Enjoying the warmth of the moment, the neighborhood is outside. A few adults finding conversation, a flock of young kids finding themselves energized in a game of kick ball. It’s safe, it’s warm, friendly and fun. Until…
I like to say C is our kids’ favorite toy. He can play any game with enough zeal that you know he’s having just as much fun as the kiddos he’s entertaining. On this day, he’s in line, waiting his turn to kick the ball as far as he can, caught up in the game.
And he does kick the ball…straight into the left side of J’s face.
Now, to know C is to know he’s an amazing dad who treasures all his children but certainly treasures J. He was horrified. Mortified. Instantly overtaken with grief that this is what he had done. I ran to J to comfort his screams, take stock of his face, and ensure to pass along the look of wrath to C, as any good mom would do. Even though it was an accident, there’s still that instant triage a parent of a kiddo with special needs does. Not the medical triage, though that’s in there too, but the consequences triage.
You see, we worry about J, in many ways more than others. We worry about how things affect him, about how something like a ball slamming into his head at relatively close proximity will to do the workings of his mind. Will another seizure be triggered? What would a concussion do to him? What might have been let loose in his brain that will trigger something else down the line…or within the next minute?
Would you worry about this with a neurotypical child..of course. But with a kiddo that had a stroke in utero, diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy (among others), you worry about the delicacy of his brain, really the entirety of his whole system.
While we don’t want to insulate him completely to avoid any remote possibility of something like this happening, we do have a higher degree of concern when something with potential negative side effects does happen. While we haven’t seen anything immediately, other than a swollen, reddening face that shows signs of darkening to a nice black and blue, I’m sure, should something result in the future, we’ll look back at this event and wonder…what if?
What about you?
