An Up and Down Kind of Weekend

This weekend has definitely been full of highs and lows. It actually all started last weekend when Leah started to act differently. This week Leah has been refusing to eat most foods, with the exception of snacks like goldfish. This all came to a head on Friday when she basically refused to eat anything at daycare and was very fussy. Add to that, that in the morning, when Stephen brushed his fingers over her neck near where her shunt is, she cried out as though in pain. So, I called the pediatrician's office and was told to take Leah straight to the ER. When I got to daycare to pick Leah up and take her to the hospital, she was crying, but as soon as she was given to me, she stopped crying. I touched her neck at her shunt and she did not react at all. So, I called Stephen and he called Leah's neurosurgeon's office (who we should have called in the first place). He spoke to someone there who said not to go to the ER until the doctor could make a decision, so a contented Leah and I headed home. We finally talked to the doctor's office around 7:00, but by that time, Leah was not reacting at all to her shunt being touched, she had eaten some food (a banana and some goldfish, but refused everything else), and was acting her normal self, so we didn't feel like this was an emergency situation that required a trip to the ER. Whew! We avoided a trip to the ER! And, our weekend got better. Saturday morning we woke up, went to IHOP for breakfast (Leah even ate a pancake!) and headed to the lake for some canoeing (See the earlier post - A Fun Spring Day, for that story). We thought we were in the clear until about 4:30, when Leah had a major blowout that got all over the carpet. I sent Stephen to clean the floor, while I cleaned the child. When Leah was done with her bath and the water was draining out of the tub, I left her for a second to go get her pajamas to put on her and as I walked through the dining area, I never even considered Stephen's comment that he had cleaned the floor, so it was wet out there. I assumed he was just telling me about the carpet. What I didn't know, was that he had also spot mopped the tile, but had not dried his cleaning job. So, I'm walking and... I slipped. I came crashing down to the ground and hit my head on the corner of the table leg. I immediately screamed and grabbed my head and within seconds felt my hand start to get wet. Stephen came running, and I sent him to take care of Leah, while I tried to stop the bleeding. Stephen got Leah dried off and dressed and we got in the car and went to the Urgent Care Center. Unfortunately, we got there at 5:09 and it closed at 5:00. So, we decided to go home so that I could wash my hair and Stephen could look at the laceration and we could make a decision about whether or not to go to the ER. Stephen looked at it and thought it was opened enough that we needed to go. We dropped Leah off with some friends and went to the ER. I ended up having to get a staple in my head to close the laceration. The nurse gave me the option of getting the staple without numbing medication or with 4 stabs from a needle to have the numbing medication. I chose option 1, tough girl that I am. It definitely felt like getting stapled in the head. My head was swollen some this morning when I woke up, but within a couple of hours, the swelling had gone down. Fortunately, I'm pretty hard-headed and am in no real pain. The laceration is sensitive to the touch, but the bruises on my hip, where I landed on the ground, and my forehead, where I hit the chair, hurt just as badly as the actual laceration. We definitely did not think we would be going to the ER for me this weekend rather than Leah! Speaking of Leah, look at that cute girl!