Tongue Piercings

So, last Sunday night right before his bath, my genius son made his THIRD entry into our local ER because my brilliant child was squirming on the ottoman in our room and then slipped and fell face first into the table in front of him. Just seeing him fall face first into the table, I knew it was not going to be good. Then, when DS opened his mouth to cry, I saw gobs of blood so I knew it was not going to be good. (I’m a quick study, no?) When I forced him to open his mouth, I almost gagged (which kinda worried DH because what would be so bad that would make me gag?). DS had gouged his tongue with his two front teeth and there was a gaping, gushing HOLE in my child’s tongue.

After he cried for a minute or two, he stopped and started to play again (geez, this kid bounces back from things) and I began running through all our options. I called our pediatrician and made DH register online for our local ER. The on-call doctor said it would be fine, and I replied, “I’m not sure you see the largeness of this hole. It is gaping open.” The doctor then said, “Well, if it bothers you, then take him to the ER.” I took him to the ER.

Thank goodness I took pictures of DS’s tongue in the waiting room because there was no way this boy was letting any of the attending doctors look at him. Every time they drew near, he screamed and wept and tried to CLIMB UP MY BODY AS IF I WERE A TREE. At least with his screaming, they could take a look inside his mouth. The ER doctor said that it should close up on its own and if I was worried about cosmetic changes, he could give DS stitches, but it would require them to put DS under since there was no f-ing way they could do it with just a local anesthetic with the way DS was screaming his brains out when they approached him. The doctor said sedation wasn’t really recommended since there could be complications from that. Plus, the tongue and mouth are amazingly fast at healing. Since I doubt DS will be a tongue model in the future, I chose to let the tongue close up on its own – scars be darned! (Heh. I just like the way that sounded. Hee.)

Some antibiotics and tylenol later, (OMG, DS LOVES to take medicine. He thinks it’s juice. hahahaha. Whatever works, man.) I took him home. Thank goodness for a hospital 10 minutes away (and for online check-in and for toy trains in my purse!). It’s been a little over a week and the wound is mostly closed. It kinda looks like there’s a jagged lightening bolt (Harry Potter style) in the middle of my kid’s tongue. But other than that, I’m pleased to say the doctor was right!

Plus, the ER doctor called me today because he was curious to see if he gave the right advice. He mentioned that normally, they don’t see how things end up so he was very curious and wanted to know what happened. Now that’s service!!

Also, I must mention that a few days ago, DS fell AGAIN and clipped his chin on his train table. More blood. More teeth marks dug into his lip. SERIOUSLY? I need to put DS in bubble wrap. Sheesh.

 

Another Trip to the ER

DS came down with croup last night and we had to go the ER. He woke up around 9pm from coughing and hacking and he was wheezing and crying. His breathing was labored so the on-call doctor recommended we take him to the ER. He’s fine now since they treated him with a steroid and some breathing thing. (Cool mist breathing.)

Apparently, this was the illness of the week at the hospital because they said the ER was full of croupy kids this week so watch out. I thought it was just allergies at first (and it was) but it escalated because of all that congestion.

Let’s just say that croup scares the crap out of every parent because it sounds like your child is suffocating. I am so grateful for our insurance and the fact that we live less than 10 minutes away from an amazing hospital facility. I’m also grateful that DS has had relatively minor health issues. Nothing crazy like you see on TV or hear through the grapevine.