There are things I wish I could unsee

Once you become a parent there are phone calls that you hope you will never have to answer. That phone call where the person on the other end of the phone tells you your child is hurt and you need to come right away.

That was the call I answered at 11:18am on Friday, February 22, 2013.

Standing in the middle of Costco, my heart fell right into my stomach as the school nurse explained to me that I needed to get there and take Cameron to the Children’s Hospital. There were lacerations in his mouth and he’s missing at least one tooth. It’s all a blur as to what she was saying to me. It sounded bad but she was sure to tell me to be careful and not to drive like a crazy person (or something like that).

Thankfully Bill was able to drive as I made phone calls to the doctor and then tried to figure out where the damn hospital was. I was on the verge of a freak out and Bill told me that the nurse was probably just exaggerating Cameron’s injuries.

I think the car was still moving as I jumped out and ran to the door to be buzzed in. By the time they opened the door for me the principal was out of the office and pointing to where I needed to go.

There are things I wish I could unsee.

As laid eyes on Cameron I saw something I was totally unprepared for. There was my son, covered from head to toe in his own blood. His eyes were wide with fear and panic and as soon as he saw me he started to cry again.

Hold it together mom.

His teacher was there helping to keep him calm as the nurse explained (again) his multiple injuries. Which, if anything, she downplayed on the phone with me.

I had to force back all my fear and make sure he knew he was going to be just fine. It was time for my pokerface and it had to be a good one because the kid was clearly in pain and clearly terrified. I will never forget that moment, it will always be fresh in my mind and I will see it in my sleep for years to come.

I carried Cameron out of school and got him into the car where the plans we had made to drop Bill and Logan off at home quickly changed. Cameron was in bad shape and I didn’t know if I could handle it alone.

Between the panic that was steadily rising in me and the overpowering smell of blood in the car I was seriously choking back the vomit. At one point I had the collar of my shirt over my face to try and smell anything but the stench of blood and spit.

Thankfully A.I. Dupont Children’s Hospital is not too terribly far from us and we were there within twenty minutes. When Cameron and I walked in the door it was clear that he needed to be seen fast and we spent maybe thirty-five seconds in the waiting area before we were back in a room.

Playing with some toys while we wait.

It’s a children’s hospital so they had lots of fun things to make the kids feel a little more at ease and the staff was amazing, making sure I was OK too. Should we ever need one of the boys to be seen at an ER, that is where we will be taking them. I was very impressed with the operation they have there.

We surfed the Get Well Network and put on The Incredibles while we waited.

Before long the doctor was in to have a look and as she said things like, “broken jaw” “surgery” and “wire shut” I thought I might just die. Somehow I managed to keep my face positive and show no signs of the fear I had coursing through my body.

Off we went to dental for some x-rays and a visit with a pediatric dentist. The male nurse who brought us up there was a goofball and he made Cameron smile and even giggle a little bit. His Philly accent and Eagles scrubs somehow put us at ease.

By the time we got out of x-ray the pediatric dentist was waiting for us and personally brought us back to and exam room. She found a piece of Cameron’s tooth lodged in his gum and was kind enough to remove it.

Our visit with her was by far the best part. Cameron did not break his jaw and it looks at though all his permanent teeth are just fine. There will be swelling that will get worse before it gets better but he will make a full recovery. They even gave us a set of his x-rays to take home. They told me to hide them in my purse because the hospital doesn’t like them giving out “souvenirs”. I was more than happy to comply.

Bullet dodged. No serious injuries enough though the kids face is a mess.

It is not lost on me how lucky we are. When I think of just how bad it could have been I’m not so upset that I’ll be missing one of his baby teeth in my little collection.

36 hours after the fall and it looks better than it does now.

Here we are, days later and his little face is still showing signs of the trauma. We go back to his regular dentist tomorrow just to double check that all is well. Everyone at school was so happy to see Cameron when I dropped him off this morning and he was happy to be back.

I’m sure this is one of many such phone calls that I will have to answer and I don’t think they’ll ever get easier to take.