Trip to the ER...

On Monday, Boo was playing with a plastic tent pole from a play tent the boys have, and he fell with the tent pole in his mouth!

I heard choking and so I ran to the kitchen, but Ryan had heard it too and was already there at his side. At first we didn't know what had happened. Boo was holding the tent pole while coughing gaging and then we the noticed blood filling his mouth. He was crying so hard and just kept saying over and over "it hurts!".

We got him calm enough to get a flashlight and look in his mouth and what we saw was horrible. There was a deep gash on the roof of his mouth, towards the back and another bleeding sore on the far back of his throat.

We figured that it must have jabbed him in the roof of his mouth and when that flesh gave way, it slide back and hit his throat.

So Ryan took him to the ER (where I later joined him) and after doing an X-ray we were pleased to hear there was no bone damage. But there was a serious laceration on the roof of his mouth and minor bruising and scrapes on his tonsil.

The doctor said if it would have been even an inch over on the roof of the mouth, it would have probably gone straight up through his nasal cavity.

Boo did great in the ER...even when they had to stick stuff down his throat he never cried!

After checking him a few times the doctor said they wouldn't do surgery yet because of the risk of infection and the difficult place the laceration was in. They wanted to see if it would heal on it's own...and it has!!!

The first night was the most difficult by far. None of us slept much. He was in so much pain that even in his sleep he was saying "hurt, hurt". It was very sad.

Now, Boo's talking normal again, using his tongue and even drinking out of his normal cups again! But he has been on soft foods (jello, mashed potatoes, applesauce) for almost 5 days and will be on them for at least another 5. He misses pretzels and crackers..but he's hanging in there!

Because of the depth of the gash, it's healing slowly, but it is healing!!! We are just SO thankful that surgery was not needed!

He's a trooper...I don't know, if I were in his shoes, if I'd be quite as cheerful as he's been through all this!

(I think he enjoyed being able to watch cable cartoons!!!)