Friday, July 04, 2008

Cool Pool and Emergency Room



We had a great time at the Cool Pool again this year for the 4th of July. We'd been promising our kids that we'd go on the 4th for more than a week and they've been counting down the days. Much to our dismay this morning it was only 75 degrees and cloudy... but we persevered and went to the pool as to not disappoint our kiddos! We probably shouldn't have though, because the day ended in a trip to the emergency room. Not for Titus even (which I would have put my money on), but for Rob.

We were just getting ready to leave and Leeann wanted to take one more trip down the big yellow water slide. Titus and I were watching and much to our surprise Leeann had decided she wanted to go by herself. So she did, and the life guard caught her and took her out of the pool and Rob soon followed. He walked out of the pool looked at me funny and said, "I hit my head." He was holding the side of his head but I didn't think anything of it. He sat down on the chair and just kept telling me that he hit his head, and that he wasn't okay. Then he started asking me if he'd hit his head. After about the 5th time of him asking me if he hit his head... and looking at me with a blank stare I went and got a life guard. She asked him simple things like his address and his age and his birthday and he was clueless. His name was the only thing he knew. He didn't know where he was, what happened, or what day it was. Needless to say, he was freaking me out!

I started searching for the keys knowing that an E.R. trip was in order. I couldn't find them, however, and Rob couldn't tell me where they were because he didn't even know where he was! He started to go down hill and I started to panic a little so the life guard called an ambulance. Before I knew it the paramedics where there and put a neck brace on him and put him on a stretcher. They kept asking me if he was on any medication or a recreational drug user... cause that's what he was acting like! Leeann was fine until she saw him strapped down on a stretcher. Luckily, some friends from church were there and they kept kiddos so I could go with Rob. Dave swept Leeann up and let her kiss daddy as he was wheeled away. Titus fell asleep in a life guard's arms as soon as it all started happening.

So, Rob and I took off in an ambulance and by the time I was done checking him in they had wheeled him back to get a CT scan. I was grateful, yet scared that they were processing him so quickly (nothing's ever quick at the E.R.)! They let me go back into the room with him after his scan was done while we waited for the results.

While we were in the E.R. room Rob kept asking me the same questions over and over, but I was encouraged by the fact that his questions were getting more specific. For about 30 minutes he kept asking, "Did I call my brother yesterday? (It was his birthday). Did I hit my head? What time is it? What time did we go to the pool? What time did we leave the pool? How long was I out? Where did I hit my head? What happened? Were you scared? Did I hit my head on the slide? On the top or the bottom? Did I walk out of the water myself? Did we go with the Lessers, or meet them there? Were Julie's grandparents there? (They were actually her parents). But, they didn't go in right? Were the Bradley's supposed to be there? But they called and said they couldn't right? What about the Bierly's, were they supposed to be there? But Kamden got sick right? I just kept answering his questions as if it were the first time he was asking.

Eventually he started to make enough sense that I asked him if he knew where the keys were. At first he said he didn't know but then I asked him if they were in the locker room. I finally got it out of him that they were locked in a locker with a purple lock and he even gave me the combination! I was grateful because I wasn't sure how we were going to get our car, or back into our house without the keys, and the pool would be closing soon.

The doctor came in and told me they didn't see any swelling or bleeding, nor did they see a fracture, so he should be fine. He just has a concussion and will probably be loopy and tired for most of the day, so we should take it easy. And, he's not supposed to do anything for the next week that might end up in another concussion, so no rough housing or sky diving, etc.

We stopped by Starbucks and got some drinks then headed up to the Lesser's house to get the kids. He asked me if he got mouth to mouth by a hot young life guard :0) I assured him that he did and the guy was really hot! He didn't think that was so funny! We picked them up and headed home and watched Meet the Robinson's for the 447th time. (We're borrowing it from Aunt Suzy!) After a while I fell asleep and when I woke up I could tell that Rob had his color back and just plain looked more 'normal'. He was making better sense, though throughout the whole day he kept asking questions and trying to piece together what happened. As of late last night he remembers getting on the slide, then he remembers being in the ambulance just a little bit.

He doesn't remember anything else until waking up just before they were about to put him in the CT scanner. He started to freak out and try to take his braces off. They got him calmed down and he asked the doc if he closed his eyes if he'd tell him when he could open them again. Doc said that was a good idea and assured him that he would let him know when he could open his eyes. He must have blanked out again because he doesn't remember anything until the doc came in after we were in the room 'talking' for those 20 minutes. His memory picked up from there and he seems to remember the rest of the details of the day.

We opted not to watch fireworks last night, instead we just cuddled and watched a movie. I was thankful to have my husband back... he was freaking me out with all of his craziness! It was a scary day, but it ended well. It's another good reminder not to take life and health for granted, you just never know what a day will bring.

This is Rob putting the kids to bed. Needless to say, we had a long scary day. Rob let them snuggle with him and Titus was out in about 10 seconds. Leeann followed shortly thereafter!
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4 comments:

alexanders said...

how frightening, robyn!! i'm so glad it wasn't anything serious! what a sweet pic of rob with your kiddos.
hannah

Rebecca.Alburn said...

Gosh... how scary. I'm glad everything turned out okay. And while memorable, those weren't the kinds of memories we want on the 4th of July!

I felt how you did when Jacob got pneumonia last year. He had been sick for a few days and then became helpless and delirious so I had to take him to the ER. He was to the point of hallucinating and unable to care for himself with a high fever and dehydration. It sure makes you do a lot of "What If..." scenarios in your mind, thinking what if he doesn't come out of this? etc. I was pregnant and thinking I'd be raising our child on my own! Luckily that's not the case. :)

I'm glad everyone got their rest and you captured the moment on camera.

Jennifer said...

Man, that must have been scary! I am glad things are ok though. Feel better soon Rob.

Anonymous said...

Obviously we are all relieved Rob was OK. I thought I might share a little more "behind-the-scenes" logistical info.

Robyn must have called Eroica shortly after arriving at the ER. All Robyn had was wet clothes, and she was cold. Eroica found something to bring and took off right away in my car to take them to Robyn.

I was left with instructions to get the kids dressed (we were taking it easy with Kamden being sick) in the van ASAP and bring an extra booster seat and extra car seat to the Cool Pool.

The keys for the Buhl's van were still safely locked away inside Rob's locker at the Cool Pool, so Dave and Julie had no way to get the into the Buhl's van or get their carseats to transport the kids anywhere. (for any of you w/o kids, you don't know how hard it is to juggle carseats all the time).

By the time I got to the Cool Pool, Eroica had just got there after dropping stuff off at the ER for Robyn. We chatted with Dave and Julie for a minute or two and left the two extra carseats, and started to head back home.

About half way home, Eroica pulls off on a side street, and I follow and park behind her. Apparently Rob has remembered the combination (or so we hoped) to his purple lock. Luckily Julie had called our home phone before I left and I had written it down, so we called that number and reached Dave. Eroica gave Dave the combination, and voila, Dave had the keys to the Buhl's van.

Eroica and I were about to head on home, but then we got to asking ourselves what Rob & Robyn were going to do without a vehicle once they were done at the ER. We also didn't know if they needed Rob's wallet for anything. Eroica especially thought it might be nice if Leeann didn't have to be concerned with seeing her dad at the hospital. We weren't sure where vehicles were, so decided to drive back to the cool pool to pow wow.

By the time we got back, Dave and Julie had taken the kids with them up to their house. The sun had been out for a while by then so it was a good idea to get out of the sun. Eroica knew the way, so we drove on up there.

Eroica got ahold of Robyn and touched base letting her know that we would drop the Buhl van back at the ER. The Lessers were prepared to watch Titus and Leeann all night if needed.

Luckily they didn't need to. Before we even got back to the ER, Robyn called and said Rob had been released and they were ready to go.

I haven't talked to Rob about it since then, but when he came walking down to the van, I had trouble telling if he recognized us or not. He still looked a bit dazed/groggy to me and just kind of smiled in a "You seem to know me. Am I supposed to know you" sort of way.

As we headed on home, Eroica turned to me and said, "Don't ever hit your head". I said I would try not to.