I knew that having boys meant that there will automatically be trips to the hospital, but I did not expect them to start so soon nor did I think that it would be my three year old who would be first as Jack is a bit more adventurous.
After getting a frantic phone call from my husband about the location of the insurance card he told me Alex had taken a six foot drop from off the ladder in our garage that goes up to the attic and had landed on his head. Of course I immediately left work and met them at the urgent care.
The doctor was really nice and said she didn’t think there was any major damage done, but just to err on the side of caution she wanted him transported via ambulance to the Children’s Hospital for a more in depth look. Alex did really well though he made the paramedics a little nervous because he kept wanting to go to sleep in the ambulance, which is not good considering he had a concussion. Thankfully it was a game day so the emergency room was not busy and they took him right away.
He ended up having a CT scan to check for damage on his brain and skull and there was a fracture found on the skull, but lucky for us there was no movement of the bone. The doctor said it would take about three weeks to heal and there should be minimal swelling of the brain, but to observe him for any altered behavior and bring him back in if there is.
He also had torn the top part of his ear from the impact of the fall and had to get four stitches. He did so good even though the whole trip to the hospital exhausted him. In the end he had a big hematoma on the left side of his head, a concussion, a fractured skull, and a torn ear, but it could definitely have been a lot worse. We were lucky that Andy was right there when it happened as well as his mom who was a big help just in taking care of Jack and being there for us. It was amazing the group of people who helped us with Alex. They were all both professional and very compassionate towards our little boy and made a heartbreaking situation much more bearable.
While we were waiting at the hospital to be picked up I asked Alex what happened and he said: When I was putting the pencils away I was on the ladder and then I just fell down. That he remembered what happened is an excellent sign that he is going to be okay.
Alex will be fine and he is talking like nothing more than a bump on his head happened, although he has been tired a lot. Of course it is hard for him to get a good night’s sleep when every time you roll over you lay on a stitched up ear and a bruised noggin. Except for the ear and a little redness on his forehead he doesn’t look half bad.
He’s lucky that the scars from the stitches will be hidden in the crease of his ear.
Now he is just enjoying having Mommy and Daddy at his beck and call.
