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SKIP had a collision on the soccer field last night and was kneed in the abdomen. After being examined by the trainer they advised Cole to take her to the ER. While there waiting to be checked in Cole saw a doctor he knew and got her up to trauma. They discussed sending her home since nothing showed up on the CT scan, but she had a pain spasm, so they decided to keep her overnight and Dr. Moorehouse wanted her moved to Baptist South to be near the trauma surgeon, if needed. Cole spent the night with her and they were up most of the night with pain and some vomiting from the pain meds. I got to the hospital around 8:30 and was shocked to find that they had not been seen by any doctor since arriving at South. So once again I switched into my momma bear mode and had to be her persistent advocate. Thankfully Dr. Moorehouse came by to check in on her again and saw that her white blood count had gone from 6,000 to 22,000 so it was obvious that something was in fact wrong and he continued to tell us Dr. Vermillion would be in to see her. Well, after two doses of Morphine and her pain increasing and her moaning increasing with pain, I became a fixture at the nurses station. Knowing that there was something that needed to be diagnosed I was tired of being in a normal room getting her temperature taken and being given pain medicine. It was time to get a diagnosis and treat the problem, instead of just masking it with pain meds. The nurse put the surgeons nurse practitioner on the phone and she told me it would probably be an hour or so before they made it up, so I called Dr. Moorehouse to make sure that timeframe was appropriate for what he had seen in her chart and witnessed with her symptoms. Shortly he returned to our room and gave her a stronger pain medicine that quickly took effect and thanks to Dr. Moorehouse and Dr. Herrick, the surgeon finally arrived and decided that he needed to do exploratory laproscopic surgery to see what was causing her intense pain. They were not expecting to find anything severe, and hoped some fluid or blood was causing the pain and that he would be able to suction it out and that be the end. If that was the case he said it would take about 30 minutes. When the waiting room nurse called us after about 30 minutes in surgery, I was hoping for that good news, but instead she told us that it was and intestinal injury but she didn’t know anything more. Of course we were all worried, but we were also thankful that she was with the best surgeon and thankful to finally have a diagnosis and be getting treated. After a few hours, Dr. Moorehouse came out to update us while Dr. Vermillion finished up her surgery. We were not prepared for his news. He said it was a serious injury to her intestine where it meets the stomach. It was the worst place you could injure the intestine and that while she would be fine in the long term, her recovery would be long and hard. He predicted she would be in ICU for a few days, in the hosptal for a few weeks with a feding tube and a few more weeks recovery at home. Since we were all expecting/hoping it was just severe bruising, etc. this news came as quite a shock. It is such a freak accident and bizzare injury to result from a collision on the soccer field. SK doesn’t have much fat on her body to protect from internal injuries and it just was a freak incident.
We are just so thankfull that we were in town. We were supposed to be on our way to Nashville to be taking custody of our 4 month old baby boy with down syndrome. We were told earlier in the day that the birth father had not signed his papers so our trip was postponed, Praise God! I did not hear from anyone today so I’m still not sure if we are supposed to get him on Monday night or not. God ordained all these events for His glory, none of this was a surprise to him as it was for us, His plan and timing is and will be perfect. We are taking it all one day at a time and rejoicing in his provision for us. Thank you all for the many prayers, phone calls, emails and visits. It brought tears to my eyes as I read each one throughout the day. The Lord has blessed SKIP and our family with precious friends, and mighty prayer warriors and the blessing of a large extended family. Thank you all for your offers to help with kids, food, etc, but mostly for your prayers. At this point I know the kids are cared for through tomorrow and when I’ve slept and can think more clearly, I hope to be able to come up with a plan for trading out at the hospital and taking care of the rest of the crew. I don’t like to ask for help, but I have a feeling that I will have to, so don’t be surprised if I take you up on some of your offers 🙂 We love you all and we are so blessed to be in th Fathers loving arms. We have felt His grace, love, mercy and comfort abundantly today, especially through his servants here on Earth. I’m too tired to respond to everyone individually, but please know EVERY coment is read, cherished and I am sharing them with SKIP. You have no idea how encouraging it has been to see so many prayers lifted up for my precious SK and for our family. I keep thinking I am going to wake up from this horrible dream because it seems so surreal, she was just playing a little soccer. Once again, the Lord has taught me to cherish every day, there are no promises or guarantees in THIS life, so cling to Him and keep our eyes and minds focused on the promise of ETERNAL life that only comes through Him.
Counting My Blessings!
I did want to tell you a few funnies from today. While Cole and I were back in recovery, SK began wakin up and said she needed to use the bathroom. We told her she had a cathiter in and just needed to go in bad and she made an ugly face and said “grose!” We laughed as we explained it to her and were glad to see her personality returning.
Shortly after his, my friend Darbi (nurse practitioner) came by. I asked SK if she remembered her and she said “Yes maam, …..I don’t have amnesia!” I got a good laugh out of that. Sarcasim is normal for a 15 year old, correct. 🙂
Then Cole was explaining to her that they were getting ready to move her to ICU and mid conversation she tells him that she has never understood that
name. He was confused as to what she was referring to and she said, ” It’s never made sense to me that it’s called ICU, when no one can actually see ypu!” So, she is having deep thoughts and is recovering well!
I’ll leave you with some photos of SK from today and one of our baby boy that we hope to have home soon. I’ll share more about him after the father has signed his papers.
