Stroll Your Child On Your Luggage, Not.

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It's All Fated.

If daddy hadn't missed the children so much to want to see them as soon as he touched down.

If I insisted they stayed home because Faye was nursing her third day of fever.

If we hadn't introduced strolling them on luggage because that led up to this day.

If Ewan hadn't made sitting on luggage sound so incredibly fun because Faye wouldn't have insisted to ride on it too.

Let us not harp on IFs. It was an accident and with what happened to Faye, everyone went home with a big lesson. Ewan woke up this morning and the first thing he muttered was, "Mommy, I will never sit on a luggage again."

Faye had her left leg half-casted from the fall.


For everyone else reading, stop strolling your child on your luggage no matter how convenient or fun it might be.


It was already 2330 hours when we hit the road for home after picking daddy up at the airport last night. Definitely way way way past their bedtimes and obviously, they were very tired. Ewan fell asleep and Faye was trying hard as well but kept calling out cries of pleas from the pain inflicted from the fall.

She fell forward and had the handles of the luggage pinned her under. It didn't look like she hurt anything bad when I turned around though. She braced herself and her face never touched the floor. So, I thought they were just cries from shock until she couldn't stop crying even after falling asleep in the car. Daddy was so affected that he sped like a mad man, angry and helpless at the stupidity of the whole saga. At that moment, I thought, "Oh come on. Please just drive safe because I do not want another accident to happen!" Yet, I know I should just keep quiet and not get him even more agitated than he already was. I buckled up my seat belt at the back seat.

We drove straight to Gleneagles 24-hour clinic [our go-to for immediate attention]. When we arrived, we were the only patients and got to see their resident doctor soon after. Daddy was so worried that he came with us to the A&E with Ewan sleeping over his shoulders. The little boy woke up briefly and reminded his father, "It was so dangerous. Don't drive so fast next time. I can here the Vroom sound so loud."

Glad someone told him eventually.


When asked for her to stand in the doctor's room, she could not even put her left foot down and was complaining ,"Pain. Pain. Ouch mommy Ouch!" She was sent in for an X-Ray at that instance - for both legs even though the right is good. This is for the purpose of making out any slight differences in the comparison of the imagings.

The doctors [including an orthopaedic] shared the following information which I think is important for every parent to know:

1. At two and a half years old, bones are not fully developed yet and are mostly cartilages. A fracture in a child may be diagnosed only one to two weeks later!

2. X-Ray is required to see if there is a prominent fracture but chances are slim that we will get a 100% confirmation because most of them are just cartilages. [Her X-Ray showed no broken bones but a fine line across a bone that only the doctor could tell]

3. There is a need to test for fracture, on top of the X-Ray, by giving a dose of Progesic and Neurofen. If it was only a bad impact, she will be able to walk or stand on both feet when the painkillers kick in. If it was a fracture, the painkillers given will have no effect i.e. she will still feel pain. [She attempted to stand after 45 minutes of painkiller ingestion but still could not bear weight on the left foot and complained of pain]

4. There was no serious swelling on her foot so a bad fracture was ruled out.

5. The best diagnosis of a fracture in a young child like Faye will be her reactions and her complaints. The orthopaedic shared that children are the most honest patients. Their first priority is play so if she starts walking towards toys or games, it is a sign that her foot is fine. Ya, even with a cast. If it is authentically painful, she will not attempt at all to bear weight on the ground. [Today, she only had complains of pain and refused to stand with her left leg. Not so good news.]

6. She was given a half-cast even though there were no visible signs of fracture on the X-Ray because remember, their bones are mostly cartilages at this age and you cannot really tell from the imaging. The orthopaedic said a cast is necessary to keep her foot in place lest it gets worsened from movements, still not ruling out a fracture.

Faye is a familiar face in Gleneagles. Not because she often fell sick but Ewan has had many incidents which needed immediate attention from a doctor in the middle of the night. Remember the swallowing coin saga where we found a 10 cent in his tummy from the X-Ray? I reminded Faye of it as we walked into the room for her X-Ray. She was so frightened that she kept pleading, ""Noooooo I don't want! I don't want!" I was glad the radiographer was also very calming and I stayed by her side the whole while assuring her that it really was just a photo-taking session. Really glad she calmed down after believing us and cooperated like a champ.



Faye was so knackered that she had her leg casted by the orthopaedic while she was asleep like this on the sofa. We left the hospital at 0200 hours and the only good thing that came out of this is probably the Progesic and Neurofen double dosage that took her three-day long fever away.

We will be seeing the orthopaedic for a review four days later. Time given for healing in a young child is most crucial. Oh to think daddy is home and I could find some relief from this week onwards. I was looking forward to see a doctor myself today to fix my stiff neck and shoulder from bad sleeping posture. It was a pain I rode through over the weekend because Monday really wasn't that far away to bear.


How do I feel about this incident? To be honest, I was the calmer of the two [husband and I]. Take it as a rite of passage and whatever doesn't kill you just makes you stronger. She will still walk eventually and we are not talking about amputating a limb right?

Yup! Here's us creating awareness. Please refrain from strolling your child on your luggage on your next travel. And maybe sitting the child on stacked-up baggages on the trolley isn't a smart way to commute from point to point too. Rethink your options.

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