A return to the blogosphere. I guess I really should write about Kai's accident, since it has sucked up much of the space in our lives and minds during the past 3 weeks. The backdrop for the whole thing was that, having just returned from Pullman 2 days prior, I was trying to keep my head above water at work, while Marie and the kids readjusted to home again. I think most parents with any kind of tenure know what it's like to really worry that your child might die. After Marie called to say that Kai had fallen off the swing set, that kind of worrying set in. All I knew as I hustled from my job to the hospital was that he'd fallen, and had lost consciousness at least once. On the way there I happened upon Marie who was driving the van to the hospital, and was merging onto the freeway. I could see the kids waving at me, a reminder that kids (for better or worse) tend not to grasp the raw desperation of situations like this.

As we drove to the hospital I began muttering the same prayer over and over. It struck me how different this was from reality TV shows, where medical emergencies are accompanied by camera crews and eerie suspense tracks. We, on the other hand, were driving fast, but quietly waiting at traffic lights in the midst of hundreds of normal folks just doing the normal activities that make up a normal day. After arriving at the hospital, the emergency room staff sprang into action. They administered neck braces, plugged Kai with an IV, and herded the kids off to the waiting room. Not being blessed with medical training, I remember being worried about a few basic things - 1. Kai dying, 2.Brain damage, and 3.Paralysis. The first CT scan didn't show any damage to the spine, and we had made it to the hospital, so I stopped worrying about #s 1 and 3.

As soon as we sitting around and waiting for doctors to read scans, I started the true process of regret for not dismantling the swing set once I knew Kai climbed to unsafe heights on the thing. I suppose a person might encounter a number of similar regrets over a lifetime. Not the kind where I knew what was right and didn't do it, but one where I could've done something simple that would've prevented something needless and horrible from happening. After some time, the doctors said that all of his scans looked fine, and that the diagnosis was a severe concussion. They suggested he be transferred to Children's for observation overnight. Before we left the hospital, Kai looked up at us and said "I wanna get out" - the first thing he had said since the accident (besides "no"). As someone desperate for signs that he'd be ok, this was really encouraging to me.

After spending 4 or 5 uncomfortable hours in the Children's ER, Kai and Marie were finally admitted to the hospital and given a private room. They were about to send them home, but Kai vomited (the second time since the accident) a little while after arriving at Children's. Still everything looked good, and Kai really perked up that night when we started feeding him real food again. By Friday (July 27) everything looked fine, and Kai was discharged. It wasn't until the following Monday that we noticed he was tilting his head, and in certain situations, not pointing his right eye in the proper direction. This persisted, and Marie got an appointment with the doctor on Thursday, who felt he needed to see Kai that day even though it was late. The doctor showed grave concern at the way Kai's eye was behaving, and had us re-admitted to Children's. On Friday, we saw a new parade of neurologists, ophthalmologists, and trauma docs. After all sorts of exams, another CT scan, an MRI (for which Kai had to be sedated), and a 6 hour fast on Kai's part (prior to MRI), all docs eventually told us Kai has 4th cranial nerve palsy. As Marie said in her email, there is a 47% chance (precisely) that this will get better on its own. If it doesn't, Kai will have eye surgery, perhaps more than once. All in all, we're really lucky that it wasn't worse. It does strike me, though, that throughout all the time Kai was at the 2 hospitals, he never received any care aside from some fluids. This will likely end up as just a really expensive 2 night hotel stay.

It's been a little over 2 weeks since that last visit to the hospital, and Kai's eye has neither improved nor deteriorated. It's the same, and he doesn't seem to care at all. He just runs around and does everything he usually does. His new thing is apologizing - "Sorry, Papa", and stuff like that. It only feels like it's been a week since he was in the hospital, since I (and my family) were cheated out of last weekend by the evil planners of this year's corporate sales meeting. The theory they (executives) used was that if they used the weekend for the sales meeting, there would be fewer days of selling actually missed. I am here to say that I will be comped those 2 days, so help me suzabelle. Anyway, the meeting was held in sunny San Anton' - 98 degrees and muggy. The one time I ventured off the riverwalk, I regretted it, since I was instantly ensconced in sketchy liquor shops and Star Jones product endorsements. Something like Chestnut st. in Philly, but with a heavy dollop of latino and the South.

The meeting itself included some humorous moments. First of all, the organizers attempted to quell bitterness about being in a muggy, hot city during the weekend by distributing a lenient dress code. Said code indicated that it was fine to dress "cool and casual" for all meetings, meaning yes to shorts and flip flops. I recognized this for the sham that it was, opting for long-sleeved dress shirts and slacks. Sure enough, nearly everybody showed up dressed like me. The few unfortunate naïfs who sported cargo shorts and sandals were widely snickered at, mostly by HR representatives while they made notes in the appropriate employee files. I asked my boss beforehand, who said he was going to be wearing shorts. After seeing other attendees, however, he quickly scampered back to the hotel to change. Another amusing aspect of the sales meeting is that all presentations and group sessions must be choreographed with upbeat yet sappy bumper music (think "Beautiful Day" from U2). This wouldn't be so bad, except it seems weird for a 58 year old executive who doesn't know the Black Eyed Peas from Anne Murray to stride onto the stage while "Let's Get it Started" blasts.

It was good to reconnect with salespeople, since this is the only chance I get to see them anymore. Mostly, it was the same as last year - sales performance was good; quality, service, product development productivity all point to tougher times ahead. The food was relatively bad - one night we had a "street party" complete with mechanical bull and circus performers. Many dishes came from the BBQ, but all were below par. The kebabs were memorably bad. My attempt to separate meat from skewer resulted in a snapped skewer, and the piece of wood was thick enough to qualify as a dowel in Stu's world. I don't know how they got it on the skewer in the first place.

We finally had a regular weekend, and took the kids to Sea World early so that we could ride all the rides we don't usually go to because of long lines. Worked great, and we all had a good time.

Enough for this week.