Tell Me What Happened Again...And Again

Remember those cute ultrasound pictures we all get when our babies are swimming blissfully in the womb? Well here's a current picture of Jake's skull. Now I'm sure you're next question is how did I come into the possesion of such a picture?

Well picture this....it's "Meet the Teacher" night at the Elementary School. I head off to the school, leaving John on boy watching duty. After the brief meeting at the school I call home to see if I can drop by the grocery store on my way home. I hears a distressed John on the line suggesting I come straight home instead.

I arrive home moments later to find Jake on the couch surrounded by his good friend and our neighbor while John is on the computer looking up symptoms to be concerned of in a head injury. It turns out that John, Jake & Dylan had gone out front skateboarding and the boys didn't put on their helmets (which they promised me they would never skateboard with them!). Dylan made a surprise move and Jake and Dylan collided. Jake went to the ground, head first. He must have passed out briefly, and when he got up could hardly walk and was very dizzy with a glazed look in his eyes. He couldn't remember the accident, nor could he remember anything about 2 hours prior to the accident. As he is laying on the couch he asks "Now tell me what happened again." His friend repeats the story, to which Jake seems to understand. Two minutes later, he's forgotten and pleads to hear what has happened to him again.

John and I decided a visit to the Emergency Room is in order and decide to take him to one of those stand-alone Emergency Rooms which have all the capabilities of the hospital ER's but without the excessive wait time. Jake and I headed off to the ER, and John stayed at home to put the other two boys to bed.

Jake seemed very distraught that he couldn't remember anything. It was obvious that his lack of memory made him feel very insecure. Jake and I said a prayer on our way to the ER, this seemed to help Jake calm down quite a bit. It was so strange to hear him ask to hear the story again and again. Especially since as I would tell him the story, it really seemed like he understood. When I would get to the part in the story that I would explain to him that he wasn't wearing a helmet when he got hurt. He would say, "What...I wasn't wearing a helmet...that was stupid!" Then two minutes later this conversation would be gone and he would ask to hear the story again.

After we got to the ER and were waiting to see the Dr., Jake said the funniest thing "I wish I could remember skateboarding tonight. Skateboarding is fun, but when you don't remember it it's not fun."

The doctor did a complete neurological evaluation on him, which he passed other than his short-term memory loss. They recommended a CT scan to check for a fracture or bleeding on the brain. Thankfully the CT scan came back clean and within a few minutes we were on our way back home with the diagnosis of a Moderate Concussion and a CD of his CT scan pictures. We were advised to wake him up several times through the night, but both the doctor and the nurse thought he should go to school the next day and just avoid P.E.......really?? This seemed a bit odd to me, but he woke up well throughout the night and the next morning seemed to be doing well. He wanted to go to school and since he had the same teacher the previous year, we decided she would know him well enough to know if anything wasn't right with him at school. We also called the school nurse to let him know about his injury and to call if we needed to come and get him.

Two hours later the school nurse called with a report that he was falling asleep in class and couldn't remember going to the bathroom with his class moments earlier. I picked him up and he rested comfortably at home the rest of the day & through the weekend.

He's doing great now, and all of his short-term memory has been restored to him :) And with any luck he's learned a lesson about helmets and will heed my nagging advice to "Always wear your helmet!"