12-12-15 A Scary Moment and an ER Visit

Tim and I had some great plans today. We were going to drop the older kids off with Rebecca and take Baby E shopping with us. I had a list. I was prepared! We got the kids ready first and sent them outside to play basketball with the neighbor kid, a child in C's grade. Tim was getting baby E in his seat and I was gathering the last minute stuff for the diaper bag when I heard Big E crying outside. Apparently he had tripped and fallen. Neither Tim nor I saw the fall, but Tim saw him after he landed and didn't think much of it. Big E was crying, but seemed ok. Tim called for him to come to the house. He stood up and started running toward Tim when he suddenly veered off and passed out! He went down face first into the concrete. I heard Tim run for him and as I looked out the door I saw him laying limp behind the back wheel of the van. My heart stopped. Tim scooped him up and his eyes were rolling back in his head. 

It took about a minute for him to come to. His forehead was all scraped up and he wasn't responding to us, or crying. By the time he started crying we had already decided to take him to the ER. We packed up the kids. My sister in law was kind enough to take Baby E and we dropped C off as planned. 

The way down to the hospital Tim sat in the back with E and kept him awake. 

When we got to the ER they took us right back. By this point he was acting pretty normal, but we still wanted him checked out, when the doctor showed up and did his exam he concluded he should have a CAT scan to make sure there was nothing more than the surface damage. He said the second fall could have been caused by a seizure after the first fall. He was very concerned about the passing out and eye rolling and the large size of the bruise.

When discussing the injury, we think perhaps the first fall was a hit to the head as well because his hands and knees were not scraped up. He had a few small cuts on the top of his finger and his chin and nose were scraped up, along with the huge mark on his forehead. 

The CAT scan was ordered, At that point Big E was allowed to fall asleep, and man did he fall asleep! He was sitting on Tim's lap on the bed and so they just wheeled them both down to the CAT scan room. Amazingly he stayed asleep being transferred to the CAT scan bed and slept through the entire scan!! He didn't wake up again until we were back in the room and waiting for the results. 

The technician didn't see anything to concern her, and when the doctor finally came in he agreed that the scan looked good. Big E was diagnosed with a concussion and we have orders to keep an eye on him for the next twenty four hours. After 3+ hours in the ER they sent us home, 

I am so very grateful for that outcome. I will never forget that moment of seeing him laying there, of watching his eyes roll back. It was horrible. Thankfully this evening he was back to his old self running around, and I kept having to warn him not to get hurt again. When I asked him to tell me about what  happened, he could only remember the first fall. He remembered getting up, running to daddy, and suddenly daddy was carrying him. 

I crawled into bed with him this evening and cuddled him close, listening to him breath. He gave us quite a scare today and I am thanking God that he's ok. 

Such a big machine for such a little kid! 

When we first got there they put the heart rate monitor on his finger. He thought it was fascinating to watch his heartbeat on the computer screen, 

Television time! 

It's hard to tell how bad the bruise is until you move his hair out of the way. Tim likened him to Boris Karloff because of the swelling!

Passed out on Daddy! 

To avoid waking him up, they just wheeled him and daddy to the scanning room. 

Still asleep!

His final diagnosis was head injury with a concussion. Also, with the CAT scan they figured out he has a sinus infection. 

We have to follow up with his doctor on Monday to make sure everything is ok.  Meanwhile, I have to find a way to keep him a little less active for the next 24 hours!