Stitches, CT scan, and more

Thursday morning the kids and I headed out the door around 9:30am. We had done a little bit of schoolwork and packed everything up to take to the babysitter's house - schoolwork, lunches, water bottles, snow suits, gloves, snow boots, hats, etc. I dropped them and all that paraphernalia and drove to what I thought would be my first of three student teacher observations that day. I completed the first one, and as I was driving to the second school district (about 30 minute drive between the two), my phone rang. My phone was on vibrate so if I had been in a school at the time, I would not have answered it, but it rang through the van's hands-free system, and I answered it. It was the babysitter calling me and telling me that Oliver had a very bad head injury and asking me which hospital she wanted me to take him to. She kept repeating that it was very bad. I told her which hospital and tried to find a place to turn around as I was headed in the opposite direction of the hospital. I kept trying to reach Paul. He didn't answer his cell phone. I called the office manager, and he put me on hold and the call was dropped. I called Paul's brother and told him it was an EMERGENCY. I told Paul what the babysitter had told me, and he also said he'd be coming to the hospital ASAP. I was horrified when I learned later exactly how fast he drove to the hospital. Thankfully he didn't get in an accident!

I got there first. I went in and tried to speed things along by giving them Oliver's insurance card and such. At that point I had no idea if Oliver was paralyzed or unconscious. "Very bad head injury" kept replaying in my mind. The babysitter had asked a relative to drive her van. She was holding Oliver in the back, and the other four kids were also in the van (my three plus her two boys). I met her at the entrance and carried Oliver into the ER. I was very relieved to see that he seemed to be conscious (albeit very subdued) and could move his limbs. I noticed he had a hole in his forehead. She had a towel on it to absorb the blood. It wasn't bleeding that heavily, and Oliver wasn't crying at all. I held him and sang to him. As I had been driving to the ER I had been praying fervently to the Lord. Although I did feel some panic, I also kept reminding myself that Oliver is in God's hands. I cried some while waiting in the ER for him to arrive, but I got it together once he was in my arms. After a little while of sitting in the waiting room, I told Tab to take the other four kids home. They were all sitting in the van with the man who had driven the van for her. I knew Paul would be coming in the near future.

Oliver was a trooper. He kept complaining about his right leg so they did x-rays of that first (nothing wrong). The put gel on his forehead to start numbing it and after some injections, they stitched him up. The doctor saw me take an "after' picture with my cell phone, and she was surprised to learn I hadn't taken a "before" picture. Let's just say if I could erase that "before" image from my brain I would do so. I had zero desire to own a picture of what it looked like when he came in the ER. The sight of it made me feel woozy. Ian didn't see it (thankfully) but Nadia, Tab, Paul, and I saw it. Oliver was very surprised the next day when he saw his stitches on his forehead. I had known right away that I was going to need to reschedule the second and third observations from that day. I was flustered about the one being rescheduled because that cooperating teacher had recently expressed some concerns, and I wanted to get in there ASAP, but obviously I knew it was more important to be with my son. Once Paul was there, I toyed with whether I should go to campus and teach my classes from 2:00-4:45. I called my department chair, and she said I should stay at the hospital. I emailed my students and also called the student worker in the office to have her put a sign on the classroom door in case any of the students didn't get my email in time. We had a debate and quiz scheduled for that day; I had told them in the email that both were being postponed until Tuesday. I had gone back with Oliver during his x-rays, but I asked Paul to go back with him during the CT scan so I could email my students and also because I wasn't feeling well. It was way past the normal time I would eat lunch so between my blood sugar being too low and the emotional trauma, I was pretty wiped out at that moment. I ate my lunch and that definitely helped. Oliver was really hungry also, but they wouldn't let him  have anything until they knew that he didn't have a brain bleed.

When we got the news that he didn't have a brain bleed, they gave Oliver a boxed lunch (apple slices, sandwich, and cookie) and then said we could leave. Paul went back to work. I stopped at the babysitter's house to get Ian and Nadia. We were only home for a little bit when the ER department called to say we needed to come back right away because the CT scan showed he had a skull fracture. If I could go back in time I would have taken 5 minutes to grab a few things for myself such as a toothbrush, hairbrush, and more comfortable clothes. I did grab the Kindle, iPad, and my paperwork and laptop. Although Oliver didn't cry during the stitches, he was not a fan of having his blood drawn. We sat in the waiting room for awhile, then the four of us sat in a triage room for quite awhile albeit there were only two chairs in the room. All three kids piled into a wheelchair, and we headed up to Oliver's room on the 2nd floor of the Children's Hospital. He's stayed in the NICU (lower level 1), PICU (level 1), and has been on the 2nd floor more than once. Thankfully he's never been on the 3rd floor as that's for pediatric oncology patients. The 2nd floor is MUCH nicer for parents than the PICU or NICU because there's a couch that can be used as a bed, and there is a bathroom plus shower in the room. All three kids were really hungry at that point as it was well past when we usually eat dinner. I called and ordered Oliver a meal. A nurse gave the kids some Oreos and apple juice. Paul had asked his parents to come and get Nadia and Ian. Paul had slept at his parent's house on Tuesday night and Wednesday night. He made arrangements for Nadia and Ian to sleep at his parent's house on Thursday night. The four of us had been at the hospital for 3 hours when his parents showed up. Paul worked until 8:30 that night. I went down to the cafeteria and bought myself a sweet potato for my dinner. Unfortunately they really goofed up Oliver's dinner order. He asked for a salad, chips, pizza, apple juice, and a brownie. They actually brought him chicken, corn, mashed potatoes, ginger ale, milk, and a brownie. He did like the brownie.

I tucked him into bed at 8pm as it had been a really long day, and that's his usual bedtime. He and I were sound asleep when the nurse came in at 8:20 to check his vitals and due a neurological check (flashing a light in his eyes, asking him questions, etc.). I had to help wake him up as he was OUT cold. This was repeated throughout the night every 1-2 hours. So needless to say we didn't get much sleep. At 6:00am the nurse really woke him up as she asked him to drink juice, took him to the bathroom, etc. He usually doesn't get up until 7:00 (or later) so I tried to get him to go back to sleep, but I could tell it wasn't happening so I turned on the room lights and let him watch TV. Over the course of the day a variety of medical professionals evaluated him - an occupational therapist, a trauma doctor, a neuro psychologist, a neurosurgeon, etc. They all put the fear of God in me as far as making sure he does NOT hit his head over the next two months. I was told he should have a brain rest (not do any schoolwork) for one week. He is not allowed to play basketball, do gymnastics, go to gym class, ride a bike, jump on a trampoline, etc. I felt like I should wrap him in bubble wrap or have him wear a bicycle helmet all the time. It would be much easier to keep Ian safe because he likes to sit and play Legos for hours on end. Oliver is far more physical and loves to play outside.

It was hard for them to assess his memory and such given his age. They would ask him questions like "what month is it?" or "what year is it?" and he would say "ask her" (and point to me). As is probably true of most five-year-olds, he's not very calendar oriented. He did know his age. In fact he consistently told everyone he was 5 1/2, which impressed me because I had only told him the day before that he was now 5 1/2. They would say numbers and ask him to repeat them backwards. He didn't understand what they wanted him to do. They would repeat a list of words such as "sunset, monkey, baby, iron, etc." and ask him to repeat the list.

This hospitalization was very different from all his hospitalizations from 2012-2016 (2017 was the one year he stayed out of the hospital). It was different because he was almost 5 1/2 instead of 3 1/2 or younger and because he was sick those times. He was in isolation and not allowed to go in the play room in the past. He was extremely clingy. This time he was feeling fine and wanted to play with the staff. If anyone would play a game of Go Fish with him, he was thrilled. He called the nurse his "friend doctor." He painted a wooden snake, played games, etc. In the past hospitalizations he was feeling so awful (always on oxygen) that he certainly wasn't playing with anything.

Paul went to work today, and because of the snow on Wednesday the choir rehearsal was cancelled. This meant the choir director wanted us to be there at 8:00am. Oliver didn't have any trouble going to his Sunday School class. I told the teachers to please make sure he didn't play with a ball, run around, or anything like that. There is a slide in the kindergarten classroom, and I told them he wasn't allowed to go down the slide. It was definitely nerve wracking for me to leave him, but I know I can't keep him in my eyesight for the next two months. Then when I came to get him he started crying and saying he didn't want to go to the choir rehearsal. Thankfully he snapped out of it and did participate as Paul wasn't there, and I wanted to sing in the choir in the second service and then go to my Sunday School class. When he first wakes up in the morning it's hard for him to open the one eyelid because of swelling, but once he's up and about the swelling seems to go down some. I am taking him to the Pediatrician on Wednesday morning to have his stitches removed. Hopefully he won't have much of a scar. The pediatrician also will be following up on an incidental finding from the CT scan. They discovered a congenital brain defect, which could possible involve him needing brain surgery in the future. I hope not! I guess he'll be needing to have MRIs now and then to ascertain the growth. Did you know that you have tonsils in your brain? I didn't until reading his discharge papers. The condition is called either cerebellar tonsillar ectopia or Chiari malformation. I have learned about various maladies through being a parent including hypospadias, eosinophilic esophagitis, human menopneumovirus, and now I will be learning about cerebellar tonsils and Chiari malformations.

Paul didn't get home from work until 7:30 last night. I took the three kids to both basketball games. Nadia's was at 9:00 and Ian's was at 2:00. Oliver is done playing basketball this year. Nadia's team lost (for the first time), and Ian's team also lost. In both games they only lost by one basket. Nadia's team was ahead the whole game (sometimes by as many as 10 points), but then the other team started catching up at the end and literally made a buzzer beater to win the game. Ian's team had a huge disadvantage because only four kids showed up so they all played all 6 quarters (36 minutes of playing time). Their opponent had 8 kids on their team so their players each played 3 quarters. None of my kids have made any baskets thus far this year. There are just three games left and the season will be over.

This afternoon I had planned to take the kids to Snow Fest at the state park but between the fact Paul is at work, Oliver's injury, I had some work I needed to get done, and the fact it's rained some today, I decided to stay HOME this afternoon. I'm planning on taking the kids to a game night at one of the pastor's house tonight. They live less than 10 minutes from our house. After all the stress I've been under lately, a game night sounds heavenly to me. Last Tuesday was a long day of work and after picking up the kids I stopped at the grocery store and came home to feed them dinner. When I heard the weather forecast I figured I wouldn't be driving to the library the next day as planned. I called the library to ask if they could give me a slight extension on 3 items, but they would only do so on one of the items. So at almost 7pm I had to load the kids back in the van and drive to the library. I had said to the librarian won't you probably be closed tomorrow anyhow? She said she doubted that would happen, but actually it is what happened. The one item they gave me a few extra days on is due tomorrow. I had thought I'd return it on our way home from Snow Fest, but once I knew we weren't going to Snow Fest I decided to see if there was someone at church who lives in that town who could return it for me. A woman in choir said she was happy to do so. I can't tell you what a big relief this was to me. It was a good reminder to me today that it's okay sometimes to ask others for help. I surely could use some now and then as I feel like I have way too much on my plate.

Nadia made these on Wednesday and named them Anne and Dianna (from Anne of Green Gables).

Thinking about my three kids, Nadia has never had any surgeries and her only hospitalization was in the NICU after birth. Since her discharge from the NICU the only doctor she's seen is a Pediatrician. Ian also was only hospitalized in the NICU. He had four surgeries (at four different hospitals!). He has seen a wider variety of doctors (ENT, GI, Allergists, etc.). He spent four weeks in an outpatient feeding clinic in Hershey (we stayed in a Ronald McDonald House). Ian went to an ER once for a cut on his chin from an ice skating injury. Oliver has been hospitalized in four different hospitals. He has ridden in an ambulance twice. He's stayed in a PICU. Oliver has been to an ER multiple times - collapsed lung, RSV, human menopneumovirus, cut on the bridge of his nose, and now for a skull fracture/ forehead laceration. Well here's to hoping we can stay out of the ER and avoid hospitalizations for the rest of 2018! I imagine this visit cost us more than $500.

Between the snow and Oliver's hospitalization, four of my observations were cancelled last week. I need to do eleven observations this week. Hopefully they will actually take place. Oliver came home with a boat load of goodies. He got a new blanket, matchbox cars, two new stuffed animals, markers, crayons, etc. etc. Ian has claimed one of his Star Wars stuffed animals.