On Tuesday evening Wyatt and his cousin Manny were playing in the backyard while Jed and I prepared dinner. (As some of you may know, Manny has been staying with us to attend school up here. He is 14 and big for his age at 6 ft. and about 150 lbs. He is a good kid and Wyatt loves having him around to play with.) It was about 6:30pm. Wyatt was sitting on the deck when Manny, being a 14 year old, decided to swing a paver stone around that the boys had been using as a base in the yard. The stone was about 3 ft square and 15-20 lbs. Manny did not see his cousin and accidentally hit Wyatt on the back left side of his head. He immediately asked Wyatt if he was okay, but Wyatt was too stunned to answer. He did not lose consciousness according to Manny, though Jed and I have reason to believe he blacked out because Wyatt later said "When I woke up after Manny hit me with the stone". Manny carried Wyatt into the house and set him down, telling us we better have a look at him. Wyatt stumbled, so I set him up on the counter and immediately began looking for blood. Wyatt was sobbing and screaming uncontrollably, but I did not see any blood or cuts. I gave him an ice pack and tried to get him to take tylenol, but Wyatt seemed to have trouble with it. He kept freezing and then screaming in pain, and that is when I knew it was more than a headache and bump we were dealing with. We took Wyatt to Children's Hospital, and though I couldn't get a good look at his pupils, he was very sleepy. When we got to the waiting room Wyatt seemed to be doing a little better, but then he vomited. We were taken back right after this, and the resident doctor who examined Wyatt found him to be " very appropriate", with not much concern. She requested a CT scan because of the vomiting and because it was blunt force trauma. By that time it was about 9:00p and we were just beginning to think we might get home soon. Jed went back with Wyatt for the first CT which Wyatt did not take well. Besides having a splitting headache (literally, as we were about to find out), he was exhausted and starving since vomiting and missing dinner. Add to that being strapped down while a huge machine whirs and spins around your head, and you can understand why our poor 5 year old was hysterical. After that, we all waited with Wyatt while he dozed (the doctors said his pupils looked fine) until the scan was read by the neurologist. Wyatt began to complain of his head and stomach again, and it seemed to take them forever to get him some tylenol. When they did though, it did not stay down for long.
About 10:30pm the doctor returned to tell us (rather nonchalantly Jed and I thought) that Wyatt had a skull fracture with a "tiny" bleed on his brain. So small, she said, that they were unsure where it originated. The fracture apparently, is unconcerning to doctors. The bleed however, meant that Wyatt had to be admitted to ICU. The neurologist came in to reiterate what the ER resident had just told us. He said that it was going to be a long night of torture for Wyatt because they could not allow him to eat anything in case they needed to take him to surgery to take out the bleeding if it got any worse. A nurse came in and put an IV in Wyatt's arm. All I can say, is thank goodness he was so out of it, because when he complained of the lights being bright, she threw a gown over his eyes (smart lady) before she inserted it. It went in with a loud pop, not at all like a needle, and Wyatt screamed and tried to rip it out. At this point, toting an extremely tired infant, and trying to comfort my hysterical son while gruesome thoughts swam in my head, I have to admit I nearly broke down. I had been able to (mostly) hold it together while the doctors told us what they found on the scan, and when they said Wyatt was being admitted to ICU, but seeing Wywy so helpless, so exhausted and hungry, in so much pain, and knowing that things could take a turn for the worse in a matter of seconds, I had to call on all God's strength to swallow my own sobs. Jed had gone home to grab a few essentials, and my dad had come to pick up Manny. I prayed then, and tried to meditate to clear my mind, though pretty unsuccessfully. It helped though.
We were brought up to ICU, and went in for the second scan, in which Wyatt did much better. It was encouraging when the tech handed Wyatt some Spiderman stickers, and Wyatt said "These are for Connor" (one of his buddies at school, that he was okay enough to think of his friend made me smile and filled me with warmth). When we got back to his room, his night nurse Gina ran over hospital policy with me and informed me that Penelope was not allowed due to her age and all the infectious disease in a hospital. Of course. By this time it was past midnight. Gina asked me, as she was checking Wyatt's IV, if I had seen the pictures from the first scan. There was something in her voice that seemed slightly disbelieving. When I said no, she asked "So, Wyatt was playing with his cousin? How old is he?" When I explained that Manny is a large 14 year old, her face registered understanding. She offered to show me the scan and said "I didn't think a little cousin his size did this. It's a pretty good crack." Indeed. It started from behind Wyatt's ear and traveled to nearly the top of his head, where it tapered and hooked around toward the front. It looked thick and deep on the screen. (Not at all like the hairline fracture on Wyatt's thumb earlier this year when he fell out of the grocery cart.) The bleed, 6 mm across so really very tiny, was a light colored half moon shape just under where the fracture is. Not having the results of the second scan yet, and having nothing to distract myself from my son lying 5 feet away, I again had to summon strength I didn't feel I had. Strength to not become enraged at my nephew, strength to not let my mind rush to the worst possible outcome, strength to not let the deluge rise up and rush forth. None of this I knew, would help me through the next hours.
About 10:30pm the doctor returned to tell us (rather nonchalantly Jed and I thought) that Wyatt had a skull fracture with a "tiny" bleed on his brain. So small, she said, that they were unsure where it originated. The fracture apparently, is unconcerning to doctors. The bleed however, meant that Wyatt had to be admitted to ICU. The neurologist came in to reiterate what the ER resident had just told us. He said that it was going to be a long night of torture for Wyatt because they could not allow him to eat anything in case they needed to take him to surgery to take out the bleeding if it got any worse. A nurse came in and put an IV in Wyatt's arm. All I can say, is thank goodness he was so out of it, because when he complained of the lights being bright, she threw a gown over his eyes (smart lady) before she inserted it. It went in with a loud pop, not at all like a needle, and Wyatt screamed and tried to rip it out. At this point, toting an extremely tired infant, and trying to comfort my hysterical son while gruesome thoughts swam in my head, I have to admit I nearly broke down. I had been able to (mostly) hold it together while the doctors told us what they found on the scan, and when they said Wyatt was being admitted to ICU, but seeing Wywy so helpless, so exhausted and hungry, in so much pain, and knowing that things could take a turn for the worse in a matter of seconds, I had to call on all God's strength to swallow my own sobs. Jed had gone home to grab a few essentials, and my dad had come to pick up Manny. I prayed then, and tried to meditate to clear my mind, though pretty unsuccessfully. It helped though.
We were brought up to ICU, and went in for the second scan, in which Wyatt did much better. It was encouraging when the tech handed Wyatt some Spiderman stickers, and Wyatt said "These are for Connor" (one of his buddies at school, that he was okay enough to think of his friend made me smile and filled me with warmth). When we got back to his room, his night nurse Gina ran over hospital policy with me and informed me that Penelope was not allowed due to her age and all the infectious disease in a hospital. Of course. By this time it was past midnight. Gina asked me, as she was checking Wyatt's IV, if I had seen the pictures from the first scan. There was something in her voice that seemed slightly disbelieving. When I said no, she asked "So, Wyatt was playing with his cousin? How old is he?" When I explained that Manny is a large 14 year old, her face registered understanding. She offered to show me the scan and said "I didn't think a little cousin his size did this. It's a pretty good crack." Indeed. It started from behind Wyatt's ear and traveled to nearly the top of his head, where it tapered and hooked around toward the front. It looked thick and deep on the screen. (Not at all like the hairline fracture on Wyatt's thumb earlier this year when he fell out of the grocery cart.) The bleed, 6 mm across so really very tiny, was a light colored half moon shape just under where the fracture is. Not having the results of the second scan yet, and having nothing to distract myself from my son lying 5 feet away, I again had to summon strength I didn't feel I had. Strength to not become enraged at my nephew, strength to not let my mind rush to the worst possible outcome, strength to not let the deluge rise up and rush forth. None of this I knew, would help me through the next hours.
Jed came back shortly after, and I called my sister Ker to ask her to meet me at my house and stay with Penelope. Jed walked me out to the car, and as we passed the ER, we saw the medic helicopter on the landing pad. Jed and I looked at one another and we both realized then how lucky we were that Wyatt wasn't any worse off. There are so many for which this is not the case, and as I drove home I sent up my thoughts for those parents and children. My anger and my fear seemed to lift as I did so. When I got home that night, I laid Pepper in her crib and my soul danced with thanksgiving for all that I have. Because my children are the greatest gift of my life. I would be, quite literally, lost without them. For it has been in becoming a mother that I have discovered my true self. God has entrusted these perfect, sparkling souls to me to nurture, to care for, to take joy in. But mostly to love; to teach love, to learn love. God is great.
Back at the hospital, one of the other rules at Children's is that both parents cannot sleep at the same time. Jed let me take the first shift, but when I realized Jed was falling asleep, I let him sleep instead. In the early morning hours I heard Gina laughing with a colleague over Jed's snoring, which mind you, wasn't nearly as bad that night as it can get. Gina was coming in every hour or so to make sure Wyatt was still responsive and check his vitals due to the concussion. At about 6:30am, the neurosurgeon came in and told me (Jed was still asleep) that the bleed had not progressed. At 8am I went home to feed Penelope. When I got back Wyatt had tried to eat some crackers and water, but it had come up. It was then we were told that he would be transferred to the floor (out of ICU) for monitoring because of the concussion. However, by the time I went back home at noon to feed Penelope, we were still in ICU waiting for the attending doctor to show up. My sister went home to pick up her own kids, and I got Penelope to take a nap. I took the opportunity to talk with my nephew at that point. I could tell he was pretty shaken up, and I knew in my heart that it was truly a careless accident. I could not be mad at him for being a kid. More so, I was beginning to be mad at myself for allowing the boys to have the stone in the yard at all. But most important of all was that it could have been so very, very horrible, and it wasn't.
Wyatt ended up being discharged directly from the ICU, and we were all home by early evening. He will have concussion symptoms for 2 weeks, and headaches for a month, but no lasting damage.
That's all folks.
I can't imagine how scary that must have been. It's just horrible to be a parent and feel so helpless. I'm glad everything turned out okay because you're right, it could have been so much worse.
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