Our First ER Visit, March 2017

On Wednesday afternoon, Ellie was napping away, LJ had just finished his afternoon snack, and we were waiting for our friends to come over for a play date. Evan walked into the kitchen with his bag of golf clubs, and asked if he could go practice in the yard. I said he could get started, and I would be out as soon as our friends arrived (didn't want to miss hearing the door). LJ followed Evan out the back door just about the time Bella started to bark at the front door.... Keri, Brinkley, and Beckham had arrived. I greeted them at the door, told the kids to head out to the back where the boys were playing, and then was just getting Keri settled (purse down, hugs, etc) when LJ came racing in the door saying, "It was an accident!!!" and Evan was just behind him screaming, crying, and holding his head! I met Evan in the door and picked him up, and that is when he must've let go of his head and I felt the warm gush of way too much blood falling on my arm! AH!!!

Thank goodness Keri was there, so helpful, and helping me to remain calm!! We got Evan to the sick and worked on a cold compress to stop the bleeding! Evan was crying so hard he was near hyperventilating, so we got him a Gatorade to provide sugar - and the sipping seemed to help him calm down a little. I also gave him a small piece of chocolate, and we learned from the kids that LJ had been practicing his golf swing and Evan was standing too close behind him. The kid's size, metal golf club hit Evan in the left side of his head as LJ was swinging. It was an accident, but a pretty scary one! I did not take the fact that it was in his head lightly, and with help from Keri on where to go, decided St. David's Children's Emergency was our best bet. There was so much blood that we had no idea how bad the cut was, and I wanted to make sure he didn't have a concussion!

So I called Barrett and asked him to get home as soon as possible, but Keri stayed with LJ, sleeping Ellie, and her kids at my house until he was able to get there. Evan and I got in the car, and 17 mins later (about 30 minutes after the original hit), we made it to an empty children's hospital waiting room! Evan had calmed down and was surprisingly happy!

We got through triage quickly while Evan chatted away with the nurses. They were asking several questions, and he was happy to answer (and expand on) all!

After we got into our room, they seemed to be moving a little slower. In my lack of patience, I attempted to put some water on his head to get rid of the blood and see if I could tell how bad it was (I still had NO idea). There was so much blood in his hair though, I gave up.

While Evan was in a pretty great mood considering, he wasn't super excited to let us mess with his head! So the nurse practitioner wrapped this bandage around his head with a lot of numbing cream on it. Then they let us hang for what seemed to be a long time! I later realized they were going so slow because they wanted to keep us there for 2 hours to make sure Evan didn't have a concussion. Luckily, he did not! He had eaten quite a bit, was not nauseated or tired, and could recite anything asked (the entire story, everything about his school, teachers, friends, siblings, and counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s! He was a big hit! Haha!).

Thank goodness I had my bag of entertainment in my car when I left - including an iPad! It saved us! Evan was so happy to get extra iPad time!

And I have to say this hospital was awesome!!! We had a hospitality lady come check on Evan to make sure he was doing ok, feeling ok, getting his needs met, etc... and she asked him if he'd like a new 'friend'. Of course he said yes! So a few minutes later, she brought this brand new, bright stuffed animal to him! She told him he got to name it. He accidentally called it a stuffy animal, which made him laugh so hard... and then he immediately decided his name would be Snuffy!!! This was a huge hit and help (and Snuffy has slept next to Evan every night since getting him!).

And then a little while after that, we had a visit from Rusty, a therapy dog!!! I think I was more excited about Rusty than Evan (who was pretty excited), but he was the cutest little dog!!

And then back to the iPad!!

After what seemed to be a very long time, the nurse practitioner came back, undid the bandage and we finally got a good look at the wound. Just my guess, but I would say it was about a quarter inch thick and an 1.5 inches long. The NP said we did not HAVE to get staples, but that staples would decrease the risk of infection, re-opening it / more blood, and help the scar to be smaller. This seemed like an obvious Yes to me! So we kept the iPad in front of Evan, and started stapling! The first kind of shocked him, and then he yelled while we quickly did the next two. Thank goodness it was so fast though, and then the promise of leaving/ ice cream calmed him quickly!

Good-bye St. David's!!! Thanks for taking care of my baby!

Next stop... Orange Leaf!!! It was late, and we were pretty gross, but my sweet boy deserved some ice cream!!

Three staples in his sweet little head!!! Thankful for the spot he got hit and no concussion!!! What an afternoon/ evening!!

We got him home and bathed (although we had to be very careful bathing around the wound for the next 7-10 days/ until staples out). They said after tonight we could pour water over it, but not submerge his head underwater or shower.

Eight days later, we had an appointment at our regular pediatrician's office to get the staples out! Here is my happy little man in the waiting room!

I avoided telling Evan we had the appointment all day, and finally just told him we were going to the doctor later to get his staples looked at... then while the nurse was checking us in, he said, "So just getting the staples out today?" My eyes got huge and I said, "Yes he doesn't know that part yet!" BUT to my surprise, he looked at me very excited, and said, "I get them OUT today!? YAY!!! Now I can take a bath with my head under the water!!" Little did I know how happy he would be to hear this news! And he remained super excited until about the moment the doctor was taking them out! He screamed and fought the removal of the second and third staples a little - can't be very comfortable even with the numbing cream! But as soon as it was over, he was his happy little self again!!!

Waiting on doctor...

We were told how much we look alike, so while we waited, we decided to make faces to see if we agreed!! ;)

Last picture of the stables in his head!

As SOON as we got home, Evan wanted to take a bath in my bath tub!! He had a loooong bath with lots of putting his head under water, and he was one happy little guy!!!