So true, so true.

She still living with you two?

My younger brother had several knock-outs as a kid, one that I caused by accident. We were washing the neighbor across the street's PU truck on a summer day, standing in the bed and washing the roof w/ it all suds-ed up and I got into one of those incredibly immature arguments with him, "I'm washing that part", and pushed him just a little. Unfortunately he slipped because of the suds, (I didn't mean to hurt him), and landed on the driveway knocked out. I can tell you that was the worst experience of my life of 47 years, he was non-responsive and I thought I killed my brother. That was about 1970, and it is still hard to talk about. (Or even type it). I can't describe the way I felt for ~2 hours when he and my Mom+ neighbor were at the hospital and I was home alone not knowing.

The only reason I re-live it here and now is because that was a bad concussion, (he was out for a while, just dead weight), and he wound up OK. I have never forgiven myself for that, even though he has a thousand times over. He knows that it was an accident, but I was being a typical A-hole older brother when it happened. (We used to bicker a lot). I could be a jerk to him, but if anyone else messed w/ him I'd kill them.

He turned out to be a genius and has survived countless health scares from malaria to Hepatitis to being car-jacked in Angola and rifle-butted in the face, (broken nose), so basically we humans heal really well. It's one of the most amazing things about us.

Sheese, 'daddy...a string of back luck lately, eh?

'Hope yer little pup comes through OK.

AFAIK when the head gets slammed the brain bounces around like a ping pong ball a few times. When this happens the connection/canal between the brain and ear get stretched. Stretch causes balance problems. There are 3 types of brain damage, slight, medium, and severe. Severe candidates usually wind up with permanent balance problems. With slight there is no coma and rapid healing.

That said, I'd monitor his cruller for unusual swelling due to interior bleeding pressure. You'll know the swelling is not from the usual bump swelling. It'll be very wide area swelling.

Sorry, did not see your post till now.

This is typical symptoms in a small child thats had a head trauma of this kind. We see it several times every day. In more than ten years that I have worked as a pediatrician I have not seen one single child that did not come out fully OK after mild head traumas like this.

Sleepiness, vomiting and similar non specific symptoms are rather common but the kids are generally back in business within 24 hours.

Besides the CAT scan was negative (primarily to rule out cerebral hemorrhage).

Your kid is alright. Don´t worry.

Another typical Michigan Conservative Repblican has just been made.

Thanks, that is reassuring and I was hoping for your reply. However, he still cannot keep water down and we are getting worried about dehydration. The pediatrician is calling us back now, but it seems odd after 20 hours that he's still unable to keep anything down.

lendaddy, I wish you and your kid the best of luck with the situation at hand.

When i was ~4 i fell off a work bench in the basement, a lot of crying and no breakfest later I was leaving the doctors with a clean bill of health and a giant bump on my head. Perfectly normal for kids to fall and hurt themseleves doing things we might consider stupid.

Why do our kids insist on scaring us so? I'm sure I never did that to my folks...

I remember mountain biking in the woods behind my house when my boys were about six and nine. The six year old was leading the way on a downhill, going way too fast for his little bike and his skill level. He knew no fear in those days. Anyway, he lost control over a few bumps, roots, rocks, and whatnot. He lawn-darted right into the base of a tree, apparently taking the full impact on the top of his noggin. As he laid there, completely motionless and face down in the dirt, the first words he uttered were "daddy, I can't see". Talk about heart-stopping moments. I told him not to move and sent my nine year old home to get my wife, a nurse. Then he started trying to roll over and sit up. All freaked out, I insisted he stay put until his mother arrived. Then he started to cry. "But daddy, I can't see..." Then he rolled over, still crying, and pushed his helmet back up. The impact had pushed it down over his eyes. "That's better" he said, brushing off the dirt and picking up his bike. "I'm all dirty; mom's gonna be mad." Kids...

Len, bad head trauma often followed by seizure activity, none with your tyke..so that is very good. Some 'bounce ' back faster than others ,
hang in there..you ain't seen nothin yet..
Rika

Doc advised that this is normal and to give him small sips of water more frequently and that our allowing him to gulp the water is helping to cause the vomiting. Everything is cool for now, thanks again guys.

that's good news 'daddy. how are you and the wifey doing?

I'm fine, but the wife was pretty hard on herself for "letting this happen". Deep down she knows it was an accident, but mother/the protector instincts die hard.

I didn't help by jumping on her a little when I couldn't get the story from her right away after it happened. She was busy apologizing and proclaiming her guilt that I couldn't get the story I needed (what happened?, how did he fall?, did you hear his head hit?, what it first?, what position was he in?, did he cry right away? etc.....) so I had to be a little harsh in getting her out of that mode, but she know I had to.
She's much better now and is truly one of the best mothers in the world.

jeez yeah thats a tough one. That happened to us as well. The wife was carrying our then infant daughter in her arms when she lost her footing on some gravel. She fell on our daughter and really mashed her pretty hard. Well I just about freaked, I gathered up our daughter, checked her over carefully right there in the street, glared at the wife and took my baby girl home.

Well obviously I was out of line , especially since my daughter was fine. But the wife never forgave me for making her feel lower than whale ****.

I wasn't there to see it, so I was rational when I got there and avoided the potential problem you describe(but I can relate to your reaction, right or wrong). I simply had to give her a very stern "this isn't about you, calm down I need information not explanations" kind of thing. What's weird is that she kept remembering details hours after the fact, must have been very traumatic for her as well.

Glad your son appears to be doing okay. This will be remembered by your wife forever. You will need to reassure her on this for years to come.

Len,
Hope things are well with your son. My son fell on his bike this summer and broke his front teeth and that shook us up a bit. These things happen but they are hell on a parent's nerves! Good luck!

Small children have this annoying habit of scaring the living day lights out of their parents. Its just in their nature and they are horribly skilled at it.

As I mentioned, I have never during my working years seen any serious head injuries from falls like you describe. The worst case was actually my own son. He did vomit for almost three days. But I did not want to tell you that to begin with and have you unnecessary worried.. ;)

As a layman's rule of thumb - if the kid remains conscious directly after the trauma, starts crying - there is generally no cause for concern. Naturally the blow to the head often will create symptoms from the central nervous system like head ache, drowsiness, dizziness, feeling sick and vomiting. Thats not signs of any lasting damages however and typically will subside in a day or two. Full restitution is the rule.

Thanks Markus, my wife will be pleased. Thanks again for your help!

I was just waiting for Markus to see this thread. God, this board rocks!