Friday, February 4, 2011

LeAnne's Nose

Just as I was walking into work last Friday (January 28) I received a phone call from the middle school.  The school office told me LeAnne had tripped and had a bloody nose.  She can be clumsy and has had other falls at school so it didn't register real high on my "concern meter" at first.  Then she said that they had called a nurse who was on the way to the school.  My "concern" needle started vibrating.  "We have to have a parent come up here right now, it's quite a bit of blood."  With my "concern" needle shooting way up I spun around, left my office and immediately headed to school.  As I was walking into the office I see two janitors walking out with an armful of white towels, covered in bright red blood.  My daughter's blood.  I felt faint.  I see two more cleaning up blood stains on the carpet, shaking I ask if my daughter is down the hall.  I'm escorted into the nurses area, where the nurse had beaten me to the school.  I look over and LeAnne seems ok and in one piece.  I slowly exhale, not even realizing at first that I had been holding my breath.  Sit down with her and it seems they have everything under control.  She had changed shirts due to all the blood, though there was still blood on her pants and shoes.  But the nose was no longer bleeding.  On the outside was a cut.  The nurse pulled me to the side and informed that she thought it was broken.  I asked if she was sure, she nodded a yes.  Said to get her to the doctor as soon as I could to make sure pieces of bone hadn't gone into her sinuses.  We have Kaiser insurance, so that meant I had to call and jump through all their hoops to get her seen.  They could see her quickly, but I'd have to go to the Sugarhill facility.  On the way there I told her, well baby I guess we get to spend the day together.  She replied, "I don't think this counts as quality time, Mom."  Guess not, not when you have been bleeding like crazy, have a broken nose and shaking in pain.  Get the x-rays and the broken nose is confirmed.  Instructions are to go home, stay propped up on pillows for 24 hr and ice it for 10 minutes every hour or so.  Follow up with an ENT.  She was such a trooper, kept asking the doctor if she could please go back to school.  This was her first day that she missed school the whole year.

Tuesday.  Our appointment with the ENT to find out what next.  Have had people praying for us.  Poor LeAnne is a nervous wreck.  It really hasn't swelled too badly and not much bruising either.  I'm hoping for the best.  Get to school to get her and her principal tells me LeAnne has hugged him three times and is nervous.  She comes to the office for me to sign her out and the principal tells us he is praying for us.  So very grateful for a Christian principal.  Thanks to Kaiser we have to drive 50 miles to the ENT.  She turns out to be extremely nice though and talked directly to LeAnne in terms she (and myself) could easily understand.  Apparently LeAnne cracked off a tee tiny piece of bone on the end of her nose.  The doctor said to hit it with that force, had she had her head turned a little to the left or a little more to the right and it would have disfigured her nose.  Requiring reconstructive surgery.  Said the knot/bump on the top of her nose was just swelling around the piece of bone.  Suggested we ice it three more days.  If it still doesn't go down then they could give her a shot of steroid in her nose, breaking down the scar tissue so it could finish going down. Thank you, Jesus! So now LeAnne has a story to tell her grand kids one day and the worst case scenario she might get a shot.  I did ask her if she wanted her nose pieced, told her it was hurting already so it wouldn't be a big deal.  Her response? A long drawn out "Ma .. um, Puh-lease!"  LOL

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