It snowed here Wednesday, and froze overnight Thursday. I have been avoiding driving during rush hour and at night. I know I can get around, but why add one more vehicle to the slipperiness out there? We get so little snow and ice here, a couple of days of re-adjusting schedules does not hurt a bit.
Yesterday afternoon our daughter and two friends went sledding at the neighbourhood park. It has spectacular hills, and they have the new foam core super-slipperly sleds. I was delighted that 13 year olds still want to go sliding at the park.
About an hour after they went out, they returned. Fiona looked a bit strange, and told us that she had crashed into the metal pole on a chain link fence surrounding the tennis court that sits at the bottom of the hill. I asked for details of the crash and asked the usual questions to assess if she might have a concussion: dizziness? nauseau? let's see your eyes, headache? I asked her friend if Fi lost consciousness at all, and it sounds like she stayed conscious, although she did not remember the moment of impact. I decided that we'd better watch her and also wake her up a couple of times during the night in case it was a concussion. First aid: hugs and "I'm glad you're okay."
Red Neck
Then Fiona noticed that the back of her neck was red with dried blood. I checked her scalp and found a pretty impressive cut. So her friend went home, and Fiona and I drove to the hospital.
Numb Skull
Luckily Emerg was quiet when we got there. The doctor froze the area, cleaned it up and put 7 staples in to close up the cut. Back at home we had a late supper (Andy took over cooking when we determined a trip to the hospital would be necessary) and some ibuprofen. The headache felt better and Fi phoned her friends to tell the story.
I'm glad it wasn't worse, and I'm proud of how brave she was. Getting staples in your head can't be anybody's favourite thing to do! The staples will come out in a week and there may be a small scar, but it will only ever show if she decides to shave her head.
In the meantime, we have a healthy crackhead, red neck, numbskull kid. The night-time drive wasn't even so bad. Funny how your perspective changes when your child needs help.
question: did you ever get stitches or staples?
mompoet - still dispensing hugs as needed
1 comment:
Oh my, poor girl. I hope she is healing and doing better.
When I was 6 years old I fell down our inside stairs that lead down into the basement. At the foot of the stairs we had a lawnmover - those old push kind. I hit that and cut my head. I remember my mom taking me to the hospital in a taxi and I had a striped towel wrapped around my head. Afterwards, when we got home I was allowed to lay down in my parents bed and that was a treat!
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