Emergency Room
Marie & I had our first big scare with Ethan over the weekend. On Sunday night around 8pm, Ethan was roaming around in his tot wheels (aka an infant walker on wheels) and went right down the stairs to the basement. I was doing dishes and Marie was in the basement when I heard the walker going down the stairs. I rushed to the stairs and he and the walker were at the bottom of the stairs. The walker was on it’s side with Ethan still in it. His head was on the concrete floor and he was screaming like crazy. With my heart racing, I quickly ran down the stairs and grabbed him as quick as I could. Both Marie & I were freaking out and I couldn’t even think straight. Ethan was crying really hard and he sounded like he was having trouble breathing. I quickly looked him over and didn’t see any obvious signs of injury. After Marie & I calmed down a bit, we rushed to the downtown emergency room. Ethan cried & screamed the entire time. When we arrived they got us in very quickly. Ethan started to calm down a bit and after a preliminary physical examination, they didn’t see any signs of broken bones or head injury. He did have a small red mark above his eye and the back of his head was a little red. The right side of his lip was also a little puffy. Other than that he appeared unharmed.
They took a blood sample which they said would help them determine if there was any damage to the stomach, kidneys, etc. Shortly after this, they brought him in for shoulder, chest and stomach x-rays. Marie & I had to put on lead jackets and hold him down so he couldn’t move. As you can imagine, he screamed the entire time. After that, they brought him in for a CT scan of his head. After about 30 minutes, the doctor came in and said the x-ray’s looked good and they would have the CT scan results in about an hour. Those also came back looking good, thank God. After being in the emergency room for almost 4 hours, they said he was fine and sent us home. Needless to say, I threw that tot wheels out in the garage as soon as we got home.
The next morning, the minor marks he had on his face and head along with his puffy right lip were gone. He woke up happy as normal like nothing had happened at all and has been fine since. The tot wheels must have stayed in the upright position the whole way down the stairs or he would have hit his head multiple times. I’ve never been that scared in my entire life. I also know that this won’t be the last time something tragic is going to happen to him and scare the hell out of me. It’s all part of growing up I guess. The weird thing is, my mom said the exact same thing happened to me when I was about his age. My mom dropped me off at my grandma’s house on her way to work. Just before heading out the door, she saw me go right down the stairs in my walker. Like Ethan, I wasn’t harmed. Very weird.
One things for sure, God was looking over Ethan Sunday night.