Oct 28, 2012

The Infamous Head Wound

10/28/2012 — cori

You just never know with us.  Do you?  You could have a perfectly planned out day and then BAM!  Everything could change.  Wait a minute...that's every day for us.  Hmmmm...oh well, it still holds true for this story.

It was just a normal Saturday.  Gavin commandeered the laundry room early in the morning since he had a lot of wash to do.  Chuck and I were moving boxes from the garage down to the basement (where the laundry room is).  All the kids were helping us at one point or another, even the neighbor boy was here.  In between moving boxes Gavin was also checking on his laundry.  He had a question for me about it at one point and I helped him.

As I was walking back out to the garage to get more items to bring down, I thought I faintly heard Gavin say, "mom...".  I figured he had another laundry question and I wasn't going to walk all the way back down 15 steps when I was right there at the garage door....he could wait.

But upon coming back down to the basement I see blood drops on the floor.  Then I see Gavin leaning over the laundry sink with Chuck holding Gavin's head in his hands as he's running water all over it.  Then I see blood coming from Gavin's head.  Uh oh.  I should have sprinted down those stairs when I heard the faint 'mom' cry.

The rest was a blur.  Thank God Chuck was the first responder.  I would have totally freaked out.  Here is the story of what happened as described to me:  Gavin thought he would leap down all 8 stairs leading to the basement.  He failed to remember 1. his gangly height and 2. the lowness of the ceiling in the stairwell.  He said he made it all the way to the bottom in one awesome leap, but then he felt as though someone threw something at him and hit him in the back of the head. Suddenly his head started hurting really badly and he was getting tired.  He thought he'd go lay down on his bed (his room is in the basement) which was just a few steps away.  But as he was climbing into his bed, he noticed blood dripping.  That's when the faint 'mom' was thrown out there.

Chuck was on his way downstairs when he heard the faint cry for help and ran into Gavin's room only to find him curled up on his rug holding his head with blood dripping all over his hands and down his face.  Gavin, in all his pain, wanted to be sure to keep the blood in one location and not get it on the carpet or his bed, so he had enough frame of mind to stay put.  Chuck helped him into the laundry room where I cluelessly entered the scene.

After we've rinsed all the blood away, we find the gash that's producing the flow.  It's about an inch in width, but rather narrow. It doesn't look as though it needs stitches, but since it's a head wound, the blood flows freely.  We were finally able to get ice on it and check Gavin out for signs of a concussion. He was the one who was most calm, ironically.

Our neighbor went back to the scene of the accident and using his detective skills announced, "Looks like Gavin dented the wall.  There's a crack and a dent on the ceiling where he hit his head."  Nice.  That is one hard head.  Gavin announced, "I didn't realize I was so tall."

He obediently sat with ice on his head for a good 30 minutes, thus keeping the swelling down to a minimum.  Thankfully, we were able to keep him awake and even get food in him.  He couldn't wait to tell his friend.  He calls him right away and says, "Yeah...I just wanted to tell you about the head wound I just received."  All day long, all he wanted to do was talk about it.  He comes into our room as we're going to bed and says, "Let's talk about my head wound."  It is so his personality to turn it into a joke.

The kid is crazy. He's so melodramatic when it comes to something like a bug bite or paper cut but he almost cracks his head open and is mr. calm, cool and collected about it.  I don't get it.  I asked him if he's into random injuries lately like the one he obtained earlier this year.  I already had my turn at being a first responder once this year....I thought it only fair to give Chuck his chance to act at lightening quick speed to save a child (the same one).

Just another day around here.  Like when you wake up and your heater doesn't work and then your garage door breaks the next day and then your kid gets an unexpected head injury.  It's very important to go with the flow.  We like to call it an adventure.  Life around here is nothing if not an adventure!

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