Our own little bit of excitement...

Boys can be so competitive! When William heard about Thomas getting to go to the ER and have x-rays, he got jealous. And decided to do one better. Let's just say, he's grounded now...

Yesterday seemed to be the perfect day for climbing. So he did. I found him on top of the bathroom counter, the top rack of the dishwasher, the piano, the piano, the top of the bathroom counter, the piano, and the floor by the bathroom counter.

That last one was probably after he was on the counter, but I don't know that for sure, I didn't see the fall.

Picture this - Loud thud. Mommy gets up and starts toward the bathroom, William starts screaming. Mommy finds William on the floor, on all fours trying to get up but seeming a little unable to. Almost disoriented. Mommy picks up William and holds him. He keeps arching his back which is normal for him when something hurts really bad, but it is not normal for his head to flop back while doing so. Mommy helps him back to her shoulder each time and decides to sit on the floor and snuggle him, it seems safer. Then she notices that he seems somewhat limp and keeps tipping to the left, overcorrecting to the right, swaying to the front. She stands him on his feet to test his balance. He tips to the left, overcorrects to the right, and in general looks like a drunken sailor. Daddy shuts off the lights and then turns them back on to check his eyes, which are fine. Mommy knows something isn't right, so they pack up William and she takes him to the ER, 2 minutes away.

Scary huh? Yeah. I get him there and sign him in. Not 2 minutes later he is throwing up his dinner all over the floor while they call for housekeeping. I was so glad I didn't have to clean that up! We get rushed back and given a bed, the nurses do triage on the way for vitals. He was upset and pale and still looking very drunk. He can't sit up straight, and walking was a joke. He didn't seem to be in any pain though, and there were no bumps on his head at all! Just a small, new bruise on his leg from the step stool, and a mark under his ear and following his jaw a bit.

The doctor came in and did his check, and decided to consult with a pediatrician in Boise. They decided to ambulance him to St. Luke's up there, and I went with him. Mark went home to let Amanda, who was watching the boys, what was going on and check if she could keep the boys. He got told that he was not to try asking anyone else! She was very adamant on that point! I was then told not to worry about the boys at all, they'd be in good hands. What a friend!

He was asleep while they put him in the carseat and strapped it to the stretcher. He slept the whole ride there, and stayed asleep until the did a rectal temp. I would have woken up too! He fell at 7:30 pm, and we got to St. Luke's about 9:30. Pretty quick response....! Mark got there about 10:30 after getting the kids all settled and a bag packed for the three of us. Amanda helped find clean stuff that would actually fit me. :-) I went through the shpiel of what happened several times. And he got all registered. Since he had been there before, that was pretty simple, but they couldn't find him in the computer at first. Then I realized that when he was here in the NICU they had him listed as Babyboy Willford. Sure enough, that's where he was! Too funny.

First they did a CT scan to check for bleeding of a fractured skull. 30 minutes later that came back just fine. I had asked if he could have a drink, and was told we had to wait until the results were in, because if anything showed up his stomach had to be empty for the surgery. Talk about a tiny freak fest! Then they wanted to x-ray his left leg to make sure it wasn't broken at all, leaving him leaning. He had shown any pain at all, but they wanted to cover their bases. The 4 shots they took came back just fine.

This was nearing midnight at this point, and when we checked him sitting up he was pretty much okay. But he was still tipping and stumbling to the left when walking. They were a little concerned about that, and told us we were going up to Peds for the night to be observed. They would possibly run a MRI or EEG ECG? I don't remember to make sure every thing was fine. 2:30 am found us in a room in Peds checking in with the nurse and registering him up there. He had a crib and quilts to sleep with. We had a single chair that pulled out into a bed. We tried to fit. It didn't work. Mark, being a gentleman and knowing that while he could sleep on the floor, I would be hurting to much in the morning, laid down there about 6:30. What an angel and a perfect gentleman! I think I love him a little... ;-)

The doctor came in at 8:30 to check on him. He walked fine, just a tiny limp on the left side, and he stumbled a little when he looked around and walked at the same time. We went back for the EEG ECG? He did great while they cleaned the spots on his head and stuck all the wires, and wrapped stuff around his head to keep them all on. He did wonderful the whole 20 minutes they read his brain waves, and checked his response to flashing and strobe lights.

The pediactric neurologist was out of town, so the tech read the test. It looked normal, so he said he felt comfortable sending us home, with instructions to bring him back to the base ER if we noticed anything odd again. No problem there! We finally got to wheel him down in a big wagon at noon and take him home. With a stop at Wendy's for lunch. He got a room service meal included in the room charge, standard, and we had breakfast from the cafeteria. Hospital food is not the most filling and substantial, but that boy tucked away a grown-up sized plate of scrambled eggs, sausage, half a banana, half a bunch of grapes, and some milk. Wow! Amanda was called in-route, since we would be home in time to grab Oren from school, he had early release today. I was told I had no choice but to go home, take a nice long nap, and she would bring both dinner and the boys over at dinner time. Have I mentioned yet how big of an ANGEL she is? The Lord truly blessed me with a good friend.

The doctors couldn't really give an answer to what was wrong, because all the tests came back normal. Mark and I think that when he fell, that mark by his ear, it induced a case of something like vertigo. There are three tubes above the inner ear that are filled with fluid and lined with little hairs - very small tubes. They point in different directions and help keep us oriented by way of tiny grains that float in the fluid and brush against the hairs. If a grain gets stuck somewhere, or something, that's what causes vertigo. Your balance is completely off, you get dizzy, because your body can't get oriented like normal. We think that when he hit, it was close to his ear and that threw the grains off on the left side, the side that had the mark. So his left side was off and he would over correct. They also suspect a slight concussion, which we suspected too.

We got home at 1:00 and went straight to bed, until about 4:30. William woke up fine, and I have been relaxing and typing since. But since Amanda is on her way with kids, stuff, and food I should hop off and make sure we have dishes for them and us. William is just fine, as his blessing promised he would be if the damage wasn't permanent - which it isn't. I am so thankful for the mother instincts the Lord gave all mothers. I am thankful for the wonderful friends who are there when I need them. I am thankful for the priesthood and a husband that is able to bless us. And I am thankful for a Heavenly Father who knows us so well, and who looked after our son last night.