Monday, April 7, 2008

Mother Survives Child's Fall

Every mom at some point has to give up a few years of her life for her child.  I don't know how many years came off yesterday, but I won't be signing up to be on an Oprah show with Dr. Oz determining what my 'real age' is.  My stress level was so high, I couldn't even fill out the admitting form at the hospital correctly.

Hospital?  Yes...

The day started out with me driving out into town for the first time.  Tim has already accomplished this feat in style.  I got to go cruising for houses.  William and I stopped for lunch and a bit of shopping.  Parking costs money here, even in the 'burbs.'  So, when William wanted to play at a park, I said, "Let's go back on base."

I pulled up to his favorite park, and hung out in the car, fiddling with stuff, as I could see him playing.  I heard screams and looked up to see William slumped at an odd angle, screaming, and two parents dashing towards him.  William rarely cries, even when he bonks, so I knew he'd hit hard.  The parents there said he'd fallen from the top of the slide area.  They have those openings so the kids can either slide down a pole or climb down a bumpy object, and he'd fallen ---thankfully onto a playground shock absorbing surface---  I ran to him and picked him up... no pain screams, so I was assured he hadn't broken any bones, but he was pretty upset.  

I tried to find out what had happened, if he'd tried to climb down and only fell part way, or if he had fallen the entire 5.5 feet.  I tried to take him up and show him and he was disoriented and acting funny.  I sat with him on a bench and one of the parents came up and said, "I'm not a doctor, but I'm a hospital administrator, and I'd take him in for a fall that big."  
Sometimes William is so embarrassed that he acts funny, so I was waiting a bit to see what the real story was.  Then he started to go to sleep, and his lazy eye (only when he was a newborn, this eye would wander) kept rolling in.  Then he started to try to throw up over and over.  

Okay, time to go to the hospital.

The good news is, we were admitted (crossed out and re-done paperwork and all... I started putting my name as patient... etc.) into the CAT scan, etc. and out within an hour of the incident!  That's phenomenal!!  That would never happen in the states!

About an hour later he was running again and as ornery as ever.  Yes, he's fine.  Doctor said to watch for any unsteadiness for the next 24-48.  I don't know if I'm steady, yet...  We also got to wake him up last night.  

So, the good news is that William is fine.  It is a good thing that I already dye my hair, as I'm sure I'm going to have a few highlights more now...

William finally told the rest of the story.  He was pushed off by one of the other kids.  And when he asked if he could go back to the playground, and I said, 'no,' he said, "But I was pushed!!"

Tim was in a place he had to turn off his cell phone, so by the time he called me back, it was all over.  The reception was choppy, but he got the words:  "CAT scan was okay," and figured all was well.

I expect to get 'now that you're 50' cards this next year for my birthday, but am so relieved that the boy is fine.  Well, he's in fine form, anyway!

1 comment:

David and Bonnie - Best Friends for years! said...

I can't imagine. How our hearts leap when something happens to our children!