Have you ever seen a bruised tongue?
I'm talking black, blue and purple. I've seen one. It ain't pretty.
My son has been walking for about a month and half now. His walk can be more of a clumsy waddle at times. He's often tripping and bumping his head. On Saturday, my son tripped and hit his chin on the coffee table.
It happeded right in front of me as I was sitting on the couch. I scooped him up to console him and as soon as he opened his mouth to cry the gory special FX began. Blood poured from his little mouth. He'd bitten his tongue. I couldn't see how bad the bite was through all the blood. He was screaming hysterically. My daughter was shaking. I told her to get her shoes, "we have to go now." I grabbed a diaper cloth that was on the coffee table and a baton-shaped ice pack from the freezer and left with the kids for the emergency room.
As I strapped my son into his car seat, I noticed his tongue hanging out of his mouth. I thought the worst and drove as quick as I safely could to the ER. By the time we walked in the place, my son had calmed down and the bleeding had stopped. I realized his tongue was hanging from his mouth because it was so swollen and not because he'd bitten through it. I felt much relief.
I hoped my son's age and our blood-covered shirts would get us into a doctor soon. As we waited for almost 2 hours, I was very glad I'd grabbed the cloth and ice pack. When we finally saw a doctor, he informed us that the bite was deep but did not require stiches. The bite had not hit an artery. (I didn't even realize our tongues had arteries?) Additionally, the dotor said the healing process could take up to 4 weeks and during that time my son was not to be given hot food. The doctor suggested Children's Motrin for the swelling and pain.
Kids are bound to hurt themselves from time to time. I've found that especially true during the stage of learning how to walk. It's this stage that corners and just-the-right-height tables (such as a coffee table) are more dangerous. Cushioned table & corner guards are available at baby stores and most large discount stores. I'm thinking I can live without a coffee table for a while...
4 comments:
I know it was over two years ago, but I am wondering how long that healing of your son's hurt tongue took. I somehow bit severely or chewed deeply into my tongue during a medical procedure (transesophageal echocardiogram) for which I was given a drug to "forget", so I don't exactly what happened, but later that day I ended up with a totally bruised and HUGELY swollen tongue. Right now my tongue looks like my mouth is filled with Shamu, the Killer Whale. The doctor at the ER I went to for this said that it looks like I bled into my tongue and the bleeding didn't stop as soon as it should because of the blood thinners (Coumadin, an anti-coagulation medication) that I was on. He offered no healing solution save sucking on ice and giving it time. Time? How much time? I can hardly talk, this huge tongue filling up my mouth puts me on the edge of panic (it's really very frightening), it is very hard to swallow (real food is impossible) and the holidays are just around the corner. So far (it's been two days), I have seen no improvement at all. The swelling is truly terrible. My situation is really quite similar to your son's. I can't imagine what you and he went through, especially with a baby who can't really understand and a mother who is expected to be the solution to all problems. I can only hope it proceeded smoothy and quickly and he is completely fine, now, with this and all other things.
If memory serves me correctly, it was several days before the swelling went down and about two weeks for the bruising to fade away. I gave him ice chips and popsicles to help with the pain along with ibuprofen or aspirin. I know your pain and I sincerely hope you recover quickly.
I awoke Saturday at 5:30am w a start! I was suffocating and my tongue was literally all in my mouth and somewhat into my throat! It has a blue end and several lacerations either from swelling or from stomach acids. My doctors admitted me, my blood pressure sky rocketed as did my pulse. They put me on famitidine, benadryl, prednisone. My toungye is still huge but I can converse and swallow now as of Saturday am, I could not. This has been similar to a feeling of drowning! I couldn't breathe for a couple of spells. It has been a painful and quite literally, one of THE scariest of my 42 years! I can so feel for you. I too, had surgery about 4 days before my episode. They gave me some rigamarole, but, basically, they're treating swelling w steroid and the lacerations w pepcid. I feel quite a bit better today after all weekend in the hospital. I feel for ya! I'll keep you in my thoughts & prayers as I KNOW how strange this is to go through & painful! Good luck..
My husband bite his tongue, it was bleeding so much he vomited a few times. Now it's black n blue and has bumps on where he bite. What can he do or should he go to the ER ?
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