Camp Geranimo

Could It Be Broken?

We did our best to manage J's symptoms through the rest of the summer. I was beginning to have serious concerns about the possible side effects from all the steroids being given to my two year-old. We endured many sleepless nights while J struggled to fall and stay asleep. He would cry, scream, kick his legs and stomp his feet for hours... his Dad spent many hours carrying him up and down the hallway attempting to soothe him. J spent hours soaking in the bathtub... there were days he wanted to take a bath every hour or so. Playing in the water was a distraction and the warm water seemed to give him some relief. Once again as the weather began to cool his skin started to clear up. The sores became fewer and further between. It was October 2012 when my mom invited us to come camping on a "family vacation" camp out organized and hosted by her stake (local church leadership). J had been doing much better and the kids were so excited to go.

The organization and planing that had gone into this trip was amazing. They had all kinds of activities for all different age groups. We had a nice big tent in a beautiful wooded area and cots to sleep on. They provided all the meals for us in the mess hall... we were all set-up and everyone was having fun.

After an eventful day we hit our sleeping bags absolutely exhausted. We awoke early the next morning to familiar sobs. J was holding his big toe and screaming "it hoots, it hoots!" (hurts). We went in for a closer inspection and found that his big toe was black and blue and extremely swollen. What could this be? It was not what I had expected to see at all. He was in a great deal of pain and wasn't able to put any weight on the foot. Could it be broken? I tried to recall if he had tripped or stumbled the day before. Had he dropped anything on his foot? I couldn't remember anything that might have broken or sprained his toe like that. We headed down to camp headquarters to have the volunteer doctor take a look.

The doctor said it was most likely a severe sprain but possibly the big toe was broken. He suggested we take the 30 minute drive into town and have it x-rayed in the Emergency Room. My mom kept the kids and we packed J up and headed to the hospital.

The ER Doctor agreed with what the camp doctor had told us. He ordered x-rays and J was given a dose of painkillers. After a short wait the doctor returned with the results. He said there were no fractures and no broken bones. He told us to keep J in his socks and shoes for the night because that would help stabilize the sprain and reduce his pain. We collected our belongings and headed back to camp.

We awoke the next morning to find that J had removed his shoe and was crying once again. I probably shouldn't have been, but I was completely shocked to find that huge blisters had formed on his big toe and under it. These were by far the largest blisters I had ever seen. I began to suspect the swelling and bruising from the day before had less to do with a sprain and more to do with all the other mysterious symptoms we'd been facing over the past several months. Draining the blisters with a sterilized needle seemed to relieve some of the discomfort J was experiencing. We bandaged him up with some antibiotic ointment and replaced the shoe. We ended up taking turns hauling him around on our hip for the remainder of the camping trip.