Rapid recovery
Grandmothers and others know few things prompt panic in a parent's or grandparent's heart quite like a late-night phone call or text from a child. Even an adult child.
I received one such scary communication from my daughter Megan — mom to my grandsons — last Friday night. Granted, it was only 8:30 in the evening, 7:30 her time, but that's not a time my long-distance daughter and I typically talk or text. So my heart indeed flip-flopped a few times upon hearing her ringtone.
Camden hurt himself, she told me.
Long story short: The rambunctious kid had been rambunctioning about (my word) and demonstrating to big brother Brayden how awesome he was at holding his breath. Resulting in Camden — briefly — passing out. And landing, unconscious, on his head on the hard stone tile flooring found throughout much of their house. A tremendous goose egg on his head served as reward for the frightening feat.
Thankfully Megan's sister-in-law is a pediatrician, so no call to the on-call nurse required, just a quick conversation with Camden's aunt. She assured Megan that following concussion protocol is necessary as is monitoring the lump and heading to the ER if things go south in the night.
At the time I talked to Megan, Camden was relaxing on the couch with an ice pack as his pillow, the trauma and drama of his fantastic feat fading fast.
"He's doing okay, but I'll be keeping him up a few more hours just to be sure," Megan said. "I'm not too concerned."
I, on the other hand, was concerned. Visions of the Concussion movie danced in my head as I slept fitfully that night. I woke off and on, each time tossing up a quick prayer that the big knot on Camden's little head would go down and his shaken and stirred brain would be fine.
First thing Saturday morning I texted Megan to ask how Cam was faring.
Her reply:
Accompanied by this:
Oh. My. Goodness! If it were any other kid, I'd question his mom's "good" assessment. For Camden, though, it proved he was back to normal. Cam normal.
Hours later, Camden was on the flag football field, nabbing more flags from opponents than ever and making an exciting touchdown for his team. He also nearly scored again after intercepting the ball in the opponent's end zone and running the full length of the field, only to stumble and tumble a mere foot or so short of another touchdown.
Best. Game. Ever!
Cheers to the resiliency of youthful noggins — and the subliminal superpower boost for a six-year-old who keeps his Spidey suit on standby.