Yesterday, while playing with neighbor kids, Laura and Miles were laying on the swings winding them and unwinding them. We’ve all done this as kids. Generally, it is okay when it is just one kid, but it can lead to disaster when two kids are doing it at the same time. We had asked them to stop the first time we saw it. We yelled for them to stop the second time we saw it, but it was too late. Laura and Miles hit their heads together. Miles was not hurt, but Laura started crying immediately. We brought her up to the back patio where she cried and whimpered for a bit while sitting on our laps. After a bit, she seemed much more calm. We took her inside, laid her on our bed, and turned on the television for her. When dinner was ready, she said she wasn’t hungry. We decided it was ok for her not to eat and sat down with John. When I was finished eating, I went to get her and bring her out to the table. Apparently, she was dizzy because the movement made her vomit. I got her into the kitchen where she vomited some more. At that point, we stripped her dirty clothes, cleaned her and the floor up a bit, and knew an ER visit was in order. I called Rachel and she showed up in less than a minute to take John to her house.
Andy, Laura, and I ran out the door to the car and headed for University Women’s and Children’s Hospital. It was a record trip as Andy made it there in eight minutes. By this time, Laura had a fairly good knot on her head and was extremely tired. We checked her in and the nurse did a quick triage to see how serious the case was. They did not seem overly concerned because Laura was not exhibiting any signs of concussion. We waited for a bit longer for a room to open up. Once that happened, we got Laura dressed in a gown and snuggled into her bed.
She was very sleepy as it was her normal bedtime, so she took a nap. While waiting for the doctor, I called Jeremy to see if he could stay with John so that B and Rachel could actually get some sleep. He said he was on the way to our house and at some point Jeremy and Rachel made the “switch off” with John. We also answered some text messages and phone calls so that people would know what was going on.
The doctor arrived around 9:15 pm to examine Laura. She did what she could while Laura slept and then we had to wake her up. That was a difficult task as she was very much asleep. After some effort, we did manage to wake her up enough for an examination. The doctor didn’t seem overly concerned, but still ordered a CAT scan because of the dizziness and vomiting. Laura was such a trooper for the CAT scan! The technician explained everything and Laura was perfectly still throughout the entire thing. She even got to see all the pictures that the CAT scan took. She was very curious about it all and I think the technician got a kick out of her. As a reward, the technician let her choose a toy. Meet “Ella the Elephant”.
When Laura got back to her room, the nurse brought her some medicine to help settle her stomach and some ibuprofen for the pain. By this time, she had had a short nap so she was wide awake and actually happy. After the CAT scan was read, the doctor came in to say that everything looked normal and that they were going to release her. They gave us instructions for the rest of the night and today and let us go home.
We arrived home about 11:45. By the time we got Laura to bed it was after midnight. Laura and I slept on the futon in the office. I set my cell phone alarm and woke her up every two hours. She did really well all night. She woke up this morning around 8:30 am. She was refreshed and looked happy. Her red welt and bruise are almost completely gone. She’ll be back to school tomorrow! Thanks to everyone who called and sent texts. Thanks to B and Rachel and Jeremy for taking care of John. We greatly appreciate it! We survived our first “Adventures in the ER” and the aftermath. Here’s to hoping we don’t repeat that anytime soon!