Yesterday, Tuesday March 1st, Charlotte and two of her little friends that I watch during the day were eating lunch at the table. I was feeding the baby over on the couch with my back turned to the big kids. Charlotte sits in a booster seat that is strapped to our wooden kitchen chair, she has tried before to scoot her chair back from the table by pushing off on the table top with her feet. She has been told "no" multiple times and usually doesn't get very far. This time was a different story! She pushed hard enough that she tipped the entire chair backwards so it landed on it's back on the tile kitchen floor. Thankfully Charlotte's head hit the wooden chair back and not the actual tile, but it was still a very hard fall. (she was strapped in the booster seat so she did not actually fall out of the chair)
She was shocked at first, then started crying and didn't really want to be comforted. Jeff was on his way home from a meeting at that point, but even with Daddy arriving she cried more on than off for the next hour. Then the throw up began. All her lunch came out in 3 successive throw up events - ugh! She handles throw up like a champ but man oh man. At this point we are worried about a possible concussion but I also had to send home 2 of the kids I watch for a stomach bug at the same time all this was happening so there was a possiblity the head bonk and the throw up was unrelated. I went ahead and called her doctor and we talked over the signs to watch for: continuous throw up, irregular pupil size, and changes in balance, personality, or mental awareness. They did say that she was allowed to sleep for up to 2 hours, since it was already past nap time at this point we went ahead and laid her down.
She slept for just over 2 hours and woke up throwing up again :( At this point, she was crying, pretty docile, and while she could answer questions like she normally would - what color is this, who am I, what is this, etc - she seemed to be a little out of it. We decided it would be best to head to the ER and get her checked out. A huge thank you to Shelley Stedman who was over here in less than 5 minutes after my phone call to watch the 2 remaining kids for their last 45 minutes of care until they were picked up.
Once we got to the ER we did all the needed paperwork, registration, and triage care and were placed in the "Fast Track" with 2 people ahead of us. All in all we waited about and hour and 15 or so to get back into the actual ER. At this point Charlotte was still throwing up - in the car, in the waiting room, and then in our little hospital room. We spoke with a physicians assistant and he seemed amazed by how many times she had thrown up, so that combined with her lethargy and docile behavior, he ordered a CT scan for our little bug. This was to check for any brain bleeds, which could be either serious or something that would heal on its own.
This was the worst part of all this, in my opinion. Once we were in the CT room, it took forever to actually get started, we had this one tech that was super loud and overly excitable which was making Charlotte more uncomfortable than making her feel ok with laying down on this bed thing. They did bring Charlotte a little bear to take home so that helped calmed the waters for a minute. The crying and kicking started when we had to lay her down, wrap her in a lead blanket, and hold her head still. Ugh. Jeff and I were both holding her and singing "Jesus Loves Me" and "Rock-A-Bye-Baby" over and over while the machine moved her back and forth. Prayers were answered when the 10 most important seconds of the scan, she held perfectly still and seemed mesmerized by our singing - thank you Jesus!
The next bit draaaaaged on for 30-45 minutes (Jeff wouldn't let me keep track of the time cause he knew I'd drive myself crazy) So we all just sat in the little room and watched House Hunters and waited on the doctor. We finally got the good news that the CT Scan came back totally normal! Her diagnosis was officially a concussion, so we went over what the next 24 hours would hold, what to watch for, and were even told that she could show effects of the concussion for the next 2 weeks! Amazing. Charlotte was giving some anti-nausea meds which she threw up at first (at this point we were 3 hours into our ER stay and would have loved to have these meds a little earlier!) But we tried again with another piece of "candy" aka the anti nausea meds and a purple popsicle! She scarfed that thing down and actually held it down! We were given the all clear at this point to head home, boy were we all beat! (here is the only photo I took of the entire ordeal)
Charlotte watched tv and cuddled for about 25 minutes when we got home at 8, then she was ready for bed. She crawled right into bed and we didn't hear a peep from her til 7:45 this morning! She woke up crying, but hadn't thrown up. She was hungry and thirsty so we started her out with an anti-nausea pill and juice. Too much! The juice all came right back up :( I won't give you every detail of our day today, but we did have a little more throw up, but then were able to move into 3 hours of non-throw up time, so she had some snacks and some more juice, held it all down, and went for a nap. Unfortunately she only napped for about 45 minutes and woke up crying :( I think she was too hot and sweaty to nap, she hadn't thrown up, maybe her head was hurting? She has some ibuprofen in her, some crackers and apple juice, and while she is tired, she is playing some and watching tv, so that's good!
We already had her 2 year check up scheduled for today, so we are keeping that appointment and doing a concussion follow up as well. So thankful that our CoverKids FREE insurance for Charlotte went into effect yesterday, March 1st! Again, we have amazing friends and family and are so grateful to have you all praying for a quick recovery for Charlotte and for Jeff and I as we take the best care of her as possible. Be watching twitter and facebook for updates!
So sorry that you have all gone through this ordeal my friend! i love you so much and am praying for all of you!
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