Claire's Concussion...The LONG Story

There are moments as a mother that are - unfortunately - horrifying.  Like when I was in the middle of Wyoming on my way home from a girls trip and got a call that Claire had been taken to the hospital by ambulance and got 5 staples in her head after cutting it open on a mirror.  Or like when Claire fell and bonked her head at Walmart and cried so hard she passed out in the checkout line. (She has done that a few times, but that time was especially great because of being at Walmart.)

Are you seeing a pattern of head injuries and Claire here?

I think her head is her Achilles Heel.

And now, the concussion story...

Yesterday, Brielle came busting in the door after school saying she had ran the whole way home to tell me that the auditions for the school play were that afternoon, and she desperately wanted to try out.

At first I said it wasn't a good idea, because we didn't know if we would be moving or not before the play started.

She cried.

It didn't really sway me until she told me that she had hurt her leg at recess, and even though it hurt really bad, she still ran home on it just so I would take her for the tryouts.

...she RAN up the two giant hills to my parent's house.

She got me with that.

So, I loaded all the kids up super fast, and was a bit frustrated...but wanted to let Brielle have this opportunity.  (Plus, I called the school and they said she could still be in the play even if we moved.)

We get to the school and head to the "covered courtyard" (which is basically a huge indoor carpeted gym) to fill out her application and wait.  There were AT LEAST 50 kids running around like crazy people, and MAYBE 10 adults.  A lot of kids had apparently stayed after school without mom's coming.  Then the kids somehow got into a closet with jump ropes and balls...it was chaos!  (I have a point for recording this...I promise). 

I sat down against a wall with the kids, and Claire and Addison walked around a little bit to play with a friend.  They were gone maybe 1 minute.  I looked down at Molly for a second, and when I looked back up, Claire was laying crumpled on the floor about 10 feet away from me, unconscious, and Addison was walking towards me crying.  I scrambled over to Claire and picked her up, quickly asking a mother who was somewhat nearby if she had seen what happened.  She hadn't.  In fact, NOBODY had seen anything, or heard anything because of the chaos going on.  Claire came in and out of conscious for about 30 seconds, she would cry, then her eyes would roll back in her head and her face would contort and she would be out.  Then she'd come to, cry and do it again.  It was HORRIFYING.

I was able to determine through sobs that the two of them had crashed into each other somehow.  I guess Claire didn't know Addison was behind her, and turned around to run and smashed right into her.  I still don't know how they possibly hit that hard.

I carried Claire over to where I was sitting and she was still quite dazed.  I noticed her nose starting to look a little discolored and went to the office for an ice pack.  After a few minutes, Claire started begging to go home...but Brielle was also saying, "Please, we can't leave now!  I haven't auditioned yet!"

I was stuck.

THANKFULLY, I called my dad, and he said that I could bring Claire to him and go back so Brielle could audition.

After the auditions were over, Claire was doing much better, but still sore and a little sleepy.  I called her doctor to see if they could just check her over, and they told me no.  I had to take her to the ER.  So, I called my doctor...who I grew up across the street from...to see what he said.  Same story, take her to the ER or Urgent Care because of her having been unconscious.  

We opted for Urgent Care.  Same thing happened there, they took her vitals, and the doctor came around the corner and said they couldn't see her, we had to take her to Primary Children's.

Then I decided to call one last doctor - my sister-in-law Sara - for another opinion (I really hate hospitals...), and she said she would probably err on the side of being safe.

So, off we went to Primary's.  THANKFULLY she is just fine.  They did a thorough exam and said that it was a mild concussion, and other than being physically careful for 7-10 days, and possible cognitive rest for 2-3 days, we don't need to be too concerned (unless her conditions changes).

She is doing fine today, just says her head hurts a little bit (obviously!).  She has a little bit of bruising and swelling on her nose, and a little bit of blue under her eyes.

As far as how Addison is doing (since it was quite the hit)...she is fine.  She is made of steel.  It was the crown of her head that connected with the bridge of Claire's nose.  So everything just lined up exactly right to knock Claire out, but to leave Addison fine other than having hit her head.  Marty said, "Addison is like our drunk driver...gets in an accident and walks away without a scratch while the other person is all banged up."  

We don't know if Brielle made the play yet or not...but let's just say I will be QUITE upset if after all that, she doesn't even get in. :)

Never a dull moment around here!