**This post is kind of disjointed.... and I am sure you'll understand once you read it. One day I may be able to pull myself together to put it all 'together', but today is not that day :-)**
Things got busy after my last post (waaaay back in April). It was the typical end of the school year busy. I got a planner so I could make some plans for our summer. Plans that totally went out the window in a split second. In June we endured one of the 'parental nightmares' that one worries about when they have children.
It would be much, much too long to go into the very odd details that led up to our nightmare, maybe one day I will share those. But, make no mistake, what took place was a spiritual attack on our family. The scripture that says that satan comes to 'kill, steal, and destroy' has never been so real to me before June 6th.
Two weeks before June 6, three of my girls, Moira (17 at the time), Flannery (15), and Saoirse (13) were on our way to the homeschool graduation ceremony. We came to a stop at the 4 way stop sign not a mile from our home. I looked right, and there was a car waaaaaay way out, and on my left another car was approaching. We got to the stop at the same time, and though I was in the right to go, the person was not giving me a sign that they acknowledged that. Needless to say it took a bit more time to negotiate the stop than anticipated. I always, always, always re-look before proceeding through a stop sign....**except** this time. The car that was far off in the distance was RIGHT there as I started to go through the intersection.....they did not see the stop sign and were flying through. I slammed on my brakes, and they screeched and turned hard to their right to avoid hitting me. Thankfully we were spared a hit.....it would have been a t-bone hit! Both Moira and Flannery were on the side that the car would have hit.
I was shaking for a long while afterwards, knowing just how serious that car accident could have been. My girls were on their phones oblivious to what almost happened. A few minutes later, being ever so grateful that we escaped such a serious accident, I told the girls that we needed to be thankful that their lives were spared. They didn't quite 'get it'. And so I explained the seriousness of the near t-bone accident to them. Unfortunately, two weeks later, those same two girls were going to find out first hand what I had meant.
The girls met up with friends and their older sister for a movie. Isabella was supposed to drive them home from the movie, but she was feeling very sick and needed to leave the movie early. So their friend was going to drive them home instead. They called me to let me know they were going to stop by the park to get pics of the sunset. A little while later I realized that the park they were going to actually locks their gate at sunset, so I called them to let them know they needed to leave the park asap. They already had and told me they would see me soon.
Then Flannery called me and let me know they were grabbing a snack and getting gas. In the past the girls were not on top of letting me know when their plans had changed, so I was glad that she called me to let me know. About 15 to 20 minutes later, when I realized they should have been pulling in, the phone rang. I saw it was Flannery's number, and in my head I was thinking....ugh, if they changed their plans again, I am going to go crazy! I wish, wish, wish that I could have gone crazy, instead I picked up the phone and Flannery was sobbing, yelling that there was an accident.
oh
my
God
I knew it had to be bad. Flannery doesn't cry.
I screamed for Jeremiah, and seemingly at the same time screamed into the phone, Where's Moira, where's Moira!?!?!!
Flannery sobbed back, she's in the car....she's not responding (Moira was not responding)
oh
my
God
Where are you!??!?!!
She says she doesn't know....wait, we're at the white house with the purple shutters.
I scream to Saoirse to watch the kids, and Jeremiah and I are out the door running.
I drive there....another crazy story in itself.
They are only 3 miles away. I come around the small bend and over the top of the small hill I see a ton of lights...those big lights to make the dark look like day (it was 9:30 at night). Fire trucks, police cars, lights, cars, people....lights
oh my God where are my babies, where is Moira?
Then I see the car. Oh my God, Lord help me, I cry out. I can't do this, I can't do this.....
The back car door is smashed in and Moira's head is lying over the window area where the glass was blown out. (she was t-boned) Oh my God, I can't do this. All the while I am running. Running as fast as I can. I want to be there for her and at the same time I am petrified to look. Jeremiah got to her first (we got there right before the EMS crews did....though there were bystanders, one who was a nurse, and someone else there that were trying to help). Flannery comes out of no where. She is crying, sobbing, hugging me tight. She is freaking out. Their poor friend who was driving just kept repeating I am so sorry, I am so sorry (he didn't see the stop sign and ran it....with the other car coming at them going 55-65mph).
Now at this point the gracious Lord gave me strength from above. I told Flannery I had to see how Moira was, so she went and sat on this small hill where some people were trying to get information (the cops?) about what happened. I run over and see Moira move an arm.
OH MY GOD SHE'S ALIVE! THANK YOU LORD, THANK YOU!!!!
My heart was beating sooo fast. I start praying out loud....like, really loud. But I knew we weren't out of the woods by any means. Was her spinal cord effected? Is she bleeding? She wasn't responding to us, just moaning. By then the EMS crews arrived. They got her out on a board. I rode in the ambulance to the hospital (soooo happy we have a level one trauma unit near by...30 minutes away). About 5 minutes from the hospital one of the EMTs told me she was responding. Praise you Lord.
I had been praying that all internal injuries would stop bleeding. I knew she had to have internal bleeding.
It was a very long wait in the family waiting room, waiting for them to transfer her to the trauma unit, waiting for the initial CAT scans. Oh God the wait.
They bring us back, and she is awake, aware, but in a TON of pain. The nurse or doctor tells us that she is stable, but in serious condition. She lost her left kidney, the renal artery had over extended, and the blood supply couldn't flow through. We were told had it extended any further it would have ruptured and she would have been dead on scene.
oh
my
God
She had 3 broken ribs, some lacerations on her lungs and her spleen was really bad off. Out of 4 levels of injury for the spleen, with 4 being the worst, she was a 3. Basically her spleen was mush, and that mush was being held together by the spleen's casing, which was lacerated as well! Her regular doctor told me recently that with the lacerations she had she should have bled to death.
oh
my
God
She also had bleeding in her brain. We waited a long 4 hours for a repeat scan to determine if her brain was still bleeding or not. Thank the Lord it wasn't. Basically my prayers for the internal bleeding to stop were answered. By about day 5 or so I noticed something wrong with her right eye...it wasn't tracking with the other eye. A VERY long story made short, she had damage done to her third cranial nerve. An MRI was done, and it was determined that the damage was done in the middle of her brain. Basically though no one part of her brain bled a lot, there were a lot of parts of her brain that had bled, or were bruised. Weeks after she was released from the hospital it was determined that there was also nerve damage done in the back of her eye.
Moira's right eye was not able to stay centered, and it would wonder off to the side. Also her lid would not open all the way, just half way at most. She had extreme tunnel vision as well in that eye. This made walking very, very, very difficult (aside from the immense amount of pain she was in).
Basically, it is a miracle that she is alive. She spent 4 days in the ICU, about 10 days on a regular floor and about 10 days on the rehab floor.
Our summer was spent in the hospital and then since we returned home it has been just doctor appointments and rehab. It was slow going at first. We had to buy a baby monitor for her room since she couldn't get up unassisted. Thankfully she came home with no needed equipment. In the early days of the hospital she needed a walker to get around. It was very disturbing to see my once vibrant girl, who did cheer leading this past year, using a walker to move around :-(
***This post has been sitting here on Blogger in 'pending' mode for about 2 months. There are so many stories that go with what happened during this time. I think I stopped writing it because it really could be a book! We were so grateful the immense amount of help we received from family and friends. I could not imagine walking this road alone! It was long, it was hard. And praise God it is almost over! I say almost because there are a few things we are waiting to heal. Her right eye has improved so much. She has control over tracking, she no longer has tunnel vision, and she can open her eyelid all the way. At this time she still has some lost peripheral vision. A recent MRI scan showed she has a mild bulging disk in her spine. Looks like we may be signing up for more physical therapy! She just had her last physical therapy two weeks ago! And now we need to go back to work on this disk. I am not happy to have to do that, but it will sure beat possible back surgery for her in the future....and so "GO" we must!
We have some funny stories of the things Moira did or said while on pain meds. We have stories of worry and tears as we didn't know what the outcome was going to be with her injuries. We have stories of perseverance, and stories of wanting to throw in the towel. But above all we HAVE a story, one that ends with Moira living her life like she was used to. She is back to school, and back to work. She hangs out with her friends, and loves to go shopping, and do makeup.
Now, granted, Moira was the one badly injured in the crash, but Flannery didn't escape scott free. She was spared any apparent injuries at the time of the crash. But a few weeks after the crash she was complaining of extreme fatigue, hard time concentrating, and lights and noise were bothering her. We took her in to her doctor who didn't find anything wrong. But then we spoke with a therapist who said that it is possible she had a concussion that did not present itself at the time of the crash. It took a couple months for those symptoms to disappear, but she is back to normal. As a matter of fact she said she wanted to drive today! Both girls have not wanted to drive since the crash. Moira doesn't have any memories of the crash, but her body must remember as she does have anxiety at lights. But now both girls are ready to get back behind the wheel....I'm just not sure if I'm ready for them to do so :-)
In the ICU, getting a visit with her big sister. She had to have that neck brace on for 3 days before they determined she could go without it. It was a very long 4 days in the ICU. I know that is not a lot of time, but when you are in it, it seemed forever!
Not a good picture, and I am sure Moira will want to kill me for posting it, but this was during the very hard, hard days for her. You can see the pain on her face. It took so much out of her to sit up and 'do life'.
We made it a point to decorate her room. Some balloons, some lights, and some pictures from home.
This was during rehab. Jeremiah and I took turns staying with her for 24 hours. When it was switch off time we would sometimes bring the kids for a visit. Lights and noise were very hard for Moira to deal with. I assure you there is nothing quiet about our family! So visits were short.
Moira got to have a few hours out of the hospital with her therapists. She got this pirate cake pop since, well....she was in the habit of looking like a pirate during this time. The eye patch made it easier for her to walk since it helped to block the double vision.
Moira just getting home, for good! She had her "Independence Day" shirt on, that they give to all the 'graduated' rehab patients. It was literally only a couple of days till July 4th, so we joked that that was the most expensive Independence Day shirt EVER!
Here she is, finally able to read, at one of her doctors visits. All week long it was therapy and doctors visits. So. Many. Doctor. Visits. So thankful she was alive, and able to actually go to doctors visits, don't get me wrong!! It was just a trying time to be sure.
Moira, Saoirse, and Kristi just a couple of weeks ago. I have other pictures, but these were the ones I could get off of my current computer.
Things got busy after my last post (waaaay back in April). It was the typical end of the school year busy. I got a planner so I could make some plans for our summer. Plans that totally went out the window in a split second. In June we endured one of the 'parental nightmares' that one worries about when they have children.
It would be much, much too long to go into the very odd details that led up to our nightmare, maybe one day I will share those. But, make no mistake, what took place was a spiritual attack on our family. The scripture that says that satan comes to 'kill, steal, and destroy' has never been so real to me before June 6th.
Two weeks before June 6, three of my girls, Moira (17 at the time), Flannery (15), and Saoirse (13) were on our way to the homeschool graduation ceremony. We came to a stop at the 4 way stop sign not a mile from our home. I looked right, and there was a car waaaaaay way out, and on my left another car was approaching. We got to the stop at the same time, and though I was in the right to go, the person was not giving me a sign that they acknowledged that. Needless to say it took a bit more time to negotiate the stop than anticipated. I always, always, always re-look before proceeding through a stop sign....**except** this time. The car that was far off in the distance was RIGHT there as I started to go through the intersection.....they did not see the stop sign and were flying through. I slammed on my brakes, and they screeched and turned hard to their right to avoid hitting me. Thankfully we were spared a hit.....it would have been a t-bone hit! Both Moira and Flannery were on the side that the car would have hit.
I was shaking for a long while afterwards, knowing just how serious that car accident could have been. My girls were on their phones oblivious to what almost happened. A few minutes later, being ever so grateful that we escaped such a serious accident, I told the girls that we needed to be thankful that their lives were spared. They didn't quite 'get it'. And so I explained the seriousness of the near t-bone accident to them. Unfortunately, two weeks later, those same two girls were going to find out first hand what I had meant.
The girls met up with friends and their older sister for a movie. Isabella was supposed to drive them home from the movie, but she was feeling very sick and needed to leave the movie early. So their friend was going to drive them home instead. They called me to let me know they were going to stop by the park to get pics of the sunset. A little while later I realized that the park they were going to actually locks their gate at sunset, so I called them to let them know they needed to leave the park asap. They already had and told me they would see me soon.
Then Flannery called me and let me know they were grabbing a snack and getting gas. In the past the girls were not on top of letting me know when their plans had changed, so I was glad that she called me to let me know. About 15 to 20 minutes later, when I realized they should have been pulling in, the phone rang. I saw it was Flannery's number, and in my head I was thinking....ugh, if they changed their plans again, I am going to go crazy! I wish, wish, wish that I could have gone crazy, instead I picked up the phone and Flannery was sobbing, yelling that there was an accident.
oh
my
God
I knew it had to be bad. Flannery doesn't cry.
I screamed for Jeremiah, and seemingly at the same time screamed into the phone, Where's Moira, where's Moira!?!?!!
Flannery sobbed back, she's in the car....she's not responding (Moira was not responding)
oh
my
God
Where are you!??!?!!
She says she doesn't know....wait, we're at the white house with the purple shutters.
I scream to Saoirse to watch the kids, and Jeremiah and I are out the door running.
I drive there....another crazy story in itself.
They are only 3 miles away. I come around the small bend and over the top of the small hill I see a ton of lights...those big lights to make the dark look like day (it was 9:30 at night). Fire trucks, police cars, lights, cars, people....lights
oh my God where are my babies, where is Moira?
Then I see the car. Oh my God, Lord help me, I cry out. I can't do this, I can't do this.....
The back car door is smashed in and Moira's head is lying over the window area where the glass was blown out. (she was t-boned) Oh my God, I can't do this. All the while I am running. Running as fast as I can. I want to be there for her and at the same time I am petrified to look. Jeremiah got to her first (we got there right before the EMS crews did....though there were bystanders, one who was a nurse, and someone else there that were trying to help). Flannery comes out of no where. She is crying, sobbing, hugging me tight. She is freaking out. Their poor friend who was driving just kept repeating I am so sorry, I am so sorry (he didn't see the stop sign and ran it....with the other car coming at them going 55-65mph).
Now at this point the gracious Lord gave me strength from above. I told Flannery I had to see how Moira was, so she went and sat on this small hill where some people were trying to get information (the cops?) about what happened. I run over and see Moira move an arm.
OH MY GOD SHE'S ALIVE! THANK YOU LORD, THANK YOU!!!!
My heart was beating sooo fast. I start praying out loud....like, really loud. But I knew we weren't out of the woods by any means. Was her spinal cord effected? Is she bleeding? She wasn't responding to us, just moaning. By then the EMS crews arrived. They got her out on a board. I rode in the ambulance to the hospital (soooo happy we have a level one trauma unit near by...30 minutes away). About 5 minutes from the hospital one of the EMTs told me she was responding. Praise you Lord.
I had been praying that all internal injuries would stop bleeding. I knew she had to have internal bleeding.
It was a very long wait in the family waiting room, waiting for them to transfer her to the trauma unit, waiting for the initial CAT scans. Oh God the wait.
They bring us back, and she is awake, aware, but in a TON of pain. The nurse or doctor tells us that she is stable, but in serious condition. She lost her left kidney, the renal artery had over extended, and the blood supply couldn't flow through. We were told had it extended any further it would have ruptured and she would have been dead on scene.
oh
my
God
She had 3 broken ribs, some lacerations on her lungs and her spleen was really bad off. Out of 4 levels of injury for the spleen, with 4 being the worst, she was a 3. Basically her spleen was mush, and that mush was being held together by the spleen's casing, which was lacerated as well! Her regular doctor told me recently that with the lacerations she had she should have bled to death.
oh
my
God
She also had bleeding in her brain. We waited a long 4 hours for a repeat scan to determine if her brain was still bleeding or not. Thank the Lord it wasn't. Basically my prayers for the internal bleeding to stop were answered. By about day 5 or so I noticed something wrong with her right eye...it wasn't tracking with the other eye. A VERY long story made short, she had damage done to her third cranial nerve. An MRI was done, and it was determined that the damage was done in the middle of her brain. Basically though no one part of her brain bled a lot, there were a lot of parts of her brain that had bled, or were bruised. Weeks after she was released from the hospital it was determined that there was also nerve damage done in the back of her eye.
Moira's right eye was not able to stay centered, and it would wonder off to the side. Also her lid would not open all the way, just half way at most. She had extreme tunnel vision as well in that eye. This made walking very, very, very difficult (aside from the immense amount of pain she was in).
Basically, it is a miracle that she is alive. She spent 4 days in the ICU, about 10 days on a regular floor and about 10 days on the rehab floor.
Our summer was spent in the hospital and then since we returned home it has been just doctor appointments and rehab. It was slow going at first. We had to buy a baby monitor for her room since she couldn't get up unassisted. Thankfully she came home with no needed equipment. In the early days of the hospital she needed a walker to get around. It was very disturbing to see my once vibrant girl, who did cheer leading this past year, using a walker to move around :-(
***This post has been sitting here on Blogger in 'pending' mode for about 2 months. There are so many stories that go with what happened during this time. I think I stopped writing it because it really could be a book! We were so grateful the immense amount of help we received from family and friends. I could not imagine walking this road alone! It was long, it was hard. And praise God it is almost over! I say almost because there are a few things we are waiting to heal. Her right eye has improved so much. She has control over tracking, she no longer has tunnel vision, and she can open her eyelid all the way. At this time she still has some lost peripheral vision. A recent MRI scan showed she has a mild bulging disk in her spine. Looks like we may be signing up for more physical therapy! She just had her last physical therapy two weeks ago! And now we need to go back to work on this disk. I am not happy to have to do that, but it will sure beat possible back surgery for her in the future....and so "GO" we must!
We have some funny stories of the things Moira did or said while on pain meds. We have stories of worry and tears as we didn't know what the outcome was going to be with her injuries. We have stories of perseverance, and stories of wanting to throw in the towel. But above all we HAVE a story, one that ends with Moira living her life like she was used to. She is back to school, and back to work. She hangs out with her friends, and loves to go shopping, and do makeup.
Now, granted, Moira was the one badly injured in the crash, but Flannery didn't escape scott free. She was spared any apparent injuries at the time of the crash. But a few weeks after the crash she was complaining of extreme fatigue, hard time concentrating, and lights and noise were bothering her. We took her in to her doctor who didn't find anything wrong. But then we spoke with a therapist who said that it is possible she had a concussion that did not present itself at the time of the crash. It took a couple months for those symptoms to disappear, but she is back to normal. As a matter of fact she said she wanted to drive today! Both girls have not wanted to drive since the crash. Moira doesn't have any memories of the crash, but her body must remember as she does have anxiety at lights. But now both girls are ready to get back behind the wheel....I'm just not sure if I'm ready for them to do so :-)
In the ICU, getting a visit with her big sister. She had to have that neck brace on for 3 days before they determined she could go without it. It was a very long 4 days in the ICU. I know that is not a lot of time, but when you are in it, it seemed forever!
Not a good picture, and I am sure Moira will want to kill me for posting it, but this was during the very hard, hard days for her. You can see the pain on her face. It took so much out of her to sit up and 'do life'.
We made it a point to decorate her room. Some balloons, some lights, and some pictures from home.
This was during rehab. Jeremiah and I took turns staying with her for 24 hours. When it was switch off time we would sometimes bring the kids for a visit. Lights and noise were very hard for Moira to deal with. I assure you there is nothing quiet about our family! So visits were short.
Moira got to have a few hours out of the hospital with her therapists. She got this pirate cake pop since, well....she was in the habit of looking like a pirate during this time. The eye patch made it easier for her to walk since it helped to block the double vision.
Moira just getting home, for good! She had her "Independence Day" shirt on, that they give to all the 'graduated' rehab patients. It was literally only a couple of days till July 4th, so we joked that that was the most expensive Independence Day shirt EVER!
Here she is, finally able to read, at one of her doctors visits. All week long it was therapy and doctors visits. So. Many. Doctor. Visits. So thankful she was alive, and able to actually go to doctors visits, don't get me wrong!! It was just a trying time to be sure.
Moira, Saoirse, and Kristi just a couple of weeks ago. I have other pictures, but these were the ones I could get off of my current computer.
