Saturday, January 13, 2007

ER

Two neighborhood kids came over to play last evening. Nathan, Abby, and Sam went outside with them to sled down our little backyard hill. Next thing I hear is Abby crying very loudly and she, Nathan, and the friend are at the backdoor trying to get in. Blood was trickling down Abby's face, Nathan said she sled down and hit the tree.

I bring her in to look at what I thought was a bloody nose. After lifting her hat, I saw what it really was - a hole in her forehead! Yikes! I clean it up, put some pressure on it, have Hannah and Ellie help with the pressure, as I run outside to ask the other kids for sure what happened. I send the two neighborhood kids home and tell my kids to get in the van. Hannah calls dad on the cell (who was out making shut-in visits) and leaves two different messages that we were going to the ER because Abby has a hole in her head from hitting the tree sledding. It is 4:30pm.

I gave Abby some ibuprofen to help with the pain and during the whole trip to the ER, I'm worried about her falling asleep and if there is any big danger (she was complaining about it really hurting and hurting, especially when she closed her eyes). By the time we arrive at the ER, the ibuprofen had kicked in and she was feeling better. They check us in and I realize that my wallet is at home by the computer where I was in the process of ordering something! This looks good, I bring in 5 kids, I'm not wearing my wedding ring, and I forgot my wallet with the insurance info. Oh boy. He understood and I told him I expect my husband to be coming, he'll have the insurance card. We proceed to wait in the lobby. David still hasn't arrived, and I'm beginning to wonder where he is. It is about 5:40pm.

The nurse calls us back and I go with Abby, leaving the other four in the lobby with the books and their knitting. The nurse weighs Abby, and then cleans up the wound located below her hairline and puts a "malt" on it to begin to numb the area and then proceeds to check her temp and pulse.

She then leaves and I peak out the ER doors to the lobby and spot the other four playing hide-n-go seek. Silly kids. I go tell them they can't do that and then go back with Abby. I look out the doors a few minutes later and Sam doesn't want Hannah to help him to the bathroom, so I go back out and after the bathroom, I bring them all in with me. David has finally arrived, panic all over his face wondering what had happened. It is about 6:30pm. The check-in guy comes in and asks for the insurance card. See, we really do have insurance!

We all sit in the little room with Abby who is lying on the bed. The doctor comes in and asks Abby what happens and Nathan then informs us that Abby had pulled her hat down over her eyes before sledding! The doc laughs and says he'll come back and take a better look at it in a few minutes once the "malt" has taken full effect. Before he comes back, I take the restless other 4 back out to the lobby and David remains with Abby. It is about 7:00pm.

When the doctor came back to look, the hole was all the way to her skull. He cleaned it up, even letting Abby use a mirror to look at it. He had a resident come in and look too, because, "we don't get good lacerations like this all the time." He put 5 stitches in to close the wound, and then told us he would like to get a Cat scan just to make sure her skull didn't fracture. He didn't think so, but since the wound was open all the way to the skull, he wanted to make sure. We waited longer for that and then for the results. As he expected there was no damage and we were free to go home. It is now around 8:00pm. We finally go get something to eat, Abby picked Culvers, and then headed home arriving around 9:30pm.

Abby was a real trooper. She never cried or anything while the doctor was working on her. She slept all night and this morning is acting quite normal. We'll have to keep basitrasin on her stitches per doc's instructions. They used nylon stitches so I can bathe her with no harm, and next week we'll head back to the ER for them to remove the stitches.

What a night! This was the third trip to the ER in 3 years and we are surely hoping it will be the last for a long time.

1 comment:

Genuine Lustre said...

Glenda - I can't believe you have a blog and I didn't know about it!
Have fun with it - it's sorta like scrapbooking.