Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Tayah's bike accident story

With the weather warming up the kids are so ready to play outside. But with that are consequences. Last Sunday the 18th we were all outside enjoying the weather. The kids were playing on the driveway and sidewalk riding bikes and scooters. All of a sudden we hear Tayah screaming and run to her. She had fallen off her bike and hit the side of her head on the cement. She was clutching her head and by the sound of her screaming you could tell she was in shock. We got her in the house and on the couch. She continued to scream and cry clutching her head. She kept asking repeatedly, "Why does my head hurt? Is my head split open? Am I going to die? Am I alive? What day is it? I would answer her same questions over and over and she would continue to ask the same ones. She couldn't remember anything of the entire day! She didn't even remember riding her bike. I did that for an hour and a half until she fell asleep. During that time I had been on the phone with a friend who is a nurse trying to decide what to do. She said that memory loss is sign of a concussion. She said to watch her and it was ok to let her sleep for no more than 2 hours. She woke up an hour and a half later crying again, asking the same questions and nauseated. I called my friend back and she said to take her to the Hospital. I took her and they did a CT Scan and found that she had a fractured skull and a epidural hematoma on her brain. They then called Life Flight to come and fly her to Primary Children's Medical Center. When they said they would have to do that I thought it must be bad. I couldn't believe it. I had to watch them take her away and follow the little red light in the sky to meet her there. We called family and they met us there. They did another CT Scan and said they needed to admit her to the Intensive Care Unit. I stayed and slept by her. They checked on her all night and she felt worse the next morning. Her nausea was bad, and the Neurosurgeon thought at first they would have to do surgery. By afternoon the nausea started to subside and they were able to move her to the floor. We stayed another night for more observation. The Neurosurgeon came in and thought she was doing well enough to go home but to watch for symptoms of it getting worse. No physical activity for two months, which is completely frustrating her. We kept her out of school this whole last week and started her again yesterday. She only made it half day, she started to get frustrated with the noise in the class.


Tayah's new gifts with their own injuries!


She had her own menu to order what ever she wanted to eat!


Spent her time coloring books our sweet visitors gave her.


Her sweet teacher from school.


Tayah and Mom!

I am so grateful for everyone that jumped in to help our family. The support has been unbelievable! We a truly blessed with good family, friends, and a wonderful ward. My only advise to everyone now is to put a helmet on your child even if your just in your driveway piddling around. I always put them on our kids for "Bike Rides" but thought nothing of it with what we were doing.

4 comments:

Walter Family said...

That is so scary! I'm really sorry you guys had to go through that. I'm so glad she is okay and hope she continues to feel better and better so she can enjoy playing again!

Carrie said...

I just balled my eyes out reading this! Such a miracle she is ok!

Shannon said...

I am so glad that she is ok. How scary for you. Is everything ok now?

Patti Smith said...

I'm glad she is okay and you are all back home. I know how scary it is to watch the helicopter fly away with your baby and you can't get there fast enough.