With kids you just never know what the day is going to bring you. Today was not really what I had planned at all, but thankfully I was able to tuck both my kids into bed tonight knowing they are safe, and really that's all that matters at the end of each day.
So, our day began as normal. We headed out mid-morning to visit a friend of Katelynn's who just had a new baby brother. We weren't at their house more than 10 minutes and Katelynn ran into a closed door and smacked her head. At first glance of her, I thought she was crying hysterically for no visible injury. She had pointed towards her nose when I asked where she got hurt, and there was no mark there. As I was rocking her and trying to get her to calm down, my friend looked a little horrified and mentioned she had did a number to her head. Even this picture below does not do justice for how awful and hideous her injury was. This picture was taken minutes after it happened with my cell phone so I could send it to Jonathan:
Katelynn was acting normal, jumped up a few minutes after hurting herself and went about playing. We stayed for an hour, and I really wasn't going to take her in to the doctor. I have always heard swelling is a good thing. But, as I was putting her in her carseat, I couldn't help but get sick over the look of her injury. She had this huge egg and it was sticking out inches from her forehead. We were passing the ped's office on the way home anyway so I called them up and asked them to come in.
I really thought that they were all going to kind of laugh at the fact that I had brought her in. Kids hit their heads and get hematomas all the time, and they're fine. Leave it to my children to be the odd ball in the group when it comes to injury. Dr. Ficnec pressed around the swelling and hesitated. He said that he has seen lots of kids that bump their head and have these kinds of eggs, but he had never felt an indentation in the swelling like he was feeling with Katelynn's. He got two more opinions from two other peds in the office and another female ped who is older and been practicing longer said the same thing- she's never felt an indentation like Katelynn had. Seriously, the pit in my stomach was so big at that point, I thought I was going to die. And of course Jonathan was four hours away (driving home but still not close by).
They sent her over for a STAT CT Scan. I was so proud of my little girl. They had asked if I thought she could handle it without sedation, and I said I thought she could. I coached her over and over again about how it would work and how she didn't have to be scared; it was just a camera and she could pretend to nap so that she stood very still. She did a GREAT job! Even the techs mentioned that she was exceptional for only be 3-years old. I may have a wild child, but at least she knows when to behave! :)
I was so impressed with everyone that helped us. It took literally all of 8 minutes and I had the results. Internal examination was 100% normal. She didn't even have a skull fracture like they were thinking she must have with that indentation. What's the indentation? We're not really sure. Our pediatrician said it could be some scar tissue building up (which yes, means she may have a scar), but no one is 100% sure what it is right now with all the swelling. We are just keeping an eye on her (and she's acting completely normal) and so greatful that it wasn't as bad as we had orginally thought.
By the time we got home for all the events of the afternoon, it was about five hours after the injury and she already looked so much better. We'll see how she looks tomorrow though. They said it would be pretty normal for her left eye to be black by morning.
Here are better pictures five hours after the incident:
This is a weird shot but look closely at her eyes- you can tell how deformed her forehead is right now from the hematoma. This was the best way I could capture it in a picture. It doesn't show up as large on picture as it looks in person.
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Talk about an eventful day!
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