Tristan's Concussion....yes, CONCUSSION

Sooo, it was a lovely Tuesday evening, we were playing having fun at the neighbors and came home to start dinner. Tristan and Trinity were watching a television program while I whipped up some grilled cheese sandwhiches (hey, it's their favorite). I took a peek over into the Family Room and saw Tristan standing on the coffee table, I asked him calmly to get down, and started to walk towards him...he takes a tragic step backwards, and the rest, is history. I couldn't get to him fast enough, I saw it happen and couldn't catch him...he whacked the back of his head so hard I heard it CRACK...it was a horrible sound. He immediately begins to scream, and wants to nurse, after about a minute of trying to comfort himself, he begins to vomit...everywhere. Trinity starts screaming, she hates seeing him in pain. I ran to the neighbors house to see if they had a flashlight, which they did..by this point, Tristan was all dazed and wobbly, continuing to vomit. I made the executive desicion to rush him to the hospital. Shannon was shopping at the store and he rushed home in time for us to all go to the ER together...thank God, because the worst was yet to come.

We got everyone packed into the truck, and I turned on the TV to try and keep him concious...by the time I ran to strap Trinity in, he was asleep...shit. We woke him up briefly, only for him to fall asleep again...this time, he didn't wake up. I called the ER who immediately urged me to dial 911...they patched us into the local Fire Dept. that told us to pull to the side of the road and they would come get us.....Shannon was not going for that, he said that we were not going to waste anymore time waiting when he was unconcious. I agreed, and we went on our way. The fireman walked me through what to do, because, honestly, I was a little out of it. I had to stay cool though because Trinity was watching my every move, making sure that everything was ok.

Now came the fun part of trying to get him awake. I was tapping his shoulder, turning all the lights on in the truck, blasting the stereo, I even slapped him in the face, yes, I hit my child, but not in anger or as punishment...I wanted him to wake up so bad. Finally, after I dumped a bottle of cold water on him, he started to arouse.

We arrived at the ER and I rushed him in, awake, but falling back asleep..oh, did I mention he vomited all over me again? I was standing behind people that were there for what I thought were trivial reasons...of course, to them, it was probably very important, so, I understand...but, when a morbidly obese man is monopolizing the nurses complaining that after he ate at an all you can eat resturaunt, he started to feel ill....give me a fucking break...go on a diet. Anyway....I informed them of the situation, and they rushed us back.

The doctor comes in and agrees that he wants a CAT Scan and orders it STAT...that word, STAT, it makes me nervous...anyone else? I just don't like it. Anyway, they tell me they have to inject him with something called Ketamine..look it up sometime, it is not pretty. They make me sign a waiver...great, so it's MY fault if YOU do something bad to MY child...they inject him with this shit, and he starts screaming. I am holding him and singing his favorite song, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine...shhh baby, it's ok....you make me happy, when skies are grey....it's ok bubbub, mama's here....you'll never know dear....." and he stops crying, about 5 mins into the shot. I look at him and he is in a semi-catatonic state..eyes wide open, jolting back and forth..looking at me, but straight through me. I hated seeing him like that. I lay him down, and all these people start rushing in. He is being hooked up to monitors, oxygen etc. Then they rush him down the hall. That point...right there...that is when I finally broke down.

Shannon took Trinity to get dinner..she was so tired too, and I am sure it was really stressful for her to see all of this happening..and, well, I didn't want her around all the sick people in the ER. It only took 15 minutes, and they were back. Tristan was still asleep, or mid awake...either way, it was not a nice site. He looked like he had a stroke. His arms were all crunched up to his chest, there was drool coming out of his mouth...I was just a mess looking at my perfect boy, all out of sorts. I wanted to just kiss him and have him wake up. I wanted to close my eyes REALLY tight and hope that when I opened them, he was back. I kept thinking, "is this it? Is this what he is going to be like?" I thought he was going to be a vegetable. I know now that I was really overreacting, but come on, tell me you would not have been the same way.

The nurse was concerned because he wasn't waking. She called the Dr. who performed a series of tests, he finally pissed Tristan off because he was coming through a bit...that was the first time in my life that I was happy to see someone poking and proding at him. He fell right back asleep, but, it was 11PM by this time. The CT came back negative! YES! We were under observation for just a little bit and the nurse told me the next 48 hours were critical. If there was a little brain bleed *please don't say brain bleed lady* if there was one, we would know in that time frame.

He slept all night, ALL night. Normally he wakes at least once to nurse...I wanted him to wake up so bad. I slept like shit.

So, on to today. He is good. He is irritable as all get out, but, they said that can last up to a week following a concussion. He is still trying to climb, but, to my surprise, listens when I remind him that it is dangerous. I have to say, I thought that I lost my little boy. I really truly did. It was a horrible feeling, one that I don't think I will quite ever shake. Cherish them...cherish them...it really can end in a second's time.