Lazer Doe

It's been over a month and I'm only now making the time to document K's accident on the blog. On June 15, 2015 K fell 7-8 feet from a ladder onto concrete onto his head. There was no blood - just a skid mark on the side of his forehead. I didn't see the fall, but was told he hit the rungs of the ladder on the way down, which likely slowed his fall. He did have "rung rash" on the inside of one elbow suggesting he hooked an arm over a rung at some point. We rushed him to the Urgent Care about 1/2 mile from our house where they immediately called an ambulance after asking "What possessed you to bring him to the Urgent Care" (instead of the ER) ... Well, the Urgent care was closer. I learned that a fall of more than twice one's height (on to the head at least) is considered a trauma and K and I were sent by ambulance to Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Downtown Portland while The Scoot got T situated at his cousins house. I spent the ambulance ride trying to keep K from falling asleep and thinking he'd be thrilled to be riding in an ambulance under less painful circumstances (given his typical little boy fixation on emergency and construction vehicles). The ambulance medics were very calm, kind, and professional and let me know what to expect before we arrived at the hospital - basically a very busy room full of about 12 people ready to take care of K and ask me questions.
Being somewhat preoccupied with K, I never did count, but 12 sounds about right. They were very efficient, but also took care to make space for me to be close to K who just wanted to be held (but couldn't be until after the CT scan). They made sure I was able to hold his hand or have some other skin to skin contact with him throughout all the proceedings. I sang to him as they bustled about and inserted and IV (after three attempts to find his poor tiny veins) and a couple of the staff members even sang "You are my Sunshine" with me. The IV drama forced K from his attempts at sleeping and there were many cries for "Mama" which broke my heart, but I was grateful for his responsiveness. I think his responsiveness more than anything (even though he was drowsy) helped me hope/believe that everything would be alright.
They draped me with a lead apron and let me keep a hand on K's tummy during the CT scan. I continued to sing to him as well and the IV wasn't needed in the end. It was placed in case they needed to sedate him to keep him still for the CT scan, but he was very still and fell asleep about half way through the scan. He was a good little patient and after the scan, I was able to hold him as he slept.
Not long after that The Scoot arrived at the hospital and we received good news. He had a fracture, but there was no offset or depression so he wouldn't require surgery and there was no brain swelling. They offered to let us stay overnight for monitoring, but also said they felt comfortable sending us home, so we opted to go home. K slept well, and only awoke once appearing to be uncomfortable, and then went right back to sleep. He woke the next morning in a fantastic mood as though nothing had ever happened. We hadn't planned to take him to daycare because we figured he'd be uncomfortable and cranky, but given his mood we took him in. The Scoot worked from home (just over a mile from daycare) in case he required early pick up, but one of his teachers commented that he'd had a fantastic day - even better than most.
The Legacy Emanuel staff was so efficient, kind, and non-judgmental. One women even voiced the opinion that we can't protect them from everything and they need a chance to be who they are - which is what K was being - his own little monkey self and a happy one at that. The same woman also complemented me on my calmness through the whole thing and said it really makes a difference when the parents are calm. I'm surprised that I never had to make a conscious effort to be calm. It's possible that the reality of the situation just hadn't sunk in and that I was too focused on the experience to think about the possible outcomes ... that and I just felt like it would be all right. I'm so glad that feeling didn't turn out to be a delusion.
Although I didn't blog right away, I did post a couple of things on facebook:
June 16, 2015
"If I never take another ride in an ambulance it will be too soon (yes, the lights and sirens were on). I can say that the Ambulance medics and trauma staff at Legacy Emanuel are awesome. K fell 7-8 feet onto concrete last night and landed on his head. He has a skull fracture (right side of his forehead) and some abrasions, but his brain looked good on the CT scan with no internal bleeding or swelling. They offered to let us stay overnight for monitoring, but also said they were comfortable sending us home, so we opted to go home. He slept well last night and woke up in a great mood as his own little busy self. He was quite excited, oohing over all his little band aids where the staff had tried to insert the IV which luckily didn't get used since he fell asleep during the CT scan (it was bed time). He's such a trooper.
I also learned that the trauma unit gives patients nick names when they're en-route so they can start charting and planning before they have the patients real name. Last night K was Laser Doe for a couple of hours."
and June 18, 2015
"It's hard to believe there's a crack in that little skull. It certainly doesn't seem to be slowing him down."

Our primary care doctor wanted to see K the next day and The Scoot took him in. I talked to her a couple of weeks ago when I took T in for the croup and she commented on how surprised she was to see him acting like his normal, little, active self especially after reading the accident report.
I love this little boy! I suspect this won't be our last trip to the ER, but I hope all our future accidents are met with the same staunch resilience.