Calling Dr. Toad

[oloriel]

So yesterday we had our first emergency hospital run with the Flixster.

I was preparing to make supper/ emptying the dishwasher. Felix was running from living-room into kitchen and back; came around the corner; stumbled across his own feet, and hit the open flap of the dishwasher squarely with his forehead. After a stunned moment, he cried - normal reaction - and refused all attempts to put a coolpack on his forehead. There was much swelling, and amid the swelling, a long dent. Whether his breath was hitching just because he was crying so hard or because something was seriously wrong, we could not determine. Probably not, but the bump was a bit too much to comfortably ignore, so we packed him up and rushed to the hospital.

Well, by the time we got there, he was pretty much back to normal, aside from the fat blue bump and dent on his forehead, so it was clear that nothing really serious was wrong. But since we were there anyway, we registered at the children's accident/emergency care unit. They checked his pupil reactions to light, which were normal, so they decided that no immetiate action was necessary and we were told to wait. Waited almost an hour, by which time Felix was entirely back to normal - chatting, climbing on chairs, unfolding and unfolding the hospital flyers and bossing his parents around. The young doctor who finally had time for us listened to our story, checked on Felix again, decided that there was no damage to the skull and that there seemed to be no brain damage either, but should he "behave in a funny way, i.e. unlike himself" or throw up, we should come back.

On our way back to the car, we saw a toad on the sidewalk, crawling/hopping steadily towards the street. As toads on main roads tend to have a short life expectancy, I couldn't leave it there, could I? So I spent the way home with a toad on my lap. It showed no signs of fear, just slowly crawling across my lap, trying to get into the warmth of my sleeves or in my neckline. Its skin on mine felt just like (very cold) human skin. Felix commented on its endeavours with a dry "Toad, sit down!" from behind. Back at home, I sat the toad down in the shrubbery, where there is dead wood and heaps of stones, the way toads like it. Then I discovered that as a thank-you, it had peed on my pullover.
The pumpkin we had for our very belated supper turned out to be entirely tasteless.

Today, Felix is talking as always, coordinated as always, and didn't throw up, either. (We were more worried about damage to the frontal lobe or alternatively his spine rather than a concussion, anyway.) We're always making fun of our own and our son's hardheadedness, but I suppose it's a good thing that you can take it literally. Except that we're probably in some "potentially neglectful/violent parents" index now.
Oh well. Maybe we get karma points for the toad rescue, at least?

Comments

[barbardin.livejournal.com]

Ooch, gute Besserung dem Bruchpilot!
Und das mit der Kröte ist ja allerliebst. :)

[chili-das-schaf.livejournal.com]

Ogod, glad he is okay D: the toad adventure is a little bizarre though. Love, as usual, Felix commentary.

[ellynn-ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear nothing serious happened. ;)

And are you in the process of adopting a new, unusual pet? :)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

As we are! *phew*

Not really. There are loads of toads around the garden, but they come and go and feed themselves as they please. All I occasionally do is get them out of dangerous corners or save them from drowning. A few years ago, we adopted a hedgehog for one winter in a similar manner, though. ^^

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Not really that bizarre, I have to save toads from tight spots or inescapable bodies of water every year - at most, it's odd that this one was on the road half a year too late, but maybe it was looking for winter quarters.

Yeah, me too! Immediately after the fall, for the longest split second ever, there was stunned silence and I was certain that he must have knocked himself out at the very least. *PANIC* It was such a relief when he began to cry!

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Dankeschön.
Ich mag Kröten, die haben wunderschöne Augen!

[barbardin.livejournal.com]

Ja, und ich mag auch die Geräusche, die sie machen! :) Ich hatte die sehr gerne in unserem Gartenteich, früher.

[ellynn-ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Hedgehogs are cute. :)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

But flee-ridden, holy crap! XD

[chili-das-schaf.livejournal.com]

I think I'm just not used to nature anymore. The only creatures on the road here are slugs <.

[independence1776]

I'm glad he's okay!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Poor Felix, I'm so glad he is OK.You remind me of my Mum, rescuing the toad. She loved them.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Very glad he's okay! Poor little guy, it must have been quite a whack.

Must be wonderful to live in a country where you can take your child in to the emergency room to be checked out, without it costing a thousand dollars before they've even done any tests.

Pupil reactivity is the first thing to look at when one suspects a concussion - the pupils will often be unevenly dilated, or one will contract in response to light, but the other won't. Concussions are miserably painful, generally accompanied by vomiting and delirium; a person who has one will be huddled in a wretched ball like a migraineur, trying to avoid all light, sound and motion. A child who's chatting and climbing chairs clearly doesn't have one.

Unfortunately, there's really nothing the doctors can do for somebody who does have one, except keep an eye on them in case they have bleeding in the brain which requires surgery. Usually they don't; usually it's just a matter of laying quietly in the dark for a couple of days while Nature takes its course. On the plus side, Nature built toddlers to withstand all kinds of bumps and bonks, with hard, resilient little skulls, so it's harder for them to really injure themselves than it would seem - not that that makes it any less scary when there's a chance that they might have.

*hugs hugs* Parenthood: "it's not just a job, it's an adventure."

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Indeed so - we're used to him falling or running into things, which of course happens if you're a toddler with lots of energy, lots of trust in your own abilities, and no real idea of danger. But this one was so hard that we couldn't imagine a grown-up would be able to simply walk away from it, so we didn't simply dare to assume that the Flixster wouldn't have suffered any damage unless an expert declared it so. Of course, toddlers bounce where adults break bones; but still! By the time we'd reached hospital, it was obvious that there was nothing a doctor could've told us that we couldn't see for ourselves, but as we were there already, we figured we could have the doctors confirm that there was no damage to be seen, and what we should watch out for in case there was something insidious going on.

As I said, we weren't really worried about a concussion; we rather worried that he'd knocked out part of his frontal lobe for good, cracked his skull, got whiplash (for of course his head snapped back after hitting the hard hatch) or had bleeding in the brain (my grandmother's late boyfriend almost died from that, as it manifested only three days after the fall in which he'd acquired it while he was out on a walk; ever since, I've been terrified of the potential long-term consequences of blunt force against the head.)

Yes, fortunately, even the capitalist half of Germany has implemented what some of your compatriots would consider "socialist" healthcare. To be honest, it's a bloated and often inefficient system with a lot of flaws... but it's there. (And it is going to cost a couple of Euros, although more like a hundred than a thousand; but we've already paid them, so to say, through our insurance fees.)

*clings* It really is!

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Thank you - as am I!

Aww. I love them, too - they have the most beautiful eyes, and they're useful too!

[sermanya.livejournal.com]

Ich mag Frösche und Kröten (und Unken und Salamander und Molche und Eidechsen und Schlangen und überhaupt...). Allerdings hab ich so viele Geschichten über die giftigen Absonderungen von Krötenhaut gehört (unter anderem von meiner Mutter, Biologin), dass ich mir nicht mehr sicher bin, ob ich sie angreifen darf oder nicht.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Jaja, die giftigen Absonderungen. Damit hat man mich auch schon als Teenager schocken wollen. Schon damals habe ich mich damit getröstet, dass diese Absonderungen Fressfeinde aufhalten sollen, also von der Dosis her eher auf kleinere Raubtiere als den Menschen angepasst sind und, ach ja, auch eher über die Mundschleimhaut als über ausgerechnet die ledrigen Handinnenflächen aufgenommen werden. Also wenn man sich nach Erdkrötenkontakt nicht grade die schleimigen Finger abschleckt und generell erst mal die Pfoten wäscht... muss man allenfalls noch herausfinden, ob man zu 'ner Allergie neigt. ;)

Davon abgesehen hab ich in all meinen Jahren des Krötenlupfens und Rumschleppens nur höchst selten überhaupt den Hautschleim abbekommen. Die Viecher reagieren bei weitem nicht so hysterisch wie z.B. Schnecken.

[sermanya.livejournal.com]

Hab grad rausgefunden, dass Kröten ungefähr gleich giftig sind wie Unken oder Salamander. Und die hab ich immer ohne Bedenken streicheln dürfen ;)

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

No, you were absolutely right to wait and have him properly checked out after such an accident, even though he was acting fine by then, and fortunate that 'socialist health care' allows you to do it. We desperately need some of that 'socialism' over here, to counter the fascist corporatist system we're living under at present.

*huggles* Nature's equipped your boy with a good Teutonic helmet of his own, which hopefully will suffice to see him through his adventurous youth - because really, I think Felix has little chance of becoming a "boring pale scholar".

One little girl I looked after had the habit of running under the dining-room table, her special escape-route when being chased by the Tickle Monster. The Tickle Monster hadn't been indoors all summer, naturally preferring to hunt outside in good weather, but chased her through the dining-room again that autumn. She ran full-tilt for her usual bolt-hole, the table she'd been freely running under since she first learned to run, and WHANG!!! smacked her forehead on the edge she'd grown too tall to run under.

And she didn't even cry! She sat there looking like she might, but then got up and pottered off, like she was more puzzled than hurt: "Why did my table shrink?" She had a pretty good bruise across her forehead the next day, but not a sign of anything else. Amazing.

Glad your bonny boy is fine; hope you're all having a joyous Harvest Season!

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Na siehst du! :)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think if he is going to be at all scholarly, it's going to be the "Indiana Jones" type of scholar.

The shrinking table! Felix had to deal with that too, though fortunately not as dramatically as your poor charge...

A busy one, certainly! The last week was golden and sunny, so we spent most of the day outside - but it's getting pretty cold at night! Soon I'll have to prepare the garden for winter...