Remeber those climbing trees I wrote about in the previous blog? Well, Malachi decided to test the theory of gravity. It still works. He fell about 8 feet from a tree limb onto the concrete below. For all of you medical folks out there:
7 y/o male 8 ft. fall to concrete. No loss of consciousness but disoriented and unable to verbally repsond to questions for approx. 5 minutes. Primary eval. revealed patient was pale, diaphoretic, and hyperventilating with a 7 centimeter round abrasion above right eye, and contusion to right hip. No other apparent injuries. Secondary eval. revealed weak grip in right hand, pupils equal and reactive, GCS 14. Pt. began comlaining of extreme sleepiness, px in right wrist, dizziness, nausea, and blurred vision.
Okay, so it's not in SOAP format and I got tired of writing a report but you get the idea. He fell out of the tree, whacked his head, cried a lot, hyperventilated, and started complaining about his wrist hurting. Dara and I were both about 30 yards away when it happened but neither of us saw it. One of our friends said, "Malachi just fell out of a tree", and we ran over to check him out. My first thought when I saw him lying there looking completely disoriented, pale, and sweaty with a bashed head - God please let him be okay. My heart rate was probably about 200. My training kicked in and I think I asked the right questions and did the right stuff but Dara and I were both terrified that something major would be wrong and we're an hour plus from decent medical facilities.
In the end, we calmed down, he calmed down and we took him in to get his wrist checked out (it was already pretty apparent that he had a mild concussion with the blurred vision, nausea, and short-term memory loss). We tried first the local clinic only about 5 minutes from where we are but their X-ray machine was not working. So, we drove (my boss drove us with Dara and I in the back with a very sleepy Malachi and Grace in the front) a little over an hour to Uhmlanga Medical Clinic where he was treated quickly, professionally, and well. He ended up with a possible (tough to tell apparently) buckle fracture to his right wrist, treated with a splint that he can remove for bathing, and a minor concussion.
So, here's the best part. He was feeling a bit nauseous the whole time but never threw up (I brought a bucket along just in case). After the hospital he was much more awake, talkative, and in good spirits. There was a McDonalds just near the hospital (the first one we've seen in about a year) so we stopped in for some late dinner (it was about 9pm by now). No sooner did we have the bags open and the smell hit his nose did he say, "I need by bucket!". Well, you can imagine what happened next without much detail. He did his thing and we pulled over to dump out the bucket, which I rinsed out with the rest of my coke to keep the car from smelling like puke for the rest of the hour drive. We're about 5 minutes down the road and he says, "I'm hungry now" and proceeds to eat his entire Happy Meal and then sleep on Dara's lap for the rest fo the drive.
He's doing well now and I'm sure will be back to climbing trees before we know it. We thank God for protecting him from what could have been a much more serious outcome that now just gets to be a childhood battle scar and a cool story to tell.
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