Call 112!!

April 11, 2008

My good friend Jackie always says, “Every day we’re not in the hospital is a good day.” Of course, she has a unique perspective since her son, Parker (our Godson), is a leukemia survivor.

So, as I sat in the krankenhaus (hospital) with Luke on Friday, Jackie and Parker were on my mind. How did she do this for so many years? But you’re probably wondering why we were there to begin with…

It was a harrowing experience.

We’re down to one car (another story in and of itself), so John is driving me to and from work, then has to return home to pick up Jack and take him to school. (John’s sister, Catherine, is visiting to help us get settled, so the boys are home with her while John is gone.) While John and I were getting ready Friday morning, Luke took a pretty nasty fall off our bed. I saw it happen because I was inches away from him when he fell. Our bed is high, and he landed on the top of his head. He wailed, as you can imagine, but his cry did not sound normal, and a few seconds after I picked him up, his nose started to bleed. He was very still. I can’t even describe how terrified we were.

I called 112 (the local 911). John held Luke. “Mein baby gefallen…bett…hohe…nose …blood…weinen nich normal” - Why hadn’t I learned the words I needed??? Oh God, please let him be ok.

The paramedics came. Langsam. (slow.) One spoke English, one didn’t. Said Luke seemed ok, eyes dilated correctly, but we should take him to the hospital. Off we went. Better notify work…attempted to send Blackberry message but mailbox is over size limit. Sheisse. Whhhhy nooowww??

I’ll spare you the details of the waiting and the check-in process, trying to figure out whether we have insurance coverage for “normal” or “private” service, all the while praying that Luke would be ok.

Within a few hours, he seemed fine – laughing, crawling around, jabbering. Around 3pm, they took a sonogram to ensure there was no bleeding on the brain. He passed. Still, the docs wanted to hold him for 24 hours for observation.

Looking back, there were a number of things that were blog material, but honestly, I’m still so shaken by our close call that I can’t really make any of them sound funny. I will say, though, that only hours before we checked out did I learn there was a toilet right outside our room – I had been walking all the way to the end of the wing, and for three of my four meals there, I chose to eat bread and butter. You know my love of food, so you can figure that one out. Even so, I’ve never been so happy to spend the night anywhere, as long as Luke was ok.

Our visit to church Sunday morning was more comforting than usual, and we are extremely grateful that little Lukey-duke is happy and healthy. Meanwhile, there is now a pack n’ play in our bedroom and we’re looking at the low, European beds for potential purchase.

That was one German experience we REALLY don’t want to repeat!