Post-Traumatic Head Injury: Don't Take Falls Lightly

Our kids had fallen off the bed more times than we hoped for. They've played rough and knocked their heads on bookshelves, walls and what have yous. We get really worried when we see a huge bump on their heads and cross our fingers it's just an innocent bump. All parents know to watch out for dizziness and vomiting after each knock. So far, I've learnt that that visible bump, although it looks scary, it can be less innocent than not having any obvious swelling at all! The worst is to suffer an internal injury no one would have picked up if you don't observe carefully.

It was the last day of school for the week and we were looking forward to the long weekend. Oh I had so much planned but nothing read 'Hospital Stay" in my calendar. Alas...

Thursday
19-9-19

Evening

1615 hours

Hazy

Windows Shut

In The Dining Room

Faye sat on her high chair 53cm off the ground. Not far from a regular dining chair: just a 5cm height difference. She was playing. Regular child's play with her hands inside her t-shirt as I read her a storybook. She wasn't rocking or jumping on the chair. Faye was just sitting quietly and she lost balance, falling sideways onto the floor. With no hands, she couldn't brace herself or break fall. 

It was no surprise she cried immediately! I saw how she fell and knew exactly where she hit the hardest. Her left cheek was all red and I had the ice pack on her face until she stopped crying. As I saw it, it was more of a cheek injury than a head injury. It'll probably leave a bruise on her cheek and that's it. 

Five minutes later, she was back to her usual self and we went to watch cartoons! 

An hour later, after their tv time was over, she ran to me in the kitchen and cried. Sigh... tantrums. I saw it as tantrums because she was quiet and happy the past hour watching "72 Cutest Animals"! So what's the fuss now? If she was in pain, she couldn't have been able to sit through an hour of TV time.

"Mommy! I love you! Mommy hug me! Mommy! 
Stop cooking and hug me!"

She said all these in between wails, seeking attention which I didn't really give. I could have washed my hands, knelt down and gave her that hug she needed. But I didn't. "I love you too honey but I'm cutting up pork now and my hands are greasy and dirty. I'll be done cooking soon! Do you want to cook with me? Alright you hug me ok? I love you too!" I responded. 

She opened the refrigerator and asked for milk. Her brother helped her.

She asked for a hug and I gave her a half-past-one kind of hug which wasn't enough. Her brother hugged her.

She kept crying but didn't verbalise any clearer. Ewan helped to open a bottle of Yakult, gave her an ice pack, offered to read a book to her and we did all the guessing game about why she was crying but to no avail. 

Who would have thought she was in so much pain? I didn't because in my mind, she hit her cheek and not her head! Why didn't she tell me, "My head is Very Painful Mom! Help me!" 

45 minutes. I let my poor daughter cry for 45 minutes at my feet while I cooked. I didn't scream at her or ignored her. I kept talking to her but I refused to stop my cooking to check on her. I was thinking in my head, "I'm not going to let you get away with this silly tantrum lor. I've got to put dinner on the table by 6pm and you are not getting in my way. I'll be nice and I'll talk you through this."

Just when I was done cooking, she cried herself to sleep on the kitchen floor. Laying there sobbing with her eyes closed, I picked her up and gently told her, "Let's skip dinner and I'll put you in bed okay" She nodded. Faye had a long day with an excursion in the morning. She must be exhausted and so, all these fuss.

I cradled her to sleep on my bed and was looking forward to having dinner with my two boys. Ahhh... early night. 

Her behaviour was weird though. She woke every 10 minutes and shuffled herself in bed, looking for a comfortable position. Faye looked distressed. She wanted to sleep but kept getting awoken. "Ahhhh see lah.. over-tiredness can bring unsettling sleep." I concluded. 

Every time she woke, she cried. Then suddenly, she cried out in pain. Her head was in pain. So all these while, from 4.30pm to 6pm, she was suffering from a headache and she did not tell! I touched her head lightly as I checked which part of her head was painful and she screamed, "My whole head is painful!" 

I hadn't been as intuitive as a mother should be. It was Meyer who came back and asked if she was sick because she wasn't her normal self. It was also then I realised it could be the fall! The impact must have been so great that her head had been compromised. 

I decided to head straight into the hospital. 

On the way to the hospital, Faye vomited in the car twice. I used her skirt to contain her vomit and had us all dropped at the side of the road while Daddy rushed back for change of clothes, wet wipes and plastic bag. It was too disgusting to drive the distance to the hospital with two waves worth of vomit in the car with us.

"I'm sorry"

Faye apologised for causing a big mess with her puke and we told her not to be sorry! It's okay! I mean, if there's anyone who needed to apologise, it was me. I didn't give her the assurance and love she needed when she "threw her tantrums" in the kitchen when I was cooking.

When all was quiet, a childhood memory came bursting in. I was sitting at the edge of my mom's bed watching her brush her teeth in the toilet. I suddenly cried, "Mommy. Hug me. Hug me now, I need you." She didn't come. She told me to wait like I told Faye to wait. She wanted to finish brushing her teeth before she attended to me; I wanted to finish cooking before attending to Faye. I didn't know how I felt back then? I just knew I wanted Mommy. Then I realised why. I felt sick. I vomited right there and then. It was then I realise our children may not know how to verbalise themselves accurately even though they are of age to speak like a young adult sometimes!

Faye puked three times that evening and I got really frightened. There is a thin line between feeling sleepy and going into a comatose. We wouldn't know which it is! How can I not beat myself up for not picking it up earlier? She's got post-traumatic head injury!

The doctor at Gleneagles 24hr Clinic checked her head, motor skills and vision. He is against MRI and CT Scan because of the detrimental nature of it. X-Rays cannot return substantial results about head injuries and blood clots either! It sounds like we are working with a time bomb.

We called in a Neurosurgeon and he suggested a 72hr window observation in hospital. An initial scan on Day 1 is not helpful because blood clot can form over the days and if she still isn't feeling normal and chirpy, yet another scan will have to be done on Day 3. To prevent going through all those scans which prove to be more harmful, observation is the only way to go and time will tell. I was afraid we didn't have enough time but learnt to trust the doctor instead. 

The neurosurgeon wants me to tell all my friends and family that a hit on the cheek or chin or mouth or nose is considered a Head Injury. Your child's head will be compromised. Always exercise the 72hr observation which includes waking your kid a few times at night while he/she sleeps to ensure consciousness.

The nurses woke Faye up every hour that night to make sure she doesn't go into a coma. Internal injuries are too much for anyone to handle. Especially when you cannot scan, cannot see and do not know what's happening in there. Faye complained of head pains throughout the night. I couldn't refrain from thinking of the worst.

Thankfully, she was bright and cheery the next morning complaining only about the bruise on her cheek and nothing else. Then Faye shared, "Actually mommy, when I was watching TV yesterday? Everything was blurry but I just watched."

"Oh my goodness. Please please please please please! You've got to tell me such things! I would have sent you to the doctor immediately!" I told her sternly.

She was on liquid diet and wasn't allowed any solids. When the time came for an All Clear, Faye was over the moon she could eat again. It was quite hard for her watching me eat Char Kway Teow and Croissant when she could only drink water and Milo.

We've never studied medicine but suddenly, we all become pretty experienced doctors and nurses. It comes with the job called Parenting.

Do we have our children to thank for giving us a wealth of health issues to learn from? Seriously. I don't know why I seem to have frightening episodes of broken bones and seizures to deal with these past seven years.

2017 June: Croup and Febrile Seizure [Ewan and Faye]
2017 April: Fractured Collarbone [Ewan]
2017 January: Do You Stroll Your Kid on a Luggage? [Faye]
2016 October: MRI for Children [Ewan]
2015 May: When Your Child Swallows a Coin [Ewan]
2013 October: Hives, Swells and Allergies [Ewan]

Do not take falls lightly. I had always taken falls lightly because whenever they fell, they just bounce right back up. I am that mom who will let them climb a spider web at the playground and not stand under to catch them when they fall. That mom who believes that falling is good for you because you get to learn from your mistakes. But! Don't take safety lightly. Helmets and guards are so troublesome but the impact on the head is going to be 10 times more the trouble than putting them on.

I heard a kid had a fall and started vomiting blood only three days later. She had a blood clot in her head and required 16 hours of surgery. That is so frightening! Someone I know lost a child from a fall too due to a blood clot...

Will we stop living life after this? I can't possibly let them stop climbing and jumping can I? Helmets during sports. Other than that, I label it [this] under: Bad Luck.

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