Max is pretty good at finding creative ways to injure himself. In August he was running around the house and slipped on a book, fell and in the process almost bit through his cheek. I was at the computer, my back turned to him. I heard him fall and cry. Figuring it was minor I didn't rush over to him, and he usually comes to me. I did turn and see if he was okay and as he came towards me his mouth was dripping blood, as in his mouth was completely full of blood. Any mouth injury sends me on high alert and as a dental hygienist I am completely paranoid about my kids losing/damaging teeth.
I tended his bleeding and gave him plenty of love. His mouth swelled right up and the inside was so raw.
The night of his fall.
The next day it naturally looked much worse and even these images don't do the bruising justice.
The light was gorgeous and made his beautiful eyes sparkle and the bruising looks diminished here.
Phil was very worried and launched into doctor mode, spouting off worse case scenarios, thinking it was infected, wanting to take him to urgent care, etc. But when it comes to the mouth I feel more confident and know that the mouth heals so quickly and that was normal given the nature of the trauma. Tooth brushing was very tender and we adjusted his eating to safe non-acidic foods. Sweet boy.
Then on the evening of September 4th Max landed himself in the emergency room.
I was turning on a show for the kids to watch before bed time, my back to the kids and as I am doing so Max pretty much body slams the tile. I have no idea if he jumped from the couch or was just messing around and tripped on the rug or a toy. He falls, cries out but not excessively so. I sternly admonish him to be careful, help him sit on the couch and tell him to calm down. It is so close to bed, my patience is exhausted.
He quiets down and watches his show, I go to do the dinner dishes and clean up the kitchen. About 20 minutes later I walk by the kids and notice vomit all over the couch and rug, Max sitting complacently on the floor. Oh dear. I tell Phil and together we clean up Max and the floor. Quick bath for Max, he is upset during it all and we start to worry about a head injury, as previously it wasn't clear what happened since no one saw him fall and there wasn't anything obvious after his fall.
I take him to his room to get fresh jammies on and as I am drying him off he vomits again, but nothing is left in his stomach. We ask Max where he got an owie and he points to his forehead near his hairline. Sure enough there is a nice knot forming. We are on high alert now and prepare to take him into the hospital. Phil decides to go with Max and the poor boy continues to retch. Phil speeds away and I hear nothing for over 3 hours! Agonizing! I pray and pray and try not to think negatively.
Phil had dropped his phone in between the seats and was too concerned about Max to retrieve it before he went in. They did a CT scan on Max to rule out any brain injuries. Phil told me Max continued to dry heave and wanted to go to sleep so badly. He kept him awake by talking to him and shifting him around. Max did not like the CT scan and they had to strap him down. This just breaks my heart and I am glad that I wasn't there to hear him screaming. After the scan Phil wanted to go and read the images with the doctor but Max thought they were going back into the imaging room and freaked out. Phil gave him a blessing.
They came home close to midnight and we brushed his teeth and put him to bed. I snuggled with him for a bit and am so thankful for a husband worthy of the priesthood, modern medical care and science and a healthy boy. Max just had a concussion and there weren't any repercussions from his fall. Phil said it was so difficult watching Max go through this and he was really scared.
That night, before this incident, I had even remarked that I was surprised that we hadn't been to the ER for anything other than Rhett this summer, especially with Max's track record of falling and crashing into things. Phil told me to hush! Then as we were reflecting on the hospital visit we realized that we did have a close call with Kate the day before at the pool.
We were BBQing and swimming with friends for Labor Day, the kids were out of the pool and I had just set them up on a pool chair with their food. I returned to the table and was dishing up my own plate, all the parents were at the table and I was the only one facing the pool. I wasn't paying keen attention to the kids at the time, distracted with the meal and conversation but I did register a splash. I figured it was the kids' friend Lyla and wasn't too concerned since she was wearing floaties. For whatever reason I looked up at the pool and registered a blonde head under the water trying and failing to break the surface. I saw it was Kate and flew to the pool and got her out.
SO scary! There were six adults standing twenty feet from the pool and none of them heard the splash but me. I had taken off the kids' floaties so they could comfortably eat and wear their towels. A toy had fallen in the water and Kate went to get it in the three minutes or so since I had left her side. I don't even like to think of what would have happened if I hadn't noticed her in time. We were all shaken up and I am again so grateful that nothing more came of it. She got a talking to and I will
not be taking off their floaties!
