WARNING: injured child post (with photos)
My baby (who is six years old) came home from his summer program yesterday with a hole in his head. The hole is small—as compared to the hole that was created in his skull when he was four months old to compensate for his craniosynostosis—but perceptible. John called from the car after picking the kids up to warn me. Winston was feeling small and didn’t want me to worry about his head. So I tried to be a cool customer, and I was—up to a point.
When they reached home, Winston bounded down the patio stairs as I waited at the door to usher him into the house. He greeted me with his jack-o-lantern grin. He seemed fine, if a little sheepish about showing me his injury, so I’m imagining it’s not that bad. Then, he turns around to show me the hole in his head and I see that the back of his white T-shirt is covered in blood. I dig tenderly through his blood-matted blonde hair to find the injury, and there it is. A hole, slowly seeping blood.
John and I made the joint, executive decision not to go to the ER or Urgent Care, where we would sit in the waiting room for hours, during which time, the bleeding would stop. Then, we’d see a doctor who would tell us the hole wasn’t deep enough to warrant stitches, but also that there wasn’t enough skin to stitch together. Been there, done that.
But, we needed to stop the bleeding. Among other reasons, he was leaving a trail of red plops throughout the house. John crafted a tourniquet by folding up a clean dishtowel and securing it to Win’s head with a bandana, and later he slept in his Team Jelly Belly stretchy cycling cap to keep the “bandage” in place.
I hate when the kids get injured like this. I do my best to administer care and comfort, but ultimately it's really hard for me to see them scared and vulnerable, with blood pouring out of their heads.
Apparently, our EMT efforts were a success. Even though the hole hasn’t quiet completely scabbed over, he went to soccer this morning. AND SCORED A GOAL! I wish I could have been there for that, but I was having some QT with Son #1 (sneaking a few chapters in my latest guilty pleasure while Simon watched cartoons). I want nothing more than to wash Winston’s rather grisly-looking hair before we attend the Star Wars exhibit at the Science Museum this afternoon…perhaps no one will notice. I hope.
2 comments:
Holy smokes! What happened to poor Winston's head? Head wounds are scary, they bleed a LOT even though they're not big. I hope it heals quickly!
BTW, how was the Star Wars exhibit. I'm sure it was awesome. We're planning on going in the next couple of weeks. We're waiting for Mike to be unemployed. LOL!
Jen, I'm still not sure what happened to Winston's head b/c his story is all over the place. Suffice it to say, I think he conked it on a playground slide and the skin split on contact. It is, amazingly, healing quickly, now that the wound has a scab.
The Star Wars exhibit was fun! The Wookies blew Win's skirt up, and Simon loved the "spaceship" models.
So, D-Day is finally approaching. Unemployment sucks! Will he get a decent severance, at least? I have to admit that summer is the best time to be unencumbered by a job, especially if you can find free or cheap activities.
Cheers Jen!
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