From the hours of 9a.m. to 12p.m. today Parker and I had one of our most trying mornings. This time, Pman and I were a united front against all things ice and snow related.
In all honesty, our adventure actually started on Monday night. P had another high fever for the second time in his life- 104. I freaked a little, took off all his clothes except for his diaper, gave him beaucoup Infant Tylenol and some ice cold apple juice. My plan was to give the Tylenol and hour to do its’ thing and if it didn't we would be headed for a late night trip to the ER. Thankfully, it worked. Slowly.
The next morning he had a slight fever. I gave him some Tylenol again, assessed his mood and condition after an hour and then we met my sister for lunch. By 4 that afternoon the fever was back up to 103.7. This time I called the doctor and got an appointment for Wednesday morning, just in case. Through the night the fever broke and when he work up it was a normal 98.5. Excellent! I cancelled the doc appointment, threw on some gym clothes gave P a bagel. Then we began to make our way to the gym so I could start the day with a good sweat.
I had to run to WalMart and Giant for last minute ribbons and dinner items. On the way to the gym I waffled between running my errand pre or post gym visit. I decided that going before the gym was best and made a right turn instead of a left. (You are welcome fellow WalMart shoppers.)
WalMart was uneventful- for once.
As I pulled into a parking spot at the Giant, I thought to myself the spot looked sort of icy, but the edges looked fine and I reasoned my car will likely cover the icy part, so no problem.
I got out of the car, successfully walked around to retrieve Pmonkey and as I was carrying him up to the store, we slipped. If I were alone, I know I could have braced myself and evaded the inevitable fall altogether. However, I had a very precious P in my arms. In the slow motion spin to the ice, all I could do was try to grab him tighter. The more I squeezed the further away from me he got. It was like trying to hug a lump of Jello. He was just ungraspable.
His sweet blonde head slammed on the icy pavement. I saw it. I heard it. My hands and arms were in shock and I felt like I could not pick him up fast enough. It took him a good 15 second before he started to cry, then about another 3 for me to start crying. I saw he had three large-ish bruises on his left temple and two of them were bloody. Not bleeding, but bloody.
There was a Giant employee right next to us and he walked away. I found out later he is deaf and did not hear the fall hence the lack of reaction. Two other employees came over along with a nice black lady with corkscrew curls and hot pink lipstick. They all asked if we were ok and watched as I sat on the ice in work-out clothes holding my sobbing son. They stayed until I assured them we were okay. The lady with the bright lipstick helped me stand up and then handed me my $5, now broken, Target sunglasses. Then she walked P and I to the Giant front door. The employees got the manager for me. I filed a report was given a number to call, as well as many sympathetic looks. I got what I needed from the store and called the pediatrician just in case. I kept thinking of Natasha Richardson- oh how a scared mommy's mind wanders.
We went to the doc and she said he got himself good, but she expected him to be okay. She suggested I give him Tylenol because he probably does or will get a big headache.
She also suggested that while he was there, she might as well check him out (ear, nose, eyes) in relation to any fever issues. All was well until she looked in his right ear. As she peered in she said, "Oh this one looks infected." Then after a beat or two she said, "Oh no mom! His ear is extremely and severely infected." That is a direct quote. She faxed a prescription to the pharmacy. In my defense, Pfunk never pulled on his ear or showed any real signs of ear issues. I did not connect a potential ear infection to the fever.
On my way to pick up his medicine, I called the number I got from the manager at Giant about the fall. I wanted the powers that be, to pay the $10 co-pay for the doc visit. It's more about the principle of it, their lot was terribly icy- I just wanted to make someone aware.
After being transferred around and finally getting my "case manager" I was told by Raul that my claim will stay open for a bit in case any underlying injures related to fall surface within the next few days. He also told me he will be mailing me a $25 gift certificate to Giant. So I guess I will be going back...you know sometime this summer, when it is not icy.
On the way home from all of this, I was reflecting on our morning. The fall was a blessing because he got to see the doc and get meds he needed for his apparent profound ear infection. Thankfully we will not have to spend the holidays with a cranky (read: undiagnosed) Pman.
I have a few friends who are going through some difficult things with their babies. We are lucky this fall wasn't worse. We are lucky nothing bigger is looming over our Christmas celebration.
He is basically ok. His mom is a klutz. He is SO not a winter person.
