Concussion

Well, as it’s now almost 10:30pm and I’m just now sitting down to write this, after a verryyyy long day, let’s cut to it… Morning started off with two cuties, just like usual.

And we had a little ladies lunch at Surchero’s today, the first one since Aunt Q retired last month, and all four of us ordered taco salads.

But then at 3:30-ish, I got a call from the school clinic, saying Addison had crashed into a friend on the playground and then hit her head on the metal pole of the playground structure. At the time, they gave her ice, and said she had been upset, but was back to her usual bubbly self. But then they called me again around 4:30, saying she had come back inside upset again, saying her head hurt worse, and not wanting to be outside, but they said they’d take care of her until I could get off work and get there.

But then by the time I got there at 5:20-ish, she had just thrown up two times, her face was super pale and she was barely moving. We loaded up in the car, got her some water and some napkins, and decided to go straight to Urgent Care. My gut-mama-instinct told me immediately it was a concussion, so I didn’t even call Urgent Care first, we just went straight there and walked in. Once we got there, she actually threw up two more times, so four total. They took us back quickly and took her vitals, but then just as quickly referred us to the ER. So Jeff came and met us and we went to the Metro ER.

They moved us back super fast through triage and straight into a tiny room to see the nurse, and eventually the doctor. Based on her symptoms (she was very dazed and out of it, very sleepy, still pale, headache, sensitive to the light) the doctor confirmed right away that she had a concussion, but wanted to do a CT scan of her head to check for fractures, brain swelling, or internal bleeding. My parents came by to pick up Emerson and took her to dinner and they hung out at Chick-fil-A for a while, so that Jeff and I could both stay with Addison. (I didn’t take a good pic of the injury, but you can see the bruise peeking through her hair on the left temple/eyebrow.)

From the time I picked her up at 5:20, until the CT scan around 7pm, she had been asleep or totally out of it that whole time. But then after the CT scan, she kinda woke up and perked up and was starting to get back to her usual self again. We turned on the tv and were lucky to find the first Harry Potter just getting started, so that was perfect. PopPop had stopped by for just a few minutes to check on us and brought her the little Minnie Mouse to cuddle.

Grammy and Papa brought Emmie back to us around this time, after she finished her homework at CFA and had some time in the play place. Once the results from the CT scan came back, the doctor came to tell us there was nothing concerning on the scans and that she was good to go. So praise the Lord for that! But first, the nurse brought her some graham crackers and juice and they wanted to make sure she could keep that down. Once that went well, we were finally discharged and could head home. She was finally getting back to herself again, and when I asked how she felt, she said, “I’m a little feeling better.” But you can see she got her smile back and she gave me a little thumbs up!

It was 9pm by the time we left there, but I went through the drive-thru at Chick-fil-A to get dinner for me, Jeff and Addie, since we hadn’t eaten yet. She was starving and ate her entire bowl of mac & cheese, and then we got them both to sleep. She’s still sleeping in our bed at least half the night every night, so we’ll just let her stay there all night tonight, so we can keep a close eye on her and make sure she’s okay during the night.

Meanwhile, today is the 6th anniversary of Emmie’s open-heart surgery, which we’ve been reflecting on all day today. It still feels so surreal to think back on that whole ordeal, and how tiny she really was back then. So incredibly thankful for her healthy heart now!

These girls are always keepin’ me on my toes with their illnesses and injuries… Please pray for my sweet Addie girl that gets the rest she needs and that she recovers quickly!