Where in the WORLD did MARCH go?

Well so much for my new years resolution...I have not blogged for over a month. Guess that means we were extra busy!

March 1st started out as a very eventful day. Besides being Dad's birthday it was also the day Jackson paid his 1st visit to the ER.
I got a call from Jackson's school that he had fallen and bit his tongue. I got the call at 4:52 pm and was told I need to come and get him. I was not sure what to expect as I was told there was a "flap". I naturally started to panic a little, I called the pediatricians office knowing they were going to close at 5. They told me the obvious..."we cannot dr you over the phone" and "we are closing in a few minutes". My next phone call was to Shannon, she is way better than any pediatrician receptionist and even a webmd site!!! She told me there is not really a lot you can do for a tongue injury, but also depends on how bad it is. I told her I was in the process of rushing over to get him and I would call her back after I knew what it was we were dealing with. She said if it was not that bad I should take him to his pediatricians office which at 5pm turns into Good Night pediatrics OR if it was bad he would need to go to the ER. So I rushed over to the school; which is on site where I work, when I walked in the Director Theresa took me back to a room where Jackson and his teacher were. She was rocking him and he seemed pretty calm. THEN he saw me. He turned around and held out his arms and said "Momma, hold you please" and started to cry with big crocodile tears. I held him in my arms and comforted him....then Theresa told Jackson to show Momma his tongue. I ALMOST FAINTED. It was cut at an angle from the right side over and then down towards the tip of his tongue. I looked at Theresa and said, "you said it was not that bad..." I think they could tell I was a little light headed as they kept asking if I was ok, I looked at them and said, "I have to be ok, I have to take him to the ER...I have to get him there now." I am sure they were thinking...ok psycho mom! They gave Jackson a frozen ice pack teething ring thing to suck on right after the fall and also one for the ride to the ER, and actually that was a really good idea as it stopped the bleeding.

After I loaded him up in the car I called Shannon and told her it was pretty bad and I wanted to get him to an ER. She told me it was not a good idea to try and get all the way over to Scottsdale Health Care where she works due to the time of the day and me being alone with him in the car. She said to take him to Mendys place, I was like, "and who exactly is Mendy and why would I take him to her?" She laughed and explained to me it was a childes ER at John C Lincoln which was very close to my office. She assured me she would meet me there and not to panic. It only took me 8 minutes to get there. On the way I called Justin and filled him in on the news and where we were headed, he was at home and said he was on his way to meet us.

Once arriving to Mendys Place, Shannon and Suri met us there. I had Jackson open his mouth to show Aunt Shannon, she cringed and was like "wow, maybe they will stitch that." After seeing HER reaction I knew I was not overreacting and was doing the right thing by taking him there.

After we checked in we saw the triage nurse, after taking his vitals and looking at his tongue she took us straight back to a room and said she was more than certain he would get stitches. My heart stopped...she was like "Mom are you ok, can you be there with him when he gets stitches?" I assured her I was going to be fine and if I was not that his Aunt would be right there to take over.

Jackson was such a trooper, he had not really complained a lot up to this point and did not seem to be in a lot of pain. He started to get uncomfortable once the teething ring ice pack defrosted and was no longer cold. Finally after a few second opinions by the ER dr's and specialists, they called an oral surgeon and came to the conclusion they were not going to stitch it. They agreed it was a pretty deep cut and it was bad however they feared putting Jackson under and his reaction to stitches in his mouth. Justin and Shannon did most of the listening as I held my baby tight and rocked him in the rocking chair.

Finally after we knew what we were doing and knew he was not going to have to go under, Jackson was offered a Popsicle. This was the highlight of his evening I am sure. They also gave him some pain medicine and sent us on our way and suggested in a week we follow up with the oral surgeon.

We called Dad and told him we were sorry for ruining the family dinner for his birthday but we were going home and were going to relax and unwind as it was now close to 8pm.
Dad and Grandma wanted to come over and see Jackson and also bring Justin and I the dinner we missed up at their house.

Jackson telling Papa what happened...

Showing his tongue to Papa for the 1st time.

Looking at this still makes my stomach turn.

Papa's make all the pain go away.

Buddies

"Happy Birthday to you Papa"

Jackson remained out of school for the rest of the week. Justin and I alternated taking time off with Jackson and he went to Shannon's house one day so we did not have to miss too much work.
The following Tuesday Jackson had his follow up apt with the oral surgeon. The cut was looking much better but was not healed like they had told us to expect. You could still see down inside the cut and it was still "flapped" open. The surgeon was please with the healing however noticed a "step" where the wound was growing together. It was not laying flat. The Dr was not too concerned however said we should watch it. If at some point it was really bothering Jackson or affecting his eating and speech we could go back in and re cut it and then stitch it.
As of today, April 5th... the tongue is looking pretty good, you can see a little bit where there is a like a scar however I do not think it will be an issue we will have to revisit! Thank the Lord!