Headcase

**WARNING: This post contains graphic pictures of actual medical events.  Reader discretion is advised.**

We were at a fancy dinner for church.  Lots of our friends were there - Chris wore a suit and I actually curled my hair.  We looked good.  We were just finishing up the soup and salad when Chris showed me his vibrating phone.  "Do you know this number?"

"That's the sitter.  I'll answer it."

"Lindsay?  pant.  Yeah hi, this is Judy.  deep breath.  I need you to come home.  Now.  I was changing the baby, Sam was playing on your bed and he fell.  He hit something that was out on the bed.  I think he needs stitches."

About 90 seconds later we were asking the valet to retrieve our car.  Yeah, the dinner was fancy.  On the way home we called the pediatrician's after hours page operator.  "Ok, I have your information.  Dr. Brack is on call, she will call you back shortly."  I hung up and told Chris, "Amanda's on call tonight."  (Although not our "assigned" pediatrician, Amanda is a friend from church in the same practice.  She had told me at a playdate in the past that I was welcome to call her with this kind of stuff anytime.  But I grew up in a doctor's family and am more likely to err on the side of leaving doctors alone when they're at home.  And on that note, it did cross my mind that if we lived in Ohio this would be no big deal as Papa would just stitch him up.  I know this, because he stitched me up a couple of times as a child.  But I digress.)

So I did call Amanda at home because I got impatient waiting.  "Oh Lindsay, I so wish that I could meet you at the clinic and do this myself, but I'm home alone with my 4 kids.  My husband is at the CTK dinner!"  "Yeah, that's where we were, too."

Sam was upset but holding himself together when we got home.  He held pretty tightly to us, I think as much scared as he was hurt at that point.  Chris got him cleaned off a little bit and into a clean/dry shirt.  The sitter offered to stay with Annabelle, but Sam really wanted her to come.  So we set off for the recommended after-hours pediatric urgent care.

By the time we got there Sam was in good spirits.  We were the only ones in the clean, quiet waiting room when we arrived.  Sam enjoyed watching the movie on the TV, but got a little bored of waiting. 

The doctor said staples.  First came the numbing cream and a bandage to cover it while we waited for it to take affect.  We watched some Cars on Daddy's tablet, read some books, and tried to get Annabelle back to sleep.

The nurse cleaned the would with an irrigation syringe that we now have as an extra special bath toy.  The doctor came back and asked me to help hold him, because there might be some squirming now.  But it quickly became clear that Sam's body takes well to numbing cream because he didn't feel a single one of the many shots of local anesthetic that went into his scalp.  Nor did he feel the four staples that went in next.  He sat very still and messed with the blue matchbox car he held in his little hands while I crouched in front of him and held his shoulders.  Not once did I feel his little muscles tighten up, but he was dead silent throughout the entire procedure.  All questions went unanswered, all comments unaddressed. 

My Frankenson, a day late for Halloween

Chris got a picture of the staples before the dressing went on and we showed him.  Sam started to get a little weepy at this point, not outright crying, but I could tell he was working really hard to hold it together.  Once again he clung tight when I wrapped him in my arms.  The doctor was sure that the picture scared him, but Mama knows better.  Mama knows it was just a release - he held it together for so long and now it was over, he could let it out. 




A few minutes later, with stickers and lollipop in hand, we were out the door.  We were all tired.  A quick stop at McDonald's (we still hadn't eaten dinner) and we were headed home.  From our door, there and back to our door again was about 2 hours and 40 minutes. 

We thought he would fall right to sleep but it turns out the little guy was afraid to lie down.  We left him sitting on his bed, convinced that in a few minutes he'd give up and fall asleep.  20 minutes later we checked and found him still sitting up.  "I'm just going to sleep sitting up."  Poor guy.  No pillow forts, special blankets or towels, parents lying with him could convince the boy it was safe to lie down.  Finally I brought him to the couch to rest in my lap.  I had just about given in to the fact that I would be spending the night there, holding my boy so he could sleep, when he asked to go to his bed so he could "sleep on his mouth."  A couple of minutes later, 12:45 am, he was finally asleep.

Today his head was sore, and he is behind on sleep, but he is doing well.  He's very sensitive about his head but playing just fine.  We have an appointment to get his staples out in a week.  I've told him over and over again how proud of him I am, he handled everything so well.  Quite the trooper.

It was truly a freak accident, and no one did anything wrong.  He was up on the bed watching Judy change the baby and fell backwards onto our bed.  He never fell off the bed, but landed on a pile of pillows and...my iPad cover.  He must have hit the magnetic hinge just right, its no even sharp.  The doctor couldn't believe it, and I pretty much still can't myself.

Honestly, I'm impressed.  That boy is a wild and crazy kid and lives his life that way.  The fact that we made it 3.5 years (almost exactly!) before seeking emergency medical care for him is a success.  Hopefully this event doesn't open up the flood gates!