Kids and issues - Getting it from both sides

[Anonymous]

My 9 year old son -  gets colds, ear infections, allergies - doesn't break bones or anything

My 13 yr old daughter - rarely (pausing to knock on wood) gets ill (like her brother) - she gets ADHD, scoliosis, lyme disease, broken hand, oh and our latest adventure - she pulled something in her shoulder during softball practice 2 weeks ago, we're visiting an orthopedist on Thursday

Is this normal? Do you all have kids like this? I don't think they could be anymore opposite!! Funny thing is, they get along so amazingly well and love playing with each other. I guess opposites do attract!

[Anonymous]

hmmmm.....I have three kids....two of them knock on wood very rarely get sick....no broken bones etc....one sick all the time...two open heart surgeries.....colds are a big deal for her...etc...etc. Kind of like I have one child who has a 4.13 grade point average and is in all honor classes while one struggles in school and in special ed.

[haulingthescoreup]

Mine would get them all, or at least my daughters did, and most especially the youngest. We all have various combos of allergies and asthma, so by definition, lots of colds and so forth.

As for injuries and what-not, off the top of my head (this is the girls): fractures (arm, nose), concussions, sprains, shoulder separation, recurrent traumatic shoulder dislocation (-->surgery), tenosynovitis, Osgood-Schlatter syndrome.

Our son is the video-game and computer king, and he already has the beginnings of carpal tunnel at age 25.

We have definitely gotten our money's worth out of our medical insurance.

[Anonymous]

11 yo DS: allergies, one broken arm (when he was 2 -- fell off a chair while on vacation and managed to ricochet off one heckuva solid door, hit another wall, and then hit the floor -- it was actually almost graceful, if you could discount him screaming and me sobbing), any and every cold to hit within a 100 mile radius, born with one working kidney.

14 yo DD: NEVER gets sick, but manages to fall incessantly. So far, we've had three broken teeth (didn't see a volleyball net and yup, you guessed it ... hit it broadside and flipped over -- managing to put a 6 inch long gouge in the gym floor), four shiners and a late night emergency room visit 'cause she almost bit her tongue off.

We're pathetic. :/

[atlastontheroad]

My mother had 'em.  She was on a first name basis with all three shifts of the local ER.

Youngest brother: knew what the phrase "4-0 silk" meant before he could read.

Middle brother:  broke eight bones in eight separate feats of daring before he was twelve.  Most events occurred while waiting impatiently for a holiday dinner to be put on the table.

Me: Ran into a parked police car age 10: concussion, glass removal.  Took a 20MPH header over the handlebars of a 10 speed age 13: concussion, two teeth, skin grafts.

And then there was the day that youngest brother needed stitches, mom was in the ER with him.  Middle brother tried to jump six garbage cans on his hand-made, Tim Allen-style motorized skateboard and broke his leg and separated his shoulder in one fell....swoop.  Dad and middle brother joined Mom and youngest brother. 

They put me in a rubber room that night.

atlast....thanks for the memories ....

[Anonymous]

I count my blessing that all of my kids are healthy and rarely get sick-

Then again- I think I have missed 2 days of work in the last 7 years.

[Anonymous]

I think it's that way in all families...

For me & my bros:

Oldest bro, one greenstick fracture and healthy as a horse, NEVER had any sickness of any kind. Can't remember mom ever taking him to the doctor, except for ringworm once.

Me, broke my first bone the summer before kindergarten, at 5 yo jumped off a swing from the highest point & landed on my elbow, breaking the bone off into the joint socket & needing surgery/pins.. Broke both bones in wrist 2 cm from growth plates in 4th grade, then rebroke them b/c I went back to sports before they were fully healed. Got my forehead stuck on a mailbox, needed stitches & was cross-eyed for a few days from the impact. Got stitches in palm in 3rd grade, landing on my hand so hard it actually split my palm along one of those neat lines... Then multiple concussions, appendicitis, about 8 instances of crutches/ace wrap for bad ankle before they figured out I had extra bones in my foot & my arch was hanging on by a mere thread, and had to have surgery for that my sr, year of high school.

Youngest bro, never a broken bone, but numerous allergies, extremely severe ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease, screened for a heart defect for years, every immune problem you can think of.

And of course my daughters:

Oldest one is healthy as a horse, only ever had antibiotics 4 times in her life... and had exactly TWO ear infections from birth to age three.

Youngest one had ear infections & horrible sinus problems as an infant.. diagnosed w/ asthma.. is allergic to: apples, tomatoes, corn, wheat, chicken, coffee, lamb, crab, garlic, milk, eggs.. (I think I may be forgetting a few). And has had transient synovitis, which is basically when a cold virus invades a joint (in her case, hip joint) causing extreme pain & swelling & can lead to emergency surgery She didn't need surgery, but was in a hip-to-toe cast for a few days, at age 3.

Someone's gotta keep you on your toes!

[Anonymous]

...Definintely spoke too soon on this post. Youngest DD (4 yrs old ) broke the first metatarsal in her foot this morning, falling off the curb outside. She's in a fiberglass spling til Monday & then off to ortho first thing in the a.m. to get a better look at the break & a real cast...

geez...

[haulingthescoreup]

Ow! poor kid. Give her a hug.

And get her thinking now what color fiberglass cast she wants. You can even take a broad-tipped Sharpie with you, and the techs and nurses and doctor can sign it.

[treski]

Apparently I was the violent dictator over my siblings.  I will just share the injuries suffered by my closest brother in age, 2 years younger than me.

I must have been 5, he was 3, we were jumping on pillows in the living room.  I don't remember why, but apparently I grabbed his hair and slammed him into a corner (one that points outward) and he immediately passed out.  My dad had to call the paramedics.  He was out cold and needed stiches from his scalp to the bridge of his nose.  He's 23 now and still has a gnarly scar.

Not long later, I apparently grabbed him again and slammed his face on the corner of the coffee table.  I have no memory of this.  He needed stiches on the outer fold of his eye.

Many years later, we got in an argument in the kitchen and he was holding a Costco-sized glass jar of mayonnaise.  I pushed him and it landed on his bare foot.  He needed stitches.

I eventually learned, though.  I remember our last fight vividly.  I pushed him.  I was about 16.  He was nearly fifteen and he was getting big and strong.  He punched me in the eye and it swelled up immediately.  That's when my dad had the talk with him.  "That's the last time you will ever hit a girl, you understand?"  I guess my lesson was my throbbing, black and swollen eye.

Now, we're best friends.  Lol.

I feel awful about all that.  My little brothers have stories about how violent I was, and I hate when we get together and they start swapping stories.  I wonder if my husband will run from me in fear.