Monday, April 5, 2010

Bump on the head + throwing up = trip to ER

I think it must be a secret rite of passage thing my kids have that they have to have a trip to the ER by age 3. Lucy got hers last Tuesday.

Tuesday afternoon she went in the bathroom with Abby to wash her hands. She was standing on the toilet and leaning over the counter. Somehow she fell backwards and hit the back of her head on the bathtub. Of course she screamed for a few minutes and I held her and checked her over. She wasn't bleeding anywhere and I couldn't find a goose egg where I thought she hit. I asked her to tell me or show me where she hit her head and she wouldn't do either. I thought maybe she was more scared and mad than hurt so I kept an eye on her.

After 30 minutes she still refused to talk and would just stare straight ahead...sometimes not even acknowledging me when I spoke so I called the pediatrician and they asked me to bring her in. I called a neighbor who was kind enough to take Max and Abby off my hands then Lucy and Ruby and I headed to the Dr.

I started getting really worried on the way because Lucy kept falling asleep and she had already had a nap that morning so I knew she shouldn't be tired. I kept calling her name and reaching back to rub on her legs to keep her awake. She didn't start talking to me until we were waiting in the exam room for the Dr. to come in.

Once he had checked her he said she'd be fine but to call back if she started staggering around like she was drunk or if she started vomiting. Well, about an hour after we got home she threw up...a lot. Of course I freaked out (my kids don't normally throw up without a reason). John grabbed Lucy and started cleaning her up while I grabbed the phone and tried to call the Dr. It was about 6:30 so I expected to get the after hours line. Nothing ever happened. The phone kept ringing. After about 45 minutes I told John we needed to take her to the ER. I told him I would call my mom to come and stay with the kids but in the meantime either he could take Lucy or stay with the other 3. He chose to take Lucy...go figure ;p

He got in to the ER about 7:45. I think I finally got down there about 9ish. By the time I had gotten there the Dr. had ordered a head CT but it hadn't been done yet. John left about 9:30 to go home so my mom could leave. About 10:15 they came and got us to take us to radiology. I had to lay on top of Lucy and hold her hands and body still so they could do the scan. She screamed at first but after a couple of practice runs she got calm and stayed so still...I was SO PROUD of her!

She threw up once more just as the Dr. was coming in to say the scan was normal and that the vomiting may be a virus coming on. We got home about midnight.

On Wednesday Lucy was whinier and clingier than normal but I figured it was a virus. Thursday morning I was strapping her in the car seat and she had her mouth open so wide I happened to be staring at the back of her throat...which was bright red...with huge tonsils...that had white patches on them. Hello! Strep throat! She had an appointment that afternoon for a follow up with her pedi. so I asked him to swab her. Yep, strep. We have amoxicillin and she back to her old self...beating up on her big sister ;p

Let's hope we don't have any more trips to the ER for a VERY LONG TIME!!!!!



1 comment:

Kmama said...

Oh how scary!! Buster had a CT last September. I hated it. The poor kiddo cried so hard.

I hate to say that I'm glad it was "just" strep, but I am!