Pencils and Slides Don't Mix

What do pencils and slides have to do with each other anyway?

Funny you should ask.

Brooklyn decided to climb up the slide two days ago at the park next to our house. While nearing the top she slipped. Normally this would not have been a big deal, I mean how many times has she fallen down the slide, right? But, this time she had a pencil in her mouth. Don't even ask me why she had a pencil in her mouth because I have no idea, but she did. Now I didn't see this happening because I was at home and Troy was "watching" the kids while pushing around the neighborhood. Yep, best parents of the year I tell ya. So she came running home screaming. I thought she was being her normal drama queen so I held her for a while and looked in her mouth. I could see the top of her mouth was cut a bit, but I was not overly concerned. She complained off and on for the next few hours and then she started crying all over again. Again, not thinking it was a big deal, I put her to bed, but let her sleep by me.

All night she kept whimpering in her sleep and saying that she couldn't move her head. I felt horrible for her but I really didn't know what to do. I took her to the pediatrician first thing in the morning and by this time she looked miserable to say the least. She wouldn't eat or even move her neck from side to side at that point. The doctor told us that she not only hit the roof of her mouth, but the pencil actually hit the uvula at the back of her throat and that it was extremely inflamed. She called the Ear, Nose and Throat specialist and they told me to take her straight to Phoenix Children's Hospital because it might be something serious. So now I am concerned and feeling horrible that I didn't take her more seriously the night before and actually take her in somewhere rather than just putting her to bed.

After spending about 4 hours in the ER and a few x-rays later we found out the luckily she didn't break anything and her uvula should heal in about a week or two. She does have to wear a neck brace for a few days because the muscles are so tight and she has to eat soft foods, but it really ended up not being a huge deal. So for now we are eating LOTS of popsicles and ice cream and watching lots of movies so she is thinking that life is pretty good right now.

It really is amazing how resilient kids are--she is already up and playing. She even wanted to go to school today, but I figured it wasn't a good idea. She has told me several times, "I won't be doing that again." And I am sure she won't. I guess that we all have to learn from our mistakes sometimes, I mean I could have told her 100 times to not put a pencil in her mouth and climb up the slide, but do you think she would have ever learned anything from that? Nope. But have one accident like this and she has learned her lesson for a lifetime.

As sad as she looks, she still looks dang cute with her neck brace on I must say.




So all of you out there that were planning on climbing up a slide with a pencil in your mouth--I hope you learned your lesson. I know I have.