Alex has a hard head…I didn’t know he did, but he does. A few weeks ago he came home from school with a huge knot on his forehead, the thing was HUGE! It was under his bangs so I didn’t notice it until after he had showered. I asked if he went to the nurse and he said no and replied “I didn’t even cry.” I was able to get a little bit of the story out of him – he was playing/running at recess and tripped and went down to his hands and knees but had so much forward momentum that he went over and slammed his forehead on the concrete sidewalk.
I told him that if he bumps his head again, he really needs to go see the nurse. Fast forward a bit and he starts to have headaches at night. I didn’t think of the bump on the head because the headaches didn’t start for a few days, surely they weren’t related – right?
By the time I put the headache/bump thing together it was the night before his neurology appointment so I figured I’d bring it up the next day. The bump was still there but not as noticeable (the bruising had faded by this point.) The neuro was concerned so ordered an MRI.
Friday was MRI day – the Children’s Hospital uses general anesthesia on children his age so I was pretty nervous. The only other time he’s had anesthesia was when he had Versed at the dentist’s office. Coming out of that is something that I described as the “Versed Nightmare.” The toughest part about preparing was the no food or drink rule after midnight. Alex wakes up hungry (like all kids, right) and was so grouchy.
We made it to the hospital and thankfully everything went perfectly – he was cooperative and non-combative both before and after the procedure. Friday night he felt well enough to fully enjoy his little sister’s 5th birthday party (I can’t believe she is five!).
While at the party, the neurologist called and left a message on the answering machine that said the MRI was “nothing to be worried about but it did show changes that suggest he hit the right side of his head rather hard.” The right side of his head is what smacked into the concrete to stop his fall.
This morning I called the neurologist and he said that basically Alexander gave himself a severe concussion. I asked about the fact that the headaches were delayed and that Alex could recount the event and he explained that sometimes concussions occur even though consciousness is maintained.
So on to the changes, the radiology report says “Impression: single punctate focus of subcortical white matter hyperintensity in the right anterior frontal lobe, nonspecific, but likely sequela of remote injury.” According to the doc, when he hit, a depression was made in his right frontal lobe. My lil guy smacked his head so hard that it dented his brain but didn’t cry nor tell anyone. Yikes. Granted it isn’t a big dent but hey, it is a brain dent!
I told him today that it is important that anytime he bumps his head at school, even if he doesn’t cry, that he needs to go see the nurse. We also spent a bit looking over the MRI images of his brain – he thought it was pretty darned cool!
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Hey there, just came across your website and found your story very interesting and related to the accident that happened with my daughter a year back, she fell from the stairs and developed a big bump on the right side of her head, we did not care much as she did not cry at all! but on the same night she reported severe headache, we rushed her to the hospital, doctor did all the check ups and told us that thanks god you guys have brought her to the hospital at the right time because the conditions were really very critical! I can’t forget that time, thanks god that my daughter is completely alright now.