The One With The Bumped Head

Grandad.M and Nanny.M live close to a recreation ground which has a very nice and often busy playground. Grandad M will take the 10 year old, the 5 year old and the silly dog.  10 year old will go and play on the football pitch, silly dog sits by the railings and 5 year old and Grandad.M play in the playground.

On Monday morning they'd all been to the park. Grandad.M left the playground via one gate, 5 year old decided to choose another the other side of the playground. Unfortunately the pathway had been very poorly kept, the 5 year old's foot went down a hole and she fell forward and struck her head on the metal gate.

Apparently there was a lot of blood. The 10 year old reached her first and she was holding her head. Grandad.M sprinted over. He scooped her up and carried her all the way home.  She was cleaned up and plaster stuck on.  Then Grandad & Nanny.M called me at work. I thought she'd be alright as long as she wasn't sick or fall asleep.

Later on, Nanny.M posted a picture of the 5 year old. The cut looked deep. I hadn't realised how deep it was. I felt she needed to go to hospital.  I called Mr.M, we left our work and took her up to the hospital.

The children's A&E was busy, mainly with children with bumped heads. 5 year old was triaged and her observations checked. Heart rate, blood pressure, eye reactions.  All seemed fine.  She's odd and does like going to the Doctors and hospital. She was so brave, even when they were cleaning the cut with saline solution. Not a whimper from her at all.  Eventually she was seen by the Doctor. They decided gluing was the best option as it was very neat. So she was laid on a bed with one doctor holding the cut together whilst another glued. Steri strips were put over the top and we were given instructions on what to do if she started to vomit or appear listless or out of character.

4.30am and she woke up, she felt sick. This went on for the next two hours, every 10 minutes she'd have a wave of nausea until around 6.30am when the vomiting started.  The hospital had advised if she was sick more than three times to bring her in. By 8.30am we decided to take her back to the hospital.

Once again, she was triaged and vital signs all checked, she seemed alright apart from the vomiting. She continued vomiting until 10am. The nurses checked all her vital signs every half hour. luckily they'd put us in a side room, however there are only so many games of eye spy and rock, paper, scissors you can play before losing the will to live.

If you watch Casualty on TV, you'll know A&E have a four hour turnaround before you "breach" ours was 12.30. As 12.30 arrived, we were taken up to the children's ward.  This way A&E don't look like they've broken the guidelines and we then get another few hours wait for the Paediatric Registrar We needed a change of scenery anyway. Cynical? Me?

Eventually the Doctor arrived around 2pm.  She did a full assessment of the 5 year old, checked all her reflexes and muscles and movement. She was happy to let us go.  I was happy we could go. The 5 year old had stopped vomiting, was like a jumping bean in the room and complaining of being "starving".  Normal service had resumed.

It was a stressful couple of days but I'm pleased she is all in one piece.