Saturday, October 4, 2008

The Good News is: "He's Fine"

Here's the Bad News:

While waiting for lunch, Witt climbed up on a chair next to the dining table. Not uncommon. Unfortunately, he lost his footing and fell backwards off the chair onto the ceramic tile flooring. Right onto his head. He screamed; both Jeff and I ran to get him. Jeff got there first and then I took him. We've learned that Witt does best if I hold him and Jeff looks him over. (What a mama's boy!)

I figured Jeff would find a big bump and we'd go on with our day, but instead, he found a flat spot. Not just a quarter-size spot, more like the size of a medium cookie. After feeling it I immediately said that I was going to take him to the ER. Jeff agreed. We called the neighbor to watch the other boys. They were here within a minute and we were out the door.

The wait wasn't bad at the ER, maybe 15 minutes before we were taken back to get vitals and give information about his accident. Another 15 minutes and we saw the doctor. He did a quick examine of Witt's head, asked a few questions, and ordered a CT scan.

Soon Witt and I were in a wheelchair taking a ride down to get the scan. He HATED it. They had to put a strap over his forehead and splints on the sides to keep his head stationary. He cried through the whole thing, tears streaming down his little cheeks, but thankfully he remained still enough that only one of the pictures was bad and we didn't have to redo it.

After checking the scans, the doctor said everything looked fine. He commented that the skull is still pliable, even at Witt's age. He said his head should "round back out" within a few more hours. Since they didn't consider it a concussion as he was never unconscious, they would give us instructions on head trauma and said he should be able to resume normal activity.

Now, with any ER story, there has to be some comment about how long the wait was or that there was some mix-up, right? :)

Well, after the final visit with the doctor, he said we were good to go as soon as we got our instructions from the nurse. So, Jeff went ahead and took Witt out to the truck thinking it would just be a couple minutes.

After 10 minutes, I went to the desk and asked if I needed to go somewhere to get my papers or would they come to me? The nurse smiled and said they would come to me. I went back to the room and called Jeff. Another 20 minutes went by. I finally went out and asked a different nurse if she had any idea how long it would be. She looked a little clueless, asked who I was with, found Witt's chart and commented that the doctor hadn't written down that we were ready to go. I explained that the doctor told me I just needed instructions before I could go. She said they'd get the instructions typed up and that she'd bring them in to me.

I called Jeff again. He decided to go grab a burger while I waited. Almost immediately after I hung up with him, the nurse was there with the instructions and a blank look. "Where is the patient?" Ummmm.... he left... a while ago. She said she was supposed to get his vitals, but declined when I offered to call Jeff to bring Witt back in. With instructions in hand, I headed out the door and called Jeff, who was now at the drive-thru. A few minutes later he was picking me up and we were on our way home.

We all laid down for a much needed nap. When Witt woke up, the flat spot was gone. Nice round head again! :) No irritability and ready for a snack.

It wasn't long before he went outside to play with his brothers and ended up looking like this AGAIN!

Life is totally back to normal.

post signature

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

You never can tell what those wee ones will do next!

So happy to here Witt is o.k. Wow What a scare!

My name is Dianna said...

I am so glad everything is fine! Poor guy! I am sorry for all the anxiety...it must have been rough.

Anonymous said...

How scary-but I'm glad he's okay.

My mom tells me of a time that I was climbing on the changing table and fell off--and immediately fell asleep. She couldn't rouse me. Frantic, she took me to the doctor who diagnosed the problem: I was overdue for a nap!

Lindsay said...

Oh my word that had to be scary! I'm so glad that everything turned out OK.

My daughter fell on her forehead a few weeks ago and got a HUGE blue goose egg. My husband was the one watching her and was absolutely frantic. Luckily everything was fine.

I guess kids really do have hard heads, even when falls flatten them a little!

Kim said...

life can be scary eh??
Love your blog :) Can't wait to have some boys of my own (I had 5 brothers ;) )

Unknown said...

Thank goodness he's OK! I hate when I hear that telltale "thunk" that makes me wonder if an ER visit is imminent :-)

reprehriestless warillever said...

I'm glad Witt's okay.

Unknown said...

so glad he's ok. the er is not fun. sounds like our typical visits. after the dr. sees you and says you are free to go, it still takes awhile for the nurse to come in and do the paperwork. that's when i usually stand in the doorway as if to imply, "we are ready to go, please come see us soon". :)

my boys fall all the time. thanks for the reminder that i need to check them over more closely.

Nowheymama said...

AHH! So glad he's OK. I think you were right to go and have him checked.

Anonymous said...

I am glad he was ok...BOY DRAMA!!! they have to do something to get attention too. haha
Kim W

Super B's Mom said...

Oh my gosh, Becky!! I'm SO GLAD everything is ok! That must have been terrifying. But GOOD FOR YOU for taking him to the ER to be sure.

Sorry the ER staff sucked. It's so frustrateing when you get the run-around b/c it's hard waiting when you have a little one!!

(((HUGS)))