The Harry Potter Scar

This week is the release of the final movie of Harry Potter. My kids and I have loved the books and then the movies since it first came out in the same year that Joe was born. We've eagerly anticipated each new book and each new movie. It's sad to see it come to a close. I haven't seen the latest movie yet...midnight showings were sold out before I could get tickets, and the kids are with their dad this weekend.

One of the reasons why Harry Potter is so popular in our house is because of what happened to Joe when he was 4, 2.5 months before he turned 5. At the time, some friends of mine and I were doing a "home school" preschool. We took turns having the kids at our homes a few days a week. This particular week, it was Holly's turn to host the children. She was living with her mother in law, mother of nine (I think).

I had been up all night because my two youngest (2.5 and 1) had been sick the day before and partly through the night, cranky and uncomfortable. I decided not to send Joe to pre-school that morning, because I didn't want to wake the younger children who had finally gone to sleep, and I was too pooped to pop. Patrick had left town early that morning to do an interview. I was cranky, too. My friend Lora called and suggested that she take Joe to preschool, which at first I was hesitant about, but then decided it would be a quiet, boring morning for him if he didn't go.

Well, about 10 in the morning, in the middle of changing my two youngest (again!), I received a call from Holly's mother-in-law. Very calmly and sweetly, she told me that I needed to come right away to their house because Joe had had an accident. At first, I was thinking, oh...he wet his pants, or maybe he's sick now, too. I asked her what sort of accident. She said, it's very serious and we've already called the ambulance. Now when someone who has had that many children tells you something is serious, all sorts of thoughts run through your head. I'm thinking...AMBULANCE?!? I put my children into the van in just their diapers, and drove as fast as I dared to their home. Cars in front of me seemed to be crawling along, and I'm afraid I wasn't very patient with them as I simultaneously prayed that my little son would be okay. I also phoned Patrick and explained to him what was going on. He said he would head back to Fresno.

I pulled up in front of their house. The ambulance was already there. I left my two youngest in the van and ran inside. When I walked in, I noticed several things. First of all, Joe's head was completely bandaged around his forehead area and covering one eye. Second, his shirt, covered in blood, was nearby, cut off his body. Third, there were towels covered in blood, and they were about to put my little guy on a back board. He was concious, and when he saw me, he moved to my lap as quick as he could. The EMT's began asking me questions about his medical history, and asking me where they should take him. I wasn't processing anything. I felt panic even worse than when I first received the call as I heard words like "concussion," "head trauma," and "potential brain damage." I looked across the room at Brother Ensign, who was in the temple presidency. Seeing him there strengthened me, and reminded me that I wasn't alone, and had the power of the priesthood at my disposal. I asked the EMT's to repeat everything, and as we sorted everything out, they said I could ride with Joe to the hospital. I asked Brother Ensign to give Joe a blessing before we left, which he did. I felt much calmer after that. I asked Holly if she could watch my kids and we walked out to the van together, where she told me what had happened.

He had been playing with the tether-ball mounted on a tire in the back yard, and the pole somehow fell and hit him on the head. She had been inside checking on something, and Joe walked in the back door, covered in blood. I can't even imagine the terror she must have felt. I'm so grateful for her quick response in getting help.

In the ambulance, the EMT suggested that we start an IV so that in case surgery was required, they would be able to do so more quickly. I tried to explain to Joe what was going to happen, and told him it might hurt a little, and that he could scream if he wanted. He did want to. I think people three blocks away could have heard him. I tried to distract him with his "ET finger," the pulse device they put on his finger to measure oxygen saturation and his pulse, because it was all lit up like ET's finger in the movie.

At the hospital, they did some diagnostic tests to see if Joe had a concussion. They asked me if he was behaving normally, a question which seemed odd to me since nothing about this situation was normal for either one of us. They determined that he did not have any fractures, and then they decided to take him off the backboard, which made all of us much happier. They took off the bandages and began to clean the wound. I almost passed out when I saw his head. I could literally see his skull as they moved the skin about to see what the extent of the injury was. Joe's eye was already turning black, he had cuts on his face besides the big one on his head, and the other eye was also turning black in the corner, probably from all the swelling. I felt badly for Joe, and I also was concerned about his perfect little face having a permanent scar. Looking back, I can see what a trivial concern that was, but at the time, it was one more concern I had.

They decided to use a process called concious sedation since he was already on an IV. They administered the medication, and mid-sentence, my son stopped talking and seemed to be sleeping. They had to do three layers of stitches because the injury went through all the layers of the skin to the skull. All total, he had 42 stitches. Just as they finished the stitches, Joe woke up, and strangely enough, finished the sentence he had been saying when he fell asleep. They kept him in the hospital for a few hours, just to observe him and make sure he was okay, and eventually sent us home.

That was the scariest thing I've ever been through as a mother. We referred to his scar as his "Harry Potter Scar" to all of his friends and family, to relieve some of the stigma he might have felt as people asked him what happened over and over again. Guess what costume Joe chose for Halloween for many years after that? Harry Potter!