knee, I don't think the knee was hurting from the fall. But I don't know

that for sure. She let me put an ice pack on it so I know it was bothering

her. She seems ok now unless she puts weight directly on top of the knee,

like when she climbs onto the couch but the heat and swelling is gone. A

social

story won't help in this case because then if she hurts somewhere else she

might indicate the wrong place, I made a chart but that doesn't describe

things like nausea, cramps etc. I'm open for suggestions and creative ideas.

:-)

Carol

Trishasmom

She isn't typical, She's Trisha!