Nothing like a Medical Trauma Story to Bring out the Experiences of Others...

First of all, she is fine now. Both sets of g'parents have been told, so we can share it here. It is gut-wrenching to retell the story, but here goes:

Josie fell off the side of the basement steps today--about 6 feet straight down. The layout of the steps is such that there is an opening at the top of stiars where there is no railing (soon to change obviously).

Josie is never allowed to go down the stairs first, it is always mommy/daddy first holding tightly to her hand. Today, as we were late for preschool. Eddie started down the basement stairs and Josie followed. I don't know if I grabbed her hand and she slipped from my fingers, or she missed her footing, or what (I think it's blanked from my memory), but the next thing I know she is falling off the side of the stairs in a free-fall, landing on her back.

I scooped her up and ran upstairs and called 911. It seemed like forever before the paramedics could arrive and Josie kept trying to drift off and I kept trying to keep her awake. I was pretty hysterical. I had called Den and he wasn't home from work yet, having just pulled into the driveway at work.

Poor Eddie had to stand in the kitchen watching the EMS team work on Josie. They attached all these monitors and took all kinds of information on her. They then put her on a tiny backboard and strapped her in like a burrito. She did well, and they wisely decided not to immobilize her arms.

They took us not to the close to us hospital where the kids were born, but to a special hospital that has a peds ER department. It was pretty quiet by the time we arrived around 9:30am and we had our pick of rooms. It took maybe 15 more minutes, including skirting the traffic back up on the shoulder.

When we arrived about 5 people came into the room with us, one whom said "we'll take good care of her". I replied, "I know you will, clearly I didn't." All the way over, and until about noontime, I had visions of brain damage, paralysis, etc. I still have fleeting visions of those problems despite being checked out by 2 doctors and a neurosurgeon. We also had a CT scan, which is how they found the "minor" skull fracture.

All told, we were in the ER about 6 hours. Things went very quick in the morning, but I think they got busier as the day wore on. Everyone made a point to talk about their kids and comprable ER experiences to make us feel better.

Josie had some pretty good swelling (about a 4 inch long spot shapped like a teardrop--that within 2 hours had already started to decrease) that was swollen pretty nicely on the top of her head and a bump on the back, accompanied by some raspberry like abrasions. Because of the height she fell and the swelling, the doctor ordered a CT scan. I was amazed at how calm and methodical everyone from the EMS folks to the doctors were. I of course wanted them to move faster, but they were taking the time to explain everything and for once I just wanted them to work on J.

At home, the whole way in the Ambulance and at the hospital, Josie kept asking for daddy. Everyone thought it was so cute, as they heard her calling for daddy, to wit I explained that she was a daddy's girl (that is until bedtime tonight, when she switched allengences).

When they tried to get her a CT scan around 10:30, she would not have anything of it. They advised that we should get her to fall asleep and come back later. It didn't take long, with the lights turned down for her to drift off. Den got wheeled in with Josie and as soon as he transferred her, she woke up. Remarkably, she was willing to lay still for the five minutes it took to put her in the CT. She did great!

So the first doctor to tell us, the attending, says she has a skull fracture. Eekkk! The second doctor said it was minor and the neurosurgeon said it was a matter of cenemeters and really tiny. He had to read the report to figure out where the fracture was, that it wasn't really easily visable on the scan. She has to be pretty careful with her head for the next week or two and in addition to a pediatrican visit this week, we are to follow up with a neurosurgeon in 6 weeks.

They gave us all the things to look for over the next several days, all the precautions to take, etc. I don't know if it was because they talked to our pediatrican or what, but 2 doctors and the RN commented that it was clear we were going to be caring well for her. I believe it was the neurosurgeon who said he was quite confident that she would be watched like a hawk by us not only for the next several days, but likely the next month. He also said he thought his wife and I were two of a kind in many ways. That she won't listen to him because he's not a pediatrican. I digress.

Josie is thus far fine. Any changes, we'll report. I am now on my second glass of wine and am finally losing the knot in my stomach and the stress in my neck. I will never recover from this having happened...I am quite confident it will be something I remember for the rest of my life.

Thankfully our neighbor's nanny (who watches Eddie and J's best friends and happens to be good friends with our Cookie) was able to pick Eddie from preschool and he had a playdate with her charge, Lizzie. Nice to have that as he didn't even care that we were gone. Lizzie's mom regalled me with 2 stories are far more serious head traumas that had recently occured to her friends which necessitated multi-day hospital stays. We are going to be okay.

Oh and the photo is of Josie and Den a few minutes before we were allowed to leave the ER. Nice to have her smile back...

This evening: She will easily go down any set of steps, including from the second floor to the main level, but refuses to go down the basement steps without being carried. Wonder how long she'll carry this hesitation...