the many adventures of tucker...

i'm really hoping that these stories do not become a regular occurrence.  i'm not so sure, though.  at 3 yrs old, tucker has aged me more than my older three children combined ever could.  not sure what it is about that boy...but none of my other kids have made me consider medication...for myself.  this weekend, tucker made his second emergency visit in the last month.  and my nerves are shot.  

yesterday evening, tucker and his 2 sisters were on a trampoline at grandma's house when he fell off.  we're still not sure how it happened - fell, rolled, something.  either way, chloe came running in the house to tell me that he had fallen on the concrete and hit his head.  i ran outside to find him screaming (they had him laying on the trampoline at this point).  after seeing that he was moving, i picked him up and tried to get him to talk to me.  he wouldn't.  he was too busy screaming.  i lay him on a bed with an ice pack and tried to calm him down to no avail.  

at the point when he started to fall asleep in between screams, i knew he needed to be seen by someone.  so, we quickly got him to the closest ER - and, thankfully, were seen immediately.  the dr and nurses had no better luck getting him to calm down.  he was not cooperative in the least... he refused to answer questions.  he was angry and volatile, and every time the dr touched his neck or head, he got angrier and screamed louder.  the dr tried to do a neurological work-up, but was limited by tucker's irritation.  he did tell us that tucker's resistance and fight was a good sign - he definitely didn't show any signs of spinal injury the way he was whipping his head around trying to get away from the dr's hands.  

my biggest concern was the fact that he wouldn't respond to our questions or requests...and that when he did finally start to calm down, he would fall asleep.  they decided to do a cat scan, as that was the only thing that would determine if there had been any internal injury, bleeding, or swelling.  we weren't sure if he'd lay still enough for the scan, but within 30 seconds of laying down on the table, he fell asleep.  

it only took minutes for the dr to return to our room and tell us that the scan was completely clean - everything looked normal and healthy.  he agreed that tucker was suffering from a concussion - however mild - but was fine.  he advised us to keep an eye out for anything abnormal.  so, we took him back to chuck's parents house.  as soon as we got him in the car, he started talking and answering all our questions.  of course.  it was almost as if he was a different child.  that night he slept well (although i did not...) and woke up fine the next morning.  a few hours later, we left for our 4 hr drive home, but about 45 minutes into that drive, tucker began crying in the car...and then proceeded to throw up.  as chuck and i stopped and scrambled to clean up the mess, we were both wondering what exactly was going on.  was this one of those things we should be "watching for" or was this the logical product of windy and hilly mountain roads?  the next 3 hrs were long and painful as we watched for any more signs that he wasn't "right."  thankfully, i think we're able to chalk that incident up to good old fashioned car sickness.  

even now, 24 hrs later, my nerves are a bit frazzled.  and, oddly (or not), he doesn't seem to remember much of it; i wonder now if he was really "with it" the entire time.  he's only 3.  how much more of this can i take?  the dr got a kick out of tucker's shirt, aptly labeled, "I do all my own stunts."  haha...yeah, right.  we commented that he was wearing the same shirt the night he went to the ER with a lego in his nose.  maybe it's time to retire that shirt...