“She has suffered severe brain injuries resulting in four skull fractures, two frontal lobe, and one occipital and temporal. She has two broken bones in her left leg, a fractured left shoulder … and she is in a coma. She’s on life support because her body has gone into shock. She suffered a seizure and stopped breathing but the paramedics were able to stabilize her. She is in the pediatric intensive care unit in critical condition.”
I remember hearing questions … good questions about the prognosis for my daughter. “Is the damage permanent? Has the bleeding stopped?” I asked myself “Who’s doing all that talking? How soon can we see her? Does she need any surgeries?” It was at that moment, I realized it was me! My motherly instincts had taken over. Get it together, Von, your daughter needs you.
They allowed us to go and see her. The very sight of her at that moment sent chills through my body. She was on life support. There were tubes and wires everywhere; the machines were beeping. There was a maxi pad taped to the side of her head because she was bleeding so profusely from her ear. It was strange; I expected her to have cuts and bruises on her face, swelling … but she had none of those. She was intubated, but other than that she simply looked as if she were sleeping. Sleeping beauty, I remember thinking, except this time more than a handsome prince was needed to awaken her.
I held her hand and whispered in her ear, “Mommy’s here, Baby. It’s gonna be ok.” Although I said the words, I had my doubts. For eleven days, I stayed by her side; leaving the hospital once for about two hours. My sisters stayed with me, only leaving daily to shower and change. For this, I will be forever grateful.
Over the next four days I learned so much about head injuries. She had experienced brain bleeding, swelling, and bruising of the brain. The doctors eventually requested to give her a blood transfusion. My husband and I refused the administering of blood based on the Bible teaching that we are to abstain from blood because of its sanctity. We did, however, recommend that epogen be given for the lost of red blood cells, and also factor 7, which promotes clotting so the bleeding would stop. The doctors had never used this method and were very skeptical about it. Just when they thought surgery was needed, they noticed an increase the red blood cells and a decrease in bleeding. The decision was made to wait twenty-four hours for any results.
