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On Sunday afternoon my best friend Tia and I decided to do a little shopping since her 9yo DD Emily was at her dad's for the weekend. We had gone to Goodwill and gone our separate ways in the store, when she came rushing over to me in a huge panic. Her ex had taken her daughter snow tubing with his family to the mountains, and her DD had collided with her aunt, and they knocked their heads together. They had both been taken to the hospital, wher ethey did a Ct scan, and Emiy was being rushed into emergency surgery to remove a large hematoma in her skull. At the time, we were about 150 miles from the hospital, and had to drive through the mountains to get there. Luckily the pass was clear, since we didn't have tire chains, but there was no cell phone reception for over an hour. When we cleared the mountains, we got a voice mail that she had come out of surgery, and was doing fine. After we got to the hospital, we learned that she had two skull fractures, and the neurosurgeon had removed a blood clot the size of a baseball from her head. Luckily, the mass was between her skull and brain, and was only putting pressure on her brain, so there was no bleeding inside it. According to the doctor, her brain has pushed back in her head to allow room for the bleeding, but within 10 minutes it had sprung back to its normal shape. We stayed the night in the hospital (almost no sleep), and in the early morning they took her for another CT scan which showed no additional bleeding, and her brain looked normal. A little later they moved her to the pediatric ward, and she was released on Tuesday morning. On monday night Tia and I stayed at the Ronald McDonald house, and after Em was released, we stayed another night so we could be near the hospital in case there were any problems. The unbelievable part, is that Emily is absolutely fine. Her speech, motor function, memory and cognitive ability are 100% intact. She has a titanium plate the size of a nickel in her skull, about 69 stitches across the top of her forehead, and her eyes were nearly swollen shut for a couple of days, but she has made a remarkable recovery. On Tuesday she would alternate beween active and resting periods, but when we drove home on Wednesday, she was energetic the entire day. We even played in the snow for a few minutes, and she marvelled at the beauty of the snowy mountains when we were driving. I am more relieved than words can say. I love her like she were my own child, and since Tia is a single mom, I help out with some of the parenting. Sorry this was so long, I just needed to share. If Emily hadn't gotten an American Girl doll for Christmas in 2004, I would never have started my own collection, and therefore would never have found this board. If anything horrible had happned to her, I don't know how I could have gone on collecting.
~Dee
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Gosh, Dee,
What a huge shock. I feel for your friends family. I don't know what that must be like but thank goodness she is going to be ok.
Prayers for everyone involved.
Juliette
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I'm glad little Emily is on the mend. I will keep all of you in my prayers. What a terrible ordeal. [img]graemlins/girl_hug.gif[/img]
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Scary - I know as a mom if anything happened to either of my girls I would just die
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I am so happy that Emily is doing better. So sorry about the accident. It must have scared you to death..
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I am so happy that Emily is doing well!!! Thank God!!! [img]graemlins/rose.gif[/img]
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Oh my goodness. I found myself holding my breath while I was reading your story. It sounds like Emily was very lucky. Is the aunt OK? I'm glad you were there for your friend. I hope she continues her speedy recovery.
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Oh my!!! poor Emily!!! I'm sending prayers for her and her family. I'm glad everything ended in the best way possible. [img]graemlins/rainbow.gif[/img]
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What a terrible ordeal for so many to endure, but what a lucky little girl she is to come away from that trauma with her faculties intact. It sounds like she had excellent medical care.
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Dee, I'm so glad she is doing okay after such a horrible and scary experience!
It is wonderful that you were able to be there for her mom during this very difficult time.
