Once the paramedics arrived, their first thought was obviously his neck and spine so they got a neck brace on him right away. As they were working on him, Jess called looking for his phone (that Kingston and Maycie had secretly grabbed from him at his work only 20 minutes prior), and I answered and said, "Kasen fell out of a two-story window, the ambulance is here now so I can't talk. I have your phone, stay by your work phone!" Obviously that didn't settle too well for him so I handed the phone to one of the random worker guys who explained to him that Kasen did have a really bad fall but that he was crying and alert so he should be okay but that he should come up to the Mannings. Jess immediately left work but didn't have his cell phone so you can only imagine the thoughts that were going through his head. The paramedics quickly got Kasen on to a stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance. Jess got there right as we were about to pull away so he was able to see Kasen before he had to take our other three kids to Laurie's so that he could meet us at Primary Children's. In the ambulance on the way there, Kasen while sobbing kept saying, "I died!" and "Mom, make my owies feel better!" He wouldn't let go of my hand the whole time and wanted Daddy too. They got an IV going and gave him some morphine. About 20 seconds after they gave him the morphine in his IV he started to calm down and go to sleep. While he was calm we were able to clean off some more of the blood to see what other cuts and bruises were going on.
Once we got to Primary Children's there were 15-20 trauma surgeons at his side trying to asses all of his injuries. There were so many people that there wasn't enough room for me by him for a few minutes so he kept screaming, "I want my Mommy!" My mommy heart was just aching, I just wanted to take his pain away. Because he was in such a state of shock, he started to get aggressive when trying to get off the bed so they had to give him more morphine to help him calm down. In figuring out that there was nothing completely urgent, they were able to take him down for head and neck CT's and x-rays. They were very concerned about internal bleeding but said they couldn't do anymore scans on his body yet because it would cause cancer later in life. They took blood to check his pancreas, liver, red blood cells, etc. to see what his more normal levels were and they were going to keep taking blood throughout the day to see if they were dropping etc. Once we were just waiting for the results of the scans, Grandpa Dave showed up and the "Lifestyle Lady" came to see what shows or toys would help him feel more comfortable. He was able to watch Land Before Time and get a balloon with a blue bear for his birthday! He loves that blue bear and sleeps with it even now that he's home.
The trauma doctors came in and told us that he had a skull fracture by his cheek bone and its the bone that holds the eyeball in its socket, explaining why his eye had popped out. They were concerned about the fracture because it looked like some sort of fatty tissue had lodged itself in the facture and they weren't sure if it was a eye muscle, so ophthalmology was going to need to do a full assessment. There were no other broken bones in his neck and head that they could see, but they were still concerned about internal bleeding in the rest of his body so they took him upstairs to the Neurological Trauma ICU. Once we got into his new room, there was someone coming to check on him every couple of minutes taking different stats.
Within 7 hours of being there everything had calmed down and he was able to take a short nap to hopefully get him to be happier and participate more in the exams. By 11:00 that night they had determined that he was severely bruised on almost every organ, but there was nothing major or long lasting! He really was a miracle!!! All of the trauma doctors and nurses kept saying that they see window falls all of the time but no one has ever come out of it this good. He was finally able to have clear liquids. After being able to keep some juice down, he got the okay for a popsicle and slushy and boy was he in heaven! You could tell he was starting to feel much better. He still wasn't enjoying the eye exams, vitals, or blood draws, but for the 30 minutes in between there he was a happy camper. Before he went to bed around midnight we got him to realize he needed to go to the bathroom (he hadn't gone all day) so I was able to carry him to the toilet. He absolutely screamed being upright, saying his tummy and head owies hurt, but was happy when we laid him back down. They were monitoring his urine output with his liquid input to make sure his kidneys were functioning properly.
After very little sleep, but at least some, Kasen woke up really sore, but in great spirits! We were SO excited to see our little guy smile! That smile lit up the room and the first tears of joy filled my eyes! I'm so grateful I get to look at the smile every day. After his final eye exam determining it was just random fatty tissue instead of eye muscle, they let him eat(up until this point they hadn't wanted him to eat in case there was internal bleeding or he needed surgery to get the eye muscle out of the fracture)! He was so excited that he got to pick whatever he wanted like a big guy! After eating his tummy did hurt but they expected that to be normal.
At this point they wanted to keep him over night another night for monitoring but said that they couldn't monitor with anything at the hospital that we couldn't do at home, so we decided to go home. Before we could leave though they wanted him to go up to the playroom to make sure all of the colors and toys weren't too much stimuli and set off a seizure or something. Luckily for him, his best buddy Will came to visit and bring him a present/birthday present so Will got to go with him to the playroom. Kasen did great so we were so excited to bring him home!
Kasen is on a STRICT bed rest basically for at least one week, maybe two. He needs to be laying or sitting at all times to let his head rest. He can watch movies to help him relax, but not for too long or its too stimulating. He can do puzzles, which he loves, but only 1-2 at a time because that is too hard on his brain. The doctor said its best to do lots of different things for 20-30 minute increments at a time so his brain can have time to heal. After the 1-2 weeks, he will still be on a STRICT two feet on the ground at all times for 2-3 months. This means no jumping, running, skipping, sports, playgrounds, etc. That will also be really hard, but at least he can go to preschool if he's really careful!
Kasen was pretty sad that we had to cancel his birthday party to the dinosaur museum, but on our way home a t-rex ran out to scare our car! We pulled over and got to meet the t-rex knowing that it was fate. It ended up that it was the dinosaurs birthday too and he just so happened to have an extra birthday balloon and a birthday cookie for Kasen. What a lucky coincidence! And we will still be celebrating his birthday and having a party at the dinosaur museum when he's better and off of restriction! Happy birthday buddy! We're so glad to have you in our lives, especially today! We truly feel like the luckiest parents in the world to still have this boy with us and to be able to continue to learn from him!
