I didn't make that association until later but really that is what it looked and felt like...like he had no back bone. He was kind of hanging his head and holding his body all crooked and when I tried to stand him up he wouldn't put any weight on his feet. That is when I started to panic. I remember that feeling (and I've had it a few times now since I've had kids) that is just like this isn't happening, I'm going to wake up soon. This can't be real. True panic. Mark called 911 and we laid Max down on the floor. He was crying but not a real cry, kind of just moaning and out of it. It was the scariest thing I have ever seen. Obviously my dad was probably the most upset and he and my mom were just there trying to figure out what to do. I kept was looking at his arms and legs trying to figure out if he was moving them. He wasn't at first. I took his shoes off and was touching his feet to see if he responded. Then he started moving more. That was a relief.
That was all probably a total of about 3 minutes from when it happened until when I knew he wasn't paralyzed but it felt like alot more. We were all sitting with Max right at the front door. All of a sudden a few of our neighbors walked into the house. One of them is a doctor, another worked for the hospital in some other capacity and another was an EMT. All of them had somehow heard that an ambulance was on the way to our neighborhood. It felt good to see some familiar faces and they took a look at Max and said it looked like he was going to be ok but that he might need a cat scan. The ambulance arrived soon after (it must have been like 5 minutes from when we called, it was very fast) and they said they thought we should go to the hospital by ambulance and that Max should probably be on a backboard but they didn't think he would tolerate that since he was obviously upset. At that point he was kind of just laying his head on my shoulder and I was holding him. I think he had stopped crying but he wasn't talking. It looked like he was going to fall asleep which was also scary. So we got on the ambulance and they strapped me to a stretcher, sitting up with Max sitting on me facing me. He was answering yes and no questions in the ambulance, but not much more. He just seemed really tired and out of it. The driver in the ambulance was actually Rachel's brother in law which was really random too. We had all these people we knew who were involved and it made me more calm I think because they were all pretty calm.
We got to the hospital quickly and they wheeled Max and I on the stretcher through the ER into a room where we would wait for almost 4 hours! Yes you read that correctly. We got there around 11:30 and did not get out of the ER until around 3:00. Apparently the hospital they took us to gets alot of very serious injuries and a 2 year old who fell on his head is no big deal. Especially when they could see him walking and talking and being normal. When we got there a nurse took his heartrate which was normal. He started acting more like himself. Asking questions and talking and laughing. So I knew he was ok but still wanted him checked out by a doctor. My dad got to the hospital a few minutes after us and stayed for an hour or so. Then my mom came later on. There is a whole other side story that involves our car, our keys, the carseat, Mallory, my mom car, and my aunt and uncle needing to get to the airport to catch a train that I won't get into. But they ended up having to take a cab which we felt realy bad about!
The nurses told us Max shouldn't eat and he ended up falling asleep on me for a half hour. When he woke up he was starving because he had only eaten a little bit for breakfast and it was past 2. So I stood in the hall way saying loudly "its ok Max...we have to wait to see the doctor" while Max was standing there crying in the hopes that someone would notice me and care. A nurse said he was allowed to eat now and they brought him a pbj and some juice so he was happy. I called our pediatrician and the on call doctor called me back. I was saying how we had been there forever and Max was acting fine. She was telling me we should just leave because we could be there for 8 hours before anyone talked to us. Then the doctor walked in right then of course! She asked us a few questions, asked Max a few questions which he answered correctly. She said she didn't recommend a CT scan because its a ton of radiation for a little kid and its not worth it if hes acting normal. She told us it was actually a good thing that he was there for 4 hours because she got to keep an eye on him (if keeping an eye on him means running by our room and not even looking in) for the few hours after his injury to see if there were any changes, etc.
So once again...we are lucky. It was one of the days that made me think...I will never complain again about anything about Max. He can be up all night, or be mean to his sister or fail the 4th grade for all I care. As long as he is here and healthy and walking. I'm happy. I honestly feel like that now and I will do my best to not take him or Mallory for granted ever.
So its been just about 2.5 days since that whole thing and Max has already bumped his head against the window sill while falling off of our bed. This child is just injury prone!! I was telling his teacher who is Israeli about the incident and she said that I need to talk to a rabbi and have them say a special prayer about falling because I recently fell with Mallory and now this and we have just had alot of falls in the past few years if you think about it. Kind of scary but I don't think its a curse or anything. More a combination of a determined and rambunctious little boy, some open gates, some cracks in the side walk, a dog getting in the way, etc etc. Hopefully this is the last time. Or at least the last emergency for this year as we seem to have at least one per year with Max.
Here is the story from the source:
1 comment:
Watching Max play and dance last night was a special joy...We are so fortunate.
Pop pop & Gigi
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