A hole in the head

For a long time, I am going to be haunted by something that I saw happen today: My 6-year-old son tumbling backwards and hitting his head upon landing. We were getting ready for me to take him to school this morning. Jesse told me he had to use the bathroom and I told him to go ahead. He ended up being in there too long and so his dad decided to check on him. We both walked into the bathroom. Jesse had been in the process of getting his toothbrush and toothpaste down but we startled him so bad he tumbled backwards. He hit his head against the wall so hard that he was bleeding! His dad and I both saw it and his dad sprung into action quicker than me, quickly tending to Jesse and the bleeding wound on the back of his head. Meanwhile, Jesse was crying and freaking out so I did my best to comfort him while my husband cleaned him up and tried to stop the bleeding.

We took Jesse to the ER and explained what happened. (Jesse also got to share his side of the story, too.) When they finally saw him, the nurse took his vitals then cleaned his wound. I couldn’t help but cringe when I saw what the result was: He literally had a hole in his head!! I almost freaked when I saw it. We talked with the nurse about it and then we waited for the doctor to come in. When the doctor examined it, he proceeded to check Jesse in other areas. He checked his ears, eyes, reflexes and made sure Jesse could turn his head from side to side okay. (Right after it happened, Jesse walked REALLY slowly and turned his head slowly.) We checked to see if he had any headaches or dizziness. He said his head hurt where he’d hit it. Next the doctor instructed Jesse to walk around the room to make sure he could walk okay.

Then the doctor talked with us about treatment. He said there were three options: Staples, stitches or glue. The doctor wanted to staple the hole shut but my husband thought we’d give the glue a try first and, if that didn’t work, staples. (I really did not want to think about what might happen if the glue didn’t work!) So after a while, both the nurse and the doctor came into the room and had Jesse lie on his stomach, with his upper body over the pillow. Once he was comfortable and the doctor made sure he was ready, he started applying glue to the wound and the nurse gently squeezed to close it up. After a while, they finished. I guess it was a success because the doctor gave the nurse a fist bump. (Ha!)

After that was over, Jesse proudly announced that it hadn’t hurt. We congratulated him and told him what a brave little boy he was. We talked with the doctor then the nurse about follow-up care and when we’d need to call or bring him back in.

Because of this, I kept Jesse home from soccer practice today. He’d already missed school (we were at the ER for hours!) and I also told him no bike riding, no running, jumping, climbing around or other things that might make him fall down again.

Now this evening, he is doing a lot better and the pain has stopped. We are allowing him to go back to school but I sent his school a note about what happened and the precautions we have to take until his wound is all healed. I have been keeping a watchful eye on him today. This is actually the first time I have been back on the computer since this morning! I was so nervous, scared and panicked over what happened. Thank God he is okay. I hope he will stay okay. I hope he’ll sleep tonight without problems and wake up feeling somewhat back to normal tomorrow.

Oh, and also today, Jennifer had tripped while running and skidded across the parking lot! Ow! She scraped her elbow and shoulder and she also hurt her stomach.

This was just not a good day for either of my kids!