Friday, September 20, 2013

Bunk Bed Injuries

Unfortunately, we had a bit of "excitement" around here. In a freak accident our daughter was reaching off her top bunk for her water that she keeps on a shelf built in to the wall. She dropped the cup and in an effort to catch the cup, she flipped herself out of the bed and smacked her head on a dresser drawer she had left open on the way down. She ripped the shelving unit out of the wall, shattering all the glass trinkets she kept on the shelf. It was unreal. Blood was everywhere. We couldn't tell where she was bleeding from exactly. We wrapped her head with a towel and rushed her to the Emergency Room (which was a horrible experience that I won't go in to here).

 This is after waiting for three hours and having the lead nurse telling us her bleeding was under control. I beg to differ.
 Head wounds bleed FOREVER!!!
 They finally got her all stitched up. 14 stitches in all. She was also exhibiting signs of a concussion so once we got home at almost 1 am I spent the entire night watching her sleep because I was so worried.
 This is day 3 of the stitches. The doctor did a great job of making the suture line even since the cut itself was a bit jagged.
 On day 3 some of the concussion symptoms worsened so we were sent back to the (a different) hospital for a battery of tests. The good news is while we were there they thought the incision was healing so well that they could take the stitches out. They felt like the longer they kept them in the stronger the chance of scarring. The bad news is there are some noticeable cognitive deficiencies and we've been referred out to a brain trauma specialist. I am hoping that sounds worse than it is and they are just attempting to cover their butts, but some of the symptoms she is having worry me a little bit.
 Here is her face after the stitches were removed. Looks pretty good. I am hoping it won't scar and over time it will fade. Nothing worse than a scar on the face....particularly for a girl.
In the grand scheme of things it could have been far worse so we are thankful for that. It has definitely been a frightening experience and she will be missing quite a bit of school as she has been placed on complete "brain rest" which consists of essentially sitting quietly in a dark room and resting: no tv, no reading, no homework, no school, no physical activity, etc. etc.

When she does go back to school it will be gradual, starting with half days and progressing to full days over the course of a couple weeks.

Never a dull moment.

1 comment:

Nancy said...

WOW!
That must have been incredibly frightening. I'm sorry to hear of the continued symtoms and hope the "brain rest" clears it up.