Crash and burn . . . .and get a mild concussion.

{Sunday Morning}

The Crash and Burn. . .

Let’s start the story on Friday. . . Friday after noon Jarrod went to daycare to pick Arden up for her Doctor’s appointment (follow-up with the ENT). Well when he gets there he learns that Stratton had just gotten pushed off the slide by another child and the whole right side of his face was scratched. He was fine, but just shaken up and upset. So Jarrod couldn’t leave him there after that so he picked up both kids and called me to tell me what happened (I was at work fixing to leave to meet him at the Dr office) and he just told me that Stratton did a face plant and was roughed up pretty good. Well, when I walked in the doctors office I was just almost in shock, Jarrod had not prepared me for what I saw! My poor baby’s whole right side of his face was red and scratched and just looked awful!! He seemed fine, his normal self for the most part. I asked him about the incident and he kept saying “Ronnie pushed me off the stair slide”, there isn’t a Ronnie in his class so I asked him who this “Ronnie boy was?”, Turns out Ronnie is a girl. He was very hesitant to tell us that at first. Then I asked him if she was new or in a different class and he said she was in the little kid class. Hmmm. So, he got beat up by not just a girl, but a girl younger and smaller than him?! Boy. It’s hard to be too mad after that. I figure she just didn’t know better or didn’t mean to. Right?! I choose to think so.

Friday night I went to a jewelry party at my friend Lori’s house and Jarrod and the kids hung out at home. I’m glad we didn’t have anywhere to be or anything to do, since Stratton looked so rough!

The Concussion. . .

Saturday, the kids got up early- of course, so we got around and went and had breakfast at Sue’s. We were disappointed to learn that they didn’t have cinnamon rolls!! Crazy! After that we ran a few errands and then headed back to the house so Stratton could take a nap. Jarrod sold his truck a couple of weeks ago (I know you’re shocked, right?) and then he had found one Friday he liked, so while Stratton was napping he went and bought another truck. Then when he got back he and Stratton went out to ASU to the spring practice football game. While they were gone Arden took a decent nap and I picked up and cleaned up and starting cooking for the birthday party we were having for my mom and Brandye that evening. The guys got back and Stratton was hyped up! I had been in the kitchen but had gone in the Living Room to check on Arden when Stratton came in there and asked me “Mommy how do I get passed the hot?” I had no idea what he was talking about so I told him to stay away from the stove and that he didn’t need to be playing in the kitchen because the oven and stove top were both on. Well about 30 seconds later, I hear “SMACK” and then wailing. By the time I got in there Jarrod had already picked Stratton up and was looking him over. He had apparently hit his head in the same place again, this time he had a pretty good gash right beside his eye. It also looked like he took a blow to the right side of his head when he hit the tile floor. My theory is that he was jumping from rug to rug in the kitchen (the tile was “hot”) and the rug slipped out from under him and he fell. Now, that’s just a theory. Who really knows why or how it actually happened! He and Jarrod sat in the chair with a ice pack for awhile and I gave him a dose of tylenol. My parents came in soon after and he seemed fine. We got supper on the table and I thought he’d probably eaten pretty good considering Jarrod let him have a hot dog at the ball game, but he started saying his stomach hurt. (Honestly, my first thought was “Oh, no. Not good. He’s probably got a concussion) Jarrod suggested that he go lay down on the couch, it had been a busy day and he hadn’t gotten much of a nap, we chalked it up to him being tired and eating too much. Well, about 45 mins later he threw up. All over Jarrod. We cleaned everything and everybody up and Stratton took a bath. After his bath he threw up a couple more times and he was acting so sleepy and just lethargic. Brandye looked him over and said he probably had a mild concussion, but there was really nothing that could be done. Eventually, after we just couldn’t keep him awake, we all agreed that we probably needed to take him to the ER just to be sure. Brandye went with us and wow. So thankful that we know someone with connections! We got in had an evaluation, saw a nurse, saw the doctor, had a CT scan and got the results all within about 2 hours. They said he did have a mild concussion, and told us to watch him carefully (they gave us a list of things to be watching for) and also wake him up during the middle of the night (I guess to make sure he doesn’t drift off into a coma). The whole event was terrifying to me, but I held it together. Especially on the ride to the hospital I tried to talk to him to keep him awake and a couple of times I had to actually shake his arm to make him stay awake- so scary! They told us to follow up with his PCP on Monday.

I am pretty sure that his beat up face and two “accidents” two days in a row warranted some additional questioning by the staff at the ER, I think we had to tell the whole story to about 4 different people. I am also fairly confident that a child protective services agent was on the other side of the door just waiting to hear a discrepancy in our story! Stratton, poor thing looked really, really rough! He did really good at the ER, just towards the end he got restless and thirsty, but he was still very well behaved.

Thankfully we made it through the night ok. My mom and dad took Arden home with them thinking that Stratton would sleep late since it was about 11:30 by the time he got into bed. Wrong. He was up at 6:30 am!! We didn’t go to church since we were all just kind of tired and groggy. I was exhausted. I got up 7:30 and then went back to bed and slept till 10:30. I think all the emotions of the night before had just wiped me out! We had a late lunch at Olive Garden (Stratton’s request) and he ate like we’d been starving him! We came back to the house and finally got him to take a nap then we got around and my dad brought Arden back then we went to church and after church we had our monthly small group  meeting.

Monday my mom came and stayed with Stratton since we were hesitant to send him to school (where he isn’t watched like a hawk, like he needs to be) and have another incident happen again. I called the pediatrician's office and they wanted him to come in. I picked him up at the house and he and my mom were sitting in the front yard having a Micky D’s picnic. They had also been to Lowes and bought flowers and they were going to plant them but apparently Stratton feel asleep before they got home from their outing and when he woke up mom heated up his lunch and they were enjoying it outside since it was so nice. His appointment took right at an hour. She thought he looked fine and even said he could play baseball. He was feeling ok enough that when we got back home he and Gigi finished their project. Now we have pretty flowers around our crepe myrtle tree!

Whew. I guess it’s not so bad. I mean he’s almost 4 and just now had his first concussion (that we know of anyway). I told him he’s “this close” to having to wear a helmet all the time!