Excitement is in the air... A busy Sunday was ahead of us. Both Caleb and I had presidency meetings before church so we were up early and got everyone dressed ahead of time so that when I returned from my meeting we wouldn't have a big rush to be ready on time... Caleb and I were both singing in the choir and had to be there early also. The Primary was singing two songs today and I didn't want to forget any of the visuals to help them remember the words to the last verse since we hadn't really nailed it yet without them. I also had fun game plans for singing time... I really think Sunday mornings are getting out of hand... I practically need to pack my luggage and have an itinerary to make it through the day!
But today we took a slightly different approach. Caleb left for his meeting and I headed to the shower having just one hour until he returned and I had to be gone... The rest of the kids were ready, just me! As I stepped into the bathroom, I heard a little voice behind me... "Mummy I don't feel very good"
Miles was white as a ghost. We quickly found the coughee pot and a towel and lay on the couch. Then I heard what happened.... The kids had been goofing off and Miles had fallen and hit his head. While I got the low down on what happened, Miles fell asleep..... ahh.. not good after hitting your head! He was rousable but still very white and sleepy.
So instead of a shower and a day as planned... a few phone calls... great friends and neighbours (thanks B.C., Amber, Genevieve, Gina, Channa)... and Miles and I headed off to the emergency room... we got as far as the back door... when he began heaving. Thankfully he was still carrying the coughee pot. A little clean up and we tried again.
As the nurse asked Miles how he hurt his head, he replied, "We were playing a game downstairs. We run around the kiwi really fast and then flop over on the potato, but I missed the potato." (the translation, which I had to give to the nurse was, "we have 2 large beanbag things in our downstairs... they are two different shades of brown and we call them the kiwi and the potato.") Completely logical... not a head injury speech mix-up!
Another question they asked was if he always dressed in a shirt and tie to come to the hospital? "I don't think so, in my baby book I was only wearing a diaper when I was at the hospital and I don't know if I've ever been any other times."
And another was, "What grade are you in at school?"... should have been an easy question... except as he looked at me... I realized..."well he's homeschooled in Science 2, History 3, Math 2, English 1, Art 4, Spanish K, and Music 1... so do you average the grade level?"
After about 5 hours in E.R., CT scans, X-Rays and a few different doctors examining him... Miles was perking up, had some colour back in his face, the results were good. He did have a mild concussion and a slight fracture to the rear of his skull. However he was able to be discharged. Another plus to our visit was the extra peek inside his head to determine that his head is healing well and just as has been hoped for, ever since his surgeries so very long ago!
We had been there a while and they wanted to know if he could keep any food down so they brought him some cheese, crackers and juice. When we were being discharged the nurse who had brought the snacks earlier (which he did thankfully keep down!), he asked,
"Do you ever hand out apples at this hospital?"
Nurse - "Oh, I could probably find you one are you still hungry?"
"No, I don't need one, I just wondered cause you know... An apple a day keeps the doctor away."
The nurse and I did not see that one coming!... I think he's just fine! In fact since we arrived home he's still playing hospital with Mackenzie and Sarah as nurses in training... Kenzie read him stories and Sarah has played Othello. Duncan even joined in to play checkers but claims he's not a nurse, just a visitor. He's to refrain from jarring movements or high-impact sports and activities... so I guess the kiwi/potato flop game is now over!
As I drove home with snow all around, I realized that I've made the trek to Primary Children's all too often in the weeks or days just before Christmas! When Caleb was five we went the first week in Dec. for his Subdural hematoma (head injury). A week before Christmas when Miles was 21 months old... again in Dec. he fell over the back of the couch and landed on his still very fragile head and we rushed him to instacare for evaluation. Miles was almost 3 and he had a bad reaction to the 2nd type of antibiotics for his bronchial pneumonia and we rushed to E.R. On Christmas eve when Duncan was 2, one of the thoughtful neighbourly goodies that were delivered to our home was a nutty concoction of sorts and although he didn't eat it he had handled it and just the oils on his hands from touching the nuts was enough to cause him to react. He had rubbed his eyes and they swole to double in size in minutes and he began to wheeze so we rushed to E.R. And then the last Christmas in our old house we woke up to have Miles having a dreadful Asthma attack induced by yet another bout with bronchitis, and had to track down a nebulizer to keep him breathing.
I'm struck by the same thought every time I'm driving to the E.R We're normally so healthy and they pick the snowy treacherous days around Christmas to need to be the time for us to be patrons of the Primary Children's Hospital, but each time I'm reminded how blessed I am. I have the Hospital relatively close by and available to me. We only seem to need it once a year at best. I'm always overwhelmed with the staff at that hospital... I think they hide their angel wings well inside their scrubs, and it must be a job requirement at Primary's to always have a smile. We haven't had to stay overnight but 2 times... Caleb's head and Miles Surgery (which we knew about ahead of time.) We've always left patched up and good as new ready to go on with our lives and I know that not all are so fortunate!
