Today I had a scare.
The day was moving along with no real thrills. There is nothing wrong with a ‘no thrill’ day, in fact, I quite enjoy them. Less stress. 😉
Until I received a phone call in the early afternoon from the school nurse. She began by saying, “No Deitz’s are in the nurse’s office.” Is that good? Hmmm…so then she continues, “Ryan hit his head today on the concrete pavilion floor.”
WHAT?!
“But he seems to be just fine. He was in PE and he fell and hit his head. They brought him in but the one thing that concerns me is that he doesn’t have a bump. He isn’t feeling dizzy or sick and his pupils are fine. He insisted to go back to class, but I wanted to make sure you knew what happened so you could keep a close eye on him.”
I couldn’t help but think about the actress that struck her head skiing, proclaimed to be fine and then died the next day. (Yes, you should know I go to the dramatic first.) Not to mention a friend of mine who was in a minor car accident, walked away with no known injuries only claiming he bumped his head on the steering wheel but two days later was found dead in his garage. My main concern was how hard he had hit his head. So I called his PE teacher (who I happen to be friends with) and she assured me it didn’t seem to be too hard. That he didn’t cry and was upset that he had to leave class to go to the nurse.
Thankfully, when I got Ryan from school he appeared to be just fine. I went over all of the symptoms with him and stressed how important it is for him to tell me if he is feeling any of them at any time. He nodded and understood my concern but just had to tell me the coolest part about when he hit his head. “Mom, everyone was saying I have a head of steel!” He beamed, proud of the fact that he didn’t cry.
He didn’t cry. This is so unusual for Ryan. Not that he is one to cry about everything, that’s not it. But when he is hurt he doesn’t just cry, he screams and freaks out, carrying on as if the world is about to come to an end. When he gets hurt usually there is nothing I could do to console him, to make him feel better and to get him to realize he was OK. It was just a part of the frustration that came about when handling Ryan at times.
I looked at the smile that spread across his beautiful face and felt very proud. “You didn’t scream either? Did it hurt?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, it hurt but I just gritted my teeth to keep from screaming and then it went away in like 20 seconds. I was fine after that.”
I can’t express to you all what a break through this is and I pray you don’t judge me by associating my child’s ability to control his pain with a break through. For a child that was diagnosed with ‘Impulsivity Disorder’ (the inability to think before you react) the fact that he thought to manage his pain is HUGE. PRAISE GOD!!!! 🙂
I hugged him and told him I was proud of him and made it clear that even though it was good he was able to manage some of the pain that it is okay to cry if it hurts and that he needs to tell me if he has any symptoms what so ever. He agreed and there is no greater gift than to see the look of confidence and esteem on your child’s face. He felt good about himself.
So, if you have time, please throw out a little prayer that indeed it is just a little incident and that he is good to go.
Blessings
Shannon