"The Accident"

Well, yesterday I called 911 for the first time for one of the kids. Stephen was standing in a chair & it tipped backwards causing injury to the back of his head. We think he hit computer equipment on the way down. I wouldn't expect a cut that bad from just hitting the floor.

As soon as I saw the blood & the fact that it was coming from the back of his head, I grabbed the first thing I could find to put pressure on it, which was my pajama bottoms, oddly enough. (Who has time to go to the linen closet for a fresh towel in this case? I mean, come on!) I carried him to my bed and had the emergency operator on the phone within a minute of the fall--probably just like about 30 seconds.

Not knowing how severe the cut or damage was, I laid Stephen down and kept pressure on his head, not daring to remove the pants that were soaking in blood at this point. The paramedics arrived first, then the ambulance. It was mutually decided by all of us that Stephen needed to go to the ER, but the ambulance would be too scary. They would have to strap him down--standard procedure. I signed his care back to me and we went straight to the hospital.

If I may backtrack just a bit, I want to give a big "KUDOS" to Phillip for being so brave and helpful during this event. He was calm and went to all the doors to unlock them for the emergency crew. He then took over for me with keeping pressure on Stephen's head while I threw on some clothes to get ready to head out. When the crew arrived, he answered the door for me & showed them back to our bedroom where I had Stephen.

Once at the ER, they took Stephen back right away. I asked if Stephen was getting stitches, but the doc said, "Nope. We're gonna do staples. Two should do him up just fine. He can wash his hair tomorrow." Wow... staples? I found out that it's so much easier than stitches. They hold the cut together tighter, they can get wet, and no hair had to be cut. Actually, you cannot see them unless his hair is pulled back.

Stephen feels fine & is in no pain. Thankfully, there's not a whole lot of nerves on the head (I don't think). He had a good day with his brother, who was just happy that Stephen was not seriously injured. We are so thankful he had no concussion or any other injuries. It was a bad fall. Here's a pic of the staples on the back of Stephen's head if you can make them out...