Tiny Tebow
Our little girl is a bruiser. She's not even two years old yet, and just this week achieved both her first concussion and her first trip to the emergency room. I imagine it won't be the last of either. Here's what happened...
She managed to topple off a chair Wednesday morning and land on her head on the tile floor at the bagel shop. She didn't get knocked out or bleed, but she was clearly dazed - quiet, shy, whimpering, staring off into space - so we called the nurse line to get their input. They told us to keep an eye on her and scheduled an appointment for a couple hours later at the minor injury clinic.
Literally the moment I hung up the phone (luckily we were out on the sidewalk by then), she threw up everywhere. So back on the phone I went to talk with the nurse about obvious concussion symptoms. She had us head over to our appointment right away to see if they could get us in early. We arrived about ten minutes later, and the nurse didn't exactly ease our minds when she shuffled us into an exam room, saying, "They should have told you to go to the emergency room."
Anna passed all of the tests (visual tracking, pupil dilation, structural integrity of neck vertebrae) for major injuries, but was still very much in a fog. Given that and the fact that she had vomited, the doctor was inclined to do a CT scan to check for brain swelling. Of course, with a toddler, that means sedation, and that meant they would have to do it at the actual hospital.
So he went off to make the arrangements, and while he was gone, she started to come around. By the time we made it to the ER, she was back to her normal cheerful self, talking and singing and interacting with everyone like nothing had ever happened. She even denied that she even had an "ouchie", despite numerous attempts to get her to show us where it was.
The ER doctor performed some visual and reflex tests, and then recommended against the CT scan based on her demeanor and the risks associated with sedating a toddler and then subjecting her head to the equivalent of 100 chest x-rays of radiation. He said we were more than welcome to observe her there or to take her home, as long as we came straight back to the ER if she had any more vomiting or if her alertness or activity levels regressed. Since it was right around her naptime, we decided to head home.
She took a nap in the car and was up and about the rest of the day with no ill effects. ("Anna, do you have an ouchie?" "No.") We woke her up twice during the night to check on her; she was confused and irritated, but dutifully gave us hugs, kisses, and high-fives to demonstrate her cognitive function.
In the morning, she finally complained of an ouchie, on the rear left side of her neck. This prompted a return appearance at the minor injury clinic just to be on the safe side, but it turned out just to be swollen lymph nodes (she's been fighting off a case of the sniffles as well).
So all in all, she's back to her usual self. We're doing our best to keep her from her typical routine of all things reckless for the next few days, which of course is making her mad...so it definitely appears that things are back to normal.
While it was obviously a stressful situation for us (more so than for Anna, I'm sure), the entire diagnosis and treatment experience went quite smoothly. Kudos to Kaiser for prompt, attentive service and an appropriate level of restraint from over-treating.
She managed to topple off a chair Wednesday morning and land on her head on the tile floor at the bagel shop. She didn't get knocked out or bleed, but she was clearly dazed - quiet, shy, whimpering, staring off into space - so we called the nurse line to get their input. They told us to keep an eye on her and scheduled an appointment for a couple hours later at the minor injury clinic.
Literally the moment I hung up the phone (luckily we were out on the sidewalk by then), she threw up everywhere. So back on the phone I went to talk with the nurse about obvious concussion symptoms. She had us head over to our appointment right away to see if they could get us in early. We arrived about ten minutes later, and the nurse didn't exactly ease our minds when she shuffled us into an exam room, saying, "They should have told you to go to the emergency room."
Anna passed all of the tests (visual tracking, pupil dilation, structural integrity of neck vertebrae) for major injuries, but was still very much in a fog. Given that and the fact that she had vomited, the doctor was inclined to do a CT scan to check for brain swelling. Of course, with a toddler, that means sedation, and that meant they would have to do it at the actual hospital.
So he went off to make the arrangements, and while he was gone, she started to come around. By the time we made it to the ER, she was back to her normal cheerful self, talking and singing and interacting with everyone like nothing had ever happened. She even denied that she even had an "ouchie", despite numerous attempts to get her to show us where it was.
The ER doctor performed some visual and reflex tests, and then recommended against the CT scan based on her demeanor and the risks associated with sedating a toddler and then subjecting her head to the equivalent of 100 chest x-rays of radiation. He said we were more than welcome to observe her there or to take her home, as long as we came straight back to the ER if she had any more vomiting or if her alertness or activity levels regressed. Since it was right around her naptime, we decided to head home.
She took a nap in the car and was up and about the rest of the day with no ill effects. ("Anna, do you have an ouchie?" "No.") We woke her up twice during the night to check on her; she was confused and irritated, but dutifully gave us hugs, kisses, and high-fives to demonstrate her cognitive function.
In the morning, she finally complained of an ouchie, on the rear left side of her neck. This prompted a return appearance at the minor injury clinic just to be on the safe side, but it turned out just to be swollen lymph nodes (she's been fighting off a case of the sniffles as well).
So all in all, she's back to her usual self. We're doing our best to keep her from her typical routine of all things reckless for the next few days, which of course is making her mad...so it definitely appears that things are back to normal.
While it was obviously a stressful situation for us (more so than for Anna, I'm sure), the entire diagnosis and treatment experience went quite smoothly. Kudos to Kaiser for prompt, attentive service and an appropriate level of restraint from over-treating.
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