A virus or head trauma? Difficult to tell.

I find myself (more often than not) saying things I never would have dreamed would come out of my mouth.

Like “I thought it might be a virus, but then again, it could be a concussion”.

This is where my beautiful youngest daughter comes in.

I will back up for all of you….all the way to last Sunday.

It was a frosty cold Sunday when the girls took out the sled because they were tired of waiting for the snow that wouldn’t come, and decided frost was just as good.

Our 7 year old (very small for her age) child, Falafel, was on the sled when our oldest 13 year old (average sized) teen, The Bee, jumped on the corner of it, sending tiny child hurling through the air, landing on her face. Then Teen girl fell over….ON TOP OF HER SISTER’S HEAD.

Small bruising and blurry vision along with eye pain was reported to us (by “us” I mean the parents that are staring wild eyed, blinking occasionally at them both). So Monday morning I took our Falafel to the Eye Doctor (yes, the very one that she failed her eye exam at and they have no idea why) to undergo every test and to try out every piece of machinery available to find out that her eye is fine. *insert “you are just an overreacting parent” look from staff*

On Tuesday she developed a headache with nausea. No fever. No vomit. Continue on.

After getting the third call from the school nurse this week, saying that our daughter has visited, AGAIN, but no fever no vomiting, I remember that she had fallen on her head just days before. The kind nurse tells me that it probably is nothing, or it could be a concussion, and maybe I should call the doctor.

Hmmmm. Good idea. Or is it?

I do feel a little silly at this point. Is our child the only one who it is difficult to tell if she is ill from a head injury or a simple virus??

Well, we travel 1 hour away to go sit in the germ-infested clinic, and I start going through many scenarios in my head. My favorite, and probably the most accurate: “If it is from the fall, then we will surely get the flu sitting here in  this office“.

*sigh*

The doc told me that it is just a virus. I hope we don’t get the flu now.

So, crisis averted. Sortof.

I suppose my whole point to this lengthy story is that parenting is hard. Knowing when to panic or keeping yourself from panicking is difficult. When we find ourselves flailing around looking for answers and making calls on behalf of our small humans, we especially appreciate kindness. And understanding. And patience.

We make educated guesses about things that are potentially hazardous to our children or try to diagnose the bumps and bruises that go with the life of a kid without seeming overbearing or paranoid. That is every parent’s challenge. Right?

Do all parents go through this with their children? Are you ever in doubt of whether or not to seek medical attention (if there aren’t any real signs of emergency)?