So the kids are doing Little Gym on Mondays. It's a pop-up on the 4th floor of a multi-fit. After class last Monday, the Grace and Alex wanted to take the stairs instead of the elevator. I always hold Alex's hand. Always. He often hates it. He usually fights it. Today I just didn't. 3.5 stories down the sharp granite stairs he started to fall. It happened so fast, yet in slow motion. I couldn't reach him. He fell sideways, then down a step, then another. The momentum gathered and it turned to the tumble-fall of nightmares. He landed with horrible cries and thuds, people rushing towards us, and there was so much blood, so quickly. I saw the cut on his temple and it was bad. I saw bone. So I pressed my palm against it to stop the bleeding but not cut off circulation to a risky spot, and began the frantic search for my car and driver, yelling for people to get my bag and help me find my phone. Grace was so calm and cool behind us, holding my purse. She was amazing, silently helpful. But honestly, I hardly saw her so was so glad that Chris soon handled her.
Chris saw the commotion-he was in the car-and came rushing to us, fear and confusion racing across his face. We rushed to a nearby hospital. That was awful. That Indian hospital experience was less than 5 minutes long and awful. It's extremely awkward to carry a child out of a car while keeping one hand pressed to his temple. As I approached the main doors, Chris asking for emergency, and man wrenched Alex out of my arms as I desperately tried to keep my palm pressed to his temple. They rushed us through a humanity packed waiting room, all mouths agape as we raced by. They opened the door to triage, a tiny room already packed full. They made the boy on the triage table move over and laid Alex down. Alex was fully losing it in there because so many people were touching him and talking and no one would listen to him. And so many people were pulling at me and touching him and talking to us that I couldn't stop to listen. They said he'd need a plastic surgeon and he'd be there in 3 hours. I grabbed Chris' phone and called our pediatrician then busted out of the hospital and headed over there. His wife is a surgeon, so she came to do the stitches. Dr. Mahesh, usually cool as a cucumber (really, he still was other than this one little giveaway) kept saying, "it's really deep." A lot. He said it a lot, followed each time by me saying, "I know, that's bone." If you're queasy, skip the next sentence. The doctor was cleaning the wound and moved the skin a bit and I saw into Alex's sinus cavity. Oh, I wish I'd never seen that.
Chris was going to leave to take Grace home and meet George after school so he explained to Alex that he'd need to be really brave if he wanted to get fixed there. But if he couldn't it was ok and he'd go to the hospital where he could have it fixed while he was unconscious. The idea of unconscious was too much for him, so he wanted to be brave. I explained that they would numb it before they sewed it (he wants and needs to know exactly what will happen). He was really upset about the idea of numb. He was really upset he wouldn't feel. Finally it clicked and I explained that he'd still feel all his emotions-happy, sad, scared, frustrated, excited, joyful...he just wouldn't feel his skin near the cut for a couple of hours. This was a huge relief to him. (Anyone who thinks there is something wrong with the brain of an autistic child should meet this one-his mind is amazing!)
As Grace was saying goodbye to Alex she kissed him so gently and tenderly on his arm, then very gently brushed his cheek with her hand. It was the most stunningly beautiful and painful moment.
Anyhow, though he'll have a scar, I'm glad we didn't wait for the plastic surgeon. He got his stitches and he was so very brave. At one point during the numbing process he said to me, after crying about how much it hurt, "if the doctors don't know how much it hurts, then they should have to try it!"
Tonight as I tucked Grace and Alex into bed together, I told Grace how proud I was of her for being so calm and helpful and said it must have been scary for you too. She replied, "it was. Alex is my very favorite person."
We are so lucky. We are so blessed.
 |
| Grace comforting Alex when we got home |
No comments:
Post a Comment