Thursday, September 06, 2012

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

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Our kids like to climb things. Our kids like to jump off things. Our kids like to do things that "make Mommy nervous." And so it was probably inevitable that one day one of our kids would end up in urgent care getting stitches after cracking open their head. I just didn't think it would happen on the last night of Grandma & Grandpa Z's visit.

We'd gone to the Argonaut for dinner and were walking home after a lovely meal. Allen and the kids had run ahead while I lingered behind with Grandma & Grandpa Z.  About a block from the restaurant Owen climbed up on some cement Jersey barriers by a formerly vacant lot and soon-to-be gas station. This is not unusual for Owen. What was unusal is that typically one of us is closer when he does this so that we can help him jump down. We weren't. He fell. Tears ensued.

To be honest, we didn't initially realize the extent of the damage (it was dark and our kids cry a lot). Allen carried him for a couple of blocks and then we made him walk the last half block to the house. It was there when I took off his hat to put an ice pack on it that I noticed the blood (the benefits of being blonde) and upon closer inspection, the open wound in his head.

Grandpa Z, Owen and I headed to urgent care just after 8 pm. We were hoping that a six year old with a head wound would be fast-tracked, but the fact that Owen was laughing and playing "Stack the Countries" while holding a football didn't get him any triage points. We saw a nurse about 20 minutes after we arrived who cleaned him up as best she could and wrapped him up like a mummy and then waiting another 10 minutes or so for the doctor, who cleaned him up some more, trimmed his hair, numbed the area, gave him 4 stitches, and ordered and reviewed a CT scan before discharging him a little before 11 pm.

I have to say, Owen was incredibly brave and cooperative -- not crying despite the poking, prodding, cleaning, injections and stitching, and lying so still during it all that they didn't have to utilize the body restraints usually reserved for patients his size. And while I'm really proud of how brave he was in the face of it all, I'm hoping this isn't a skill set we have to regularly utilize.

(To see all the gory shots, taken by his incredibly insensitive mother, click here.)

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