Chapter 3 - BLOOD TEARSMy CT scan was normal.
No skull fracture.
No intracranial hemorrhage.
I had a four-centimeter scalp laceration above my left ear, heavy bleeding because scalps are dramatic about blood supply, and a mild concussion.
Seven staples.
Bruising.
Headache.
Nausea.
Nothing life-threatening.
Lily frightened everyone longer.
The bloody tears stopped before we reached the hospital.
Then returned briefly when she cried during examination.
Pediatric emergency medicine called ophthalmology.
Then ENT.
Blood tests.
Eye examination.
Nasal examination.
Her vision appeared normal for age.
No corneal injury.
No globe injury.
No retinal bleeding.
No bleeding disorder in initial labs.
No serious facial fracture suspected.
Then Dr. Alan Cho, the pediatric ophthalmologist, asked:
“Did she hit her nose?”
“I don’t know.”
Ben said:
“When Megan hit the wall, Lily’s face was against her shoulder.”
Dr. Cho examined inside Lily’s nose.
There was a small amount of dried blood farther back.
Lily had a minor nasal injury.
No displaced fracture.
Then he explained the impossible-looking thing we had seen.
Hemolacria.
Bloody tears.
Rare.
Terrifying.
Sometimes blood from a nosebleed can travel backward through the nasolacrimal system and emerge through the tear ducts, particularly if pressure and crying push blood through the connected passages.
“So her eyes weren’t bleeding?”
I asked.
“The blood appeared through the tear drainage openings, but we don’t see evidence that her eyeballs themselves were injured.”
I started crying harder.
“Is she going blind?”
“No evidence of that.”
“Is she in danger?”
“Right now she is stable.”
They observed her.
Repeated the exam.
No further hemolacria once the nasal bleeding stopped.
No neurologic signs.
No vision problem.
Lily ate half a popsicle.
Then asked for the other half.
That was when I finally believed she might actually be all right.
Ben sat beside us.
His shirt had my blood on one sleeve.
Lily’s on neither.
He said:
“She scared ten years off my life.”
I answered:
“She’s three. She has plenty.”
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He laughed once.
Then cried into his hands.
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