Last night Charli was taking a shower with me and she slipped and bashed her head on the tile ledge by the shower door. She screamed for a couple of minutes, and then she got over it and played in the water, and then she looked at me and said "bonk". Meanwhile, I was quietly panicking, visions of Natasha Richardson dancing in my head. I checked her head - no blood. I checked her eyes - no dilation. I finished washing her hair while talking myself out of taking her to the emergency room anyway.
Brian put Charli's pajamas on (her) and gave her milk (no vomiting) and read to her while I called the paranoid parents' hotline. The paranoid parents' hotline takes your number and a nurse calls you back, so I got online in the interim, where I found a very nice and reassuring page about head injuries in children that said it was most likely that nothing was wrong. Really I knew that already, but I also remembered reading an article about a little girl who got hit in the head and didn't show her symptoms until 2 days later. I figured the nurse, like the website, would probably tell me that everything was fine, and I should put Charli to bed and stop worrying, in which case, being completely unable to stop worrying, I might take Charli to the emergency room anyway.
The paranoid parents' hotline nurses, however, are very well trained. When she called back, after getting all the details on the incident, the nurse (Clarissa) prescribed a course of action which she probably thought was completely unnecessary, but which made me feel like I was not just sitting idly by while Charli possibly expired during the night: put Charli to bed, but wake her up after 2 hours, 2 hours, and then 4 hours, each time making sure she wakes up normally and recognizes us. If she seems extremely lethargic or hard to wake, or is disoriented, then call 911. Assuming everything is fine each time, then call our pediatrician in the morning and give him an update. Man, those nurses are smart.
Everything WAS fine every time we woke Charli up, and when I called the doctor in the morning, he said that cases like Natasha Richardson (he brought her up, not me) are usually associated with a brief period of unconsciousness at the time of the injury, and since Charli didn't have that and since it had already been 12 hours (and based on all the other details), I probably didn't have to worry about it or even monitor her anymore. Of course, having read that article I mentioned above about the girl who didn't show symptoms for 2 days (and having looked again at all the articles I could find on Natasha Richardson and not finding anything that said she lost consciousness at any time), I am still unable to completely dispel my paranoia, and I will continue to watch Charli very carefully for the next few days, but I really do think she is OK, other than the big knot on the back of her head.
I am also OK, other than the big knot of guilt in my heart for being stupid and letting her try to walk around in the shower while the soap was rinsing off of her. Charli still loves me. *sniff*
4 comments:
Wow! These things are scary, but are never consequential. Unless, of course... Well, let's see: we knew some parents who, when their first child was just an infant, forgot to put shields on the electric outlets. Their infant daughter took a set of car keys and stuck one of them into the electric outlet. There was lotsa sparks and lotsa screaming. We can't say that this child was never the same... (She did become kinda feisty.)
you'd think she'd at least have gotten curly hair out of the deal, but apparently that isn't how it works.
I am so sorry that you were stressed...glad it all turned out OK. (The Natasha Richardson alternative would not have been a good one...although that hadn't even occured to me.) I had a kid at pre-school with a concussion a couple of years ago...it took a while for the symptoms to show up, but only like 30 minutes or so. He fell from a climbing structure. Luckily his Dad was an ER doctor, and saw him right away.
IF IT MAKES YOU FEEL ANY BETTER:
My worst kid injuries were: Katy was tossed into a running ceiling fan at 9 months old (by Bernie's brother Bob), she also fell down a flight of stairs in a walker. Peter rolled off of a changing table at a very young age. (4 months?) He also fell down the basement stairs at my in-laws house. John fell off of a Little Tykes slide-thingy in our basement and knocked the wind out of himself. Bernie was with the kids in the basement and I was upstairs...vacuuming of all things! He came up with John LIMP in his arms. We did call 911, and of course as soon as we did, he was fine.
The good news is that all of my kids survived, and none of them have alerted the authorities! I think you guys will be OK.
Did you forget your camera on the cruise like I did at the source of the Mississippi in Minnesota? Long time, no blog. Charli will be in college before I get an update. DadDammit!!!
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