Wednesday, May 23, 2007

do I call 911 or not?

Oh it is so hard to decide whether or not to call 911 when your child's head is bleeding............
not that it is not important, but moms find out that heads, faces, etc. BLEED a LOT!
sometimes they are small wounds and sometimes...... they are NOT
SO now we have officially called 911 3 times now.

Yes -- the fire engine sirens were for Derek once again today. (That's for you Suzanne -- who always worries about us and sirens and emergencies, since she showed up at my house as we were leaving in the ambulance last time...................)

We were at the YMCA and he hit the top of his head running under the equipment and blood was all over.

I carried him inside with the help of another mom (thank you, thank you, sorry about the blood on your white shirt!) and after 5 moms looking at him and still bleeding we decided to call 911.

The fire engine seemed to take forever, probably the 5:00 traffic. But they arrived and the blood was less and there was no gaping wound (like last time). It was actually hard to see what was actually bleeding through his hair.

So they called off the ambulance. I hung out till they filled out their reports and gave time for Geoff to arrive and keep J & K for their classes while I took Derek to urgent care.

We arrived at Urgent care - "You don't have an appointment??"
UH No, this is urgent care isn't it? - - I'm still figuring out Kaiser.

She looked at him and cleaned him up with water and then peroxide and found a small gash a bit bigger than a pencil eraser (I thought)
She suggested one or 2 staples. But she didn't have them there ?????????? We had to go to the ER over on Zion. I went to the UC at Vandervere.

Anyway, go 2 blocks up to the hospital, re-park and carry him in to the ER.

While holding numbing gel on his head for 40 minutes, Derek fell asleep around 8 p.m.
He was so brave and bold and didn't flinch or whimper while he got MANY shots of Novocain and then 4 staples!
After the DRr. irrigated it the wound was gaping about 3 inches long and an inch wide. (That's what the nurse said, I didn't look)

So we got home around 9 p.m. and he'll be OK.

I know you want the story about "Last time"............... stay tuned.....................

1 comment:

EC Gefroh said...

Oh my goodness! Your poor son! I'm glad it wasn't too serious a wound but it must have been very scary. I think you did the right thing in calling 911. I noticed that the UC at our Kaiser has changed too. Sad because we always bragged about them taking care of emergencies quickly and efficiently.