Old Habits Are Apparently Hard to Break
Last night was going to be the first Thursday that I did not see any ER action since it’s first episode 15 years ago. Apparently there was one last (hopefully) Thursday night ER drama that had to unfold. It was 630pm – I just got Evan out of the bathtub and into his pajamas while Amy was getting ready for ballet. Evan was playing in his room while I was cleaning up the bathroom.
Amy was in the living room. The next thing we heard was a loud bang and then Evan crying. (Evan is not usually one to cry so you know if he is something is bad.) I was the first on to get into his room. He was standing up by his changing table and I did an initial scan to make sure he had all his teeth and was not bleeding. No blood so I was happy. Amy rushed in and said “oh my god look at his head!!” and I looked and look and did not know what she was talking about. She then told me to look at his forehead where there was a growing by the second lump over his eye that was getting more black and blue as it grew.
Amy and I decided as soon as it kept getting bigger and bigger (like someone put a bouncy ball under his skin) that we needed to call 911. Amy got on the phone and got him some ice (which he screamed more about using that than the actual injury) and I tried to keep it on his head. The fire company and ambulance arrived within a few minutes and as soon as Evan saw the 5 men come in the house he stopped crying and wanted to give them all high fives and see the fire truck. Of course Amy and I are the ones crying now.
The guys checked him out, tried to give him ice for his head, but Evan was more interested in wanting to show them his room “Come on man, come on man” as he was going to his room with me to get his shoes. The guys then let him go sit in the ambulance where they decided it was best to go to the ER to get it checked out.
We waited a few hours to get checked out and the entire time Evan was thankfully himself – greeting everyone, running around, and all around happy (and very tired). We came home, put him to bed and then checked on him every 2-3 hours to make sure he was responsive. He is now in the livingroom with Amy watching TV and is doing great.
On a side note – last night I decided to try out my magnesium stick, flint, and fire making skills before this all happened in the backyard in our fire pit. After many unsuccessful tries I just used some matches and started a little fire to burn some of the hundreds of twigs in our backyard. Before I went inside – I grabbed the hose, put it out, and then gave Evan his bath. When the fire department was getting ready to leave they asked me if I left my grill on because it was still smoking and then jokingly said “because we would not want to have to come out here again”. I said yes because I was not sure if there was a time/day that you could have a fire going and so I went in the backyard hoping they would not see it was a fire pit. I grabbed the hose, filled the pit with water this time, and as it was going out – one of them walked back, but thankfully did not say anything (probably because my son was in the ambulance.
What a night!