Mackenzie has been walking for about 3 weeks now, but started crawling up the stairs way before that. a few weeks ago she fell from two stairs and hit her head on the slate floor. She cried for about 5 minutes and then calmed down and seemed to be fine. I felt her head and noticed a small, squishy bump the size of a quarter. I talked to my friend, who is a nurse, and told her what happened and said I was concerned because she fell hard and there is a weird spot on her head now. She she came over and felt it and asked a bunch of questions about how she was doing and told me what to look for and when to be concerned, but she didn't think it was a problem because she wasn't lethargic, throwing up, not responding, not walking....etc. And she wasn't acting abnormal at all, she was herself the rest of the day and days after. She did wake up several times the next few nights crying, but was easy to get back to sleep. I had given her some Acetaminophen the next few days because she was acting a little more cranky thank usual and Jeremy and I both thought she was getting sick....she had a runny nose. Well days went by and when I was checking her head in that spot again, I about died!! It was soooo much worse. The spot grew from the size of a quarter to the size of my hand. It didn't stick out like a big bump, it was more like a squishy dent....so hard to explain! I immediately called the pediatrician and she told me to take her to the hospital for a CT scan right away. So after a day of dealing with insurance and back and forth between the Dr and the hospital faxing requests etc. we got in the next day. I dropped Cameron off at preschool and went to the hospital for her CT scan thinking I had plenty of time to get the xrays and get back to pick up Cameron. After strapping Kenzie to the table and strapping her head down I wanted to cry. She was so frustrated and tried to wiggle out, but she was so good and tried to by happy as I distracted her with toys. I didn't want to have to come back another day when they could sedate her.....so I am happy she held still long enough to get a few good scans. When they unstrapped her the technician just left the room abruptly and returned 5 minutes later and told me she was going to have me wait in a room across the hall and the radiologist would come in and go over the CT scan with me....standard procedure she said trying to comfort me. I believed her until I started processing the whole situation....why couldn't I just go back to the waiting room? Why did she leave so quickly? Why do I have a weird feeling that I should start worrying and be really concerned? So after 15 minutes of waiting in this room my phone rang I didn't answer it because I didn't know the number and I didn't feel like talking to anyone right then. So 2 seconds later it rings again....same number....I decide to answer it....it's her pediatrician "Meg. Are you still at the hospital? The radiologist just called me and Mackenzie has a skull fracture, in 3 places with a subdermal hematoma (bleeding in the brain). You need to go to the ER immediately and.....I know she said a lot of other stuff but I think my brain turned her off and the only thing I was thinking was "don't start crying." The radiologist came in the room when I was on the phone and I told him who I was speaking with and he said he would come back. So the second I hung up with her what happened, I started bawling!! Feeling totally guilty, scared, and alone I walked out of the room into an empty hall and felt so hopeless and lost. A nurse saw me crying and asked if she could help....she found the radiologist for me and he showed me the xrays and explained it all to me. He called up to Primary Children's Medical Center and informed then I would be coming up there. He spoke with a Dr. there and went over the findings with her. I frantically called my friend and asked her to pick up Cameron from preschool. Called Jeremy on my way up to PCMC and told him what was going on. We checked in and Mackenzie played with toys and walked up and down the hall and laughed at the nurses. The doctors and nurses that came in the room to check her out were "amazed" at how she was acting "like nothing was wrong" and so "happy". I explained my mom guilt of not bringing her in sooner and the Dr. assured me the outcome would have been the same if I had brought her in that day it happened, but the process would have been worse on me. We would have had to stay over night for observation and a lot of other testing. She said by the looks of things and how she was acting they wouldn't need to do testing of have us stay over night. Good thing because my co-pay alone was $300 so I would hate to see the overnight bill!! After a long day, plenty of questioning and "interrogating" about what happened, and some discharge instructions (not to let her fall and hit her head in the same spot/come back if she regresses or the outside hematoma doesn't get better) we were able to go home. I was drained emotionally and physically, but so grateful it wasn't worse and I was able to leave there holding and kissing my sweet girl. What a scary experience and one I don't want to go through again. Now we get to wait 4 to 6 weeks for the fractures to heal and the blood to get reabsorbed into the body!
