How does this sort of thing happen?!?!

So tonight (Tuesday, April 24th, 2012) started off as a "normal" night. We ate dinner, went to Tanion's Pinewood Derby, came home and the kids were playing outside. Jeremiah decided to mow the lawn while I was taking my friend to pick up her crib. Completely normal, nothing weird night.

Right as I was pulling in to Babies-R-Us, Jeremiah calls me and has panic in his voice. "Meet me at the Emergency Room NOW." I can hear crying in the back ground and I'm pretty sure it's Robyn. I say ok and ask which kid is hurt (thinking we've gotten our first broken arm from the trampoline). Jeremiah says "Robyn. She has a wire sticking out of her head." WTF?!?!

While Jeremiah was mowing the lawn, Robyn was playing near the middle of the retaining wall (4-ish feet up in the air). He was mowing near our swing set and he sees a spark come out from under the mower. He thinks he hit a rock or something, no big deal. Then Robyn starts crying / screaming. He shuts down the mower to go see if she's ok, thinking she's the victim of the flying rock. It wasn't a rock. It was a 3-inch piece of tie-wire and it is sticking out the side of Robyn's head. Did I mention that he was a good 30-40 feet away from her? On the ground?!

Imagine the face you would make if you see a cute little 4 year old girl crying and then you see a freaking wire sticking out of her head just above her left temple. Shocked? Yeah, so was everyone else. We got right back in at the ER. We got the doctor's attention right away. We were case #1 there for a while. And that's saying something since there were about 15-20 people in the wait room when we got there. It seemed like people that work at the hospital were all sort of trying to see it. Honestly, it looked like she had a stick in her hair (and actually, one of the nurses who was taking her back in for the CT scan thought it was and almost tried to take it out of her hair!)

She did pretty good actually. She cried a lot at first because she just wanted to go home. And she would not let anyone touch anywhere near it. And she did not want the pulse monitor on. I think she fought it the most!

Robyn had a CT scan and they saw that the wire pierced her skull, barely making it through to the other side of the skull bone. But the ER doctor, the Pediatric Neurologist from Primary Children's (consult over the phone after looking at the CT scan results), and the Radiologist - all thought that it could be removed without surgery. So 3 Nurses, Jeremiah and the doctor all came in, held down Robynson and pulled the wire out of her head. It was inside of her head almost 1/2 inch exactly and there were just over 2-1/2" on the outside. They then flushed it out and put a small staple in the side of her head. She was good as new.

Robyn kept talking on the way home (and in the parking lot of Rite Aid while we waited for her anti-biotic prescription) about how everyone is just so worried about her and that she is just so brave. I think she is right on both accounts! We will have to watch her and make sure she stays "normal Robyn" and that there isn't any infection, excess swelling or fluid leakage, but they all think that she should be ok! Lots of prayers and scares, but we're all good! *phew!*

So are you wanting to see pictures?

Robynson smiling for Jeremiah -
with the wire sticking out from her head!

Robynson not happy we are taking pictures -
with the wire sticking out from her head!

Side view (harder to see)


CT Scan Image #1 - Front View
(her head is slightly tilted so they could see it better)

CT Image #2 - Above View
See it there on the
(well, your right, but picture has the L for left)
That's where it pierced into her skull

MAN! Seriously! All we can think is how lucky we are! And just dumbfounded that it happened in the first place. Jeremiah and I keep laughing and saying "HOW THE HELL!?!" It's just so completely random and freak accident crazy!

So count your blessings, kiss your babies, read the warnings (and don't think "How often does that really happen?" - like Miah did just prior to this happening!)

And if you are curious, apparently the chances of getting hit from an item that comes out of a lawn mower are 3623 to 1. Chances of it piercing through your skull while standing on a retaining wall 30-40ft away? Not sure. But I will no longer take those odds.