Another Hospital Holiday

Charlie has a great fondness for emergency rooms, especially for injuries involving his head. This afternoon, he fell off his bike and hit his head on the concrete curb.

We came in and laid him down on the couch with an ice pack. After about half an hour, he fell asleep. I thought about keeping him awake, but the boy had been playing hard and could use the nap. Because he'd been talking to me and his pupils looked okay, I let him snooze.

After awhile, I went shopping to buy myself something for mother's day (don't ask) and Dowlan called. Charlie had woken up and threw up.

I head home, he's in the tub when I get there. After I'm there to watch him, Dowlan goes to steam clean the couch. Charlie's playing and talking, so I think again that he's fine. Then he lays down in the tub. I'm not sure if he's swimming or trying to go to sleep.

Mommy: Charlie, don't lie down in the tub.
Charlie: What does 'lie down' mean?
M: Lying down is when you go flat. Like you do in your bed.
C: I go to bed in the nighttime?
M: Yes, when it is nighttime. But don't lie down in the bathtub.
C: What is lie down?
M: When you aren't standing or sitting. When your body is flat.
C: hm.
M: I can take you to the couch if you want to lie down. But not in the bathtub.
C: What is a bathtub?

Yeah. We'd had some odd conversations up til that moment, but it's really hard to tell when Charlie is out of it. He's often an odd companion. Not knowing what the bathtub he's sitting in is? Freak out time. Get him out of the tub (pause while he throws up again) and he can't really walk to me. Even while getting him dressed, he keeps trying to nod off.

Take the girls to a neighbor, go to the ER. He throws up on the way.

We didn't think to grab spare clothes, so we wrap him in Melody's spring green cardigan and a blanket. They get us back quickly after a blood pressure test and a rectal temperature in triage. (He wouldn't let it near his mouth.)

We get into a room, where he becomes fond of the little bowl they give him to throw up in.



Nurse comes in, doctor comes. He does the CAT scan and I'm pretty proud of him. We'd told him he was going to go visit a robot. He looked ready to freak out, and his eyes kept darting side to side. I could tell he was waiting to see what it was going to do to him. When it really didn't do anything except move him around a bit and buzz, he was okay.

While we're waiting for results, he throws up on Dowlan, so they both get gowns. Spend half an hour talking about Jonah and the Whale because of the whales on the gown. Then he falls asleep.



Doctor came in to tell us it was a mild concussion. Gave him some anti-nausea meds. Told us to watch him. Sends us home.

Charlie wakes up long enough to throw up one more time, then attach himself to the Jonah gown he saw us leaving on the bed. We steal it. Yeah. Turn us in for that one.

We got the girls from the neighbors and they're asleep. Dowlan and Charlie are set up in Charlie's room with some towels and a bucket, alarm set to wake him up every two hours all night.

It's going to be fun making it to work at 7 in the morning. Happy Mother's Day!