Question:
I need medical advice for my son...?
Can someone please help me with a medical question? My son was playing with some kids this evening, one of the kids was a few years older than my son. (My son's 5 1/2) This kid threw a sippy cup at my son and hit him on the very top of his forehead, right on his hairline. I guess in the sippy cup was thrown pretty hard and it actually gave him a little cut/gash. When it happened, it scared the crap out of me because blood just starting pouring down my son's face. Only after all the blood was wiped away did it reveal just a small gash, very small. But it did bleed for a while. My main concern is, can this cause a serious head injury? Like bleeding in the brain or anything? I am such a Paranoid Pete when it comes to either of my kids getting hurt on their head. Even if it's a minor injury, there are just so many head injuries, even minor ones it seems, that can cause brain bleeding or swelling and I'm so paranoid every time they hit their head! Ever since that one actress died several years back, Natasha what's-her-name (I can't remember her last name at the moment), who died from bleeding in the brain from just pretty much hitting her head and then a couple days later she's dead. So now I'm always freaking out. Am I worrying for nothing? After all, I've never really heard of a kid dying from getting hit in the head by a flying sippy cup, even if the sippy cup was thrown pretty hard I guess, since it did hit hard enough to break his skin. It does seem like it would be just a surface wound, since it just split the skin and there's just a small amount of swelling just around the cut itself. He's acting fine and everything. I'm just thinking that maybe it only cut his skin because his skin is not only really thin right there, but there's no muscle or tissue between that skin and the skull so it's easier to get cut there? Please tell me I'm overreacting? If you don't think I'm overreacting, please tell me also. Thank you!
Worried mom
Answers:
Natasha Richardson had a ski-ing accident, and I don't think a sippy cup thrown by a child would have much power behind it. Any scalp wound always bleeds much more than any other part of the body, and therefore seems much worse than it is. If your son complains of headaches, or if he becomes sleepy and drowsy (not like at bedtime or naptime but at a time when he would normally be active) then that can be a cause for concern. But basically I think you are over-reacting, the skull is a pretty thick piece of bone.
Its natural to worried.If it were me, I'd go to the Doctors just to be safe and to make sure he doesn't need stiches.Even small gashes might need a stich.
Your just over-reacting, don't worry so much your son will be fine.
If your son is acting normal he will be fine