Bruised Brains and Stays of Execution

Are you intrigued? Well, the last 24 hours have been fraught with drama and I shall tell you all about it!

To get to the point, Redheaded Snippet got herself a nice little concussion yesterday evening. She took a line drive to the head at the end of softball practice yesterday, which knocked her out and everything and she didn't even tell me about it until almost 2 hours after it happened. She thinks she is Superwoman.

She was only unconscious for a few seconds, she thinks. But she was anxious, dizzy, had difficulty focusing her eyes, and had a pretty bad headache (go figure). Gradually, other symptoms began showing up, such as nausea, more feelings of being overwhelmed, recurring dizziness, and even a short period during which one pupil was larger than the other.

Long story short, we took her to the pediatrician who confirmed she had a concussion and sent us right over to have a CT Scan. Thankfully, nothing serious showed up in the Scan, but we're still supposed to check in with the doctor in the morning. And, horror of horrors, she restricted from physical activity for the rest of this week and quite possibly into the next. She may as well have been told to hold her breath for four days. She's going to go quite mad.

Now, did you happen to remember on which night all this excitement has occurred? Yes, another Wednesday, worst of all days. But not just any Wednesday. The Wednesday I was supposed to teach my class, the day I had been preparing and bolstering myself for and dreading for weeks, weeks! I don't know if it was Friend or Foe, but someone didn't want me at that class tonight! And I'm really not sure what else to think about that!

I felt really guilty for being all kinds of glad and relieved that I got a reprieve on teaching tonight, but those good feelings were short lived when I realized this only delays the inevitable. I locked the door this afternoon with the profound thought, "When I open this door again, it will all be over with," greatly anticipating the feeling of triumph and relief I would surely feel upon my return. Instead, I walked back in more tense that I had been when I had left, worried about the welfare of my baby and wondering what the next few hours and days would hold.

Truly, I know that teaching my class is the least of my worries right now. Redheaded Snippet is what I'm focused on right now. I keep hovering over her, asking how she feels, if her head hurts, if she's dizzy, if she can see okay, if she knows her name, who is President and what her address is. She thinks it's all pretty amusing, until I start teasing her about her unfortunate bruised brain. But she's also trying to milk it for all it's worth, protesting that she can't possibly finish her homework, feed the dog or complete a single chore because, after all, she has a concussion and was knocked unconscious recently. Funny kid.

So, we're all relieved and grateful for God's protection of our precious (not-so-)little girl. The ball that hit her did graze a low-hanging tree branch and the very edge of her mitt before cleaning her clock and I can't help but wonder how much worse her injuries would have been if the force hadn't been deflected even that little bit. And if I have to go through anxieties of insecurity over teaching for one more week, it's a small price to pay to have the peace of mind that Redheaded Snippet is probably going to be just fine.

Now all I have to do is catch up on all the chores I've been neglected while preparing my lesson...I begin reclaiming the house tomorrow morning!