Weekend

 

We spent all week trying to get the huge knot out of Sierra’s hair. At some point we realized we wouldn’t be able to save it so Saturday was haircut day. 

I think it looks really cute. She walked again and then at 10pm she got moved out of ICU and up to the regular ward. Every doctor, every nurse, every therapist, everyone just says what a miracle it is that she’s alive and healing so well. 

Sierra and one of our favorite nurses, Katie.

Rob flew back to Florida to work and be with Grace. Last night was my night to sleep at home and it great. Dani stayed here and she said Sierra had a rough night. Nights are the worst. 

Today Chris was able to come up with his Dad and give her a blessing & the sacrament. They stayed for a little while and they were both all smiles. 

50 First Dates

 

Another eventful day. I felt like I didn’t get as much sleep last night as the ones before but Sierra rested well. Tonight we have our favorite night tech, Liz, back and I think I will sleep well.  I trust her and feel comfortable with her. Today our tech was Trevor’s sister!! What a small world. Trevor is Tanner’s best friend. We spent a lot of time talking about him today. I have loved all the staff (except one- last nights tech, who was okay but not awesome and it felt weird having her here with us.) They have just been so kind and caring. I am very grateful for that amazing blessing.

Si had hyperbarics in the morning and then she was supposed to go in for her surgery right after. Instead she finally went at 4pm. I did leave to take a shower real quick and spent a little time with Rob. 

Surgery went great. They found that a lot more of her tissue was fine then they had feared (I’ve lost track of what number miracle this is). So they cleaned out the necrotic areas, applied the shark collagen, and now she heals for a few weeks and then she will have the skin graft.

When I got back from showering I learned that she had been in a lot of pain and was upset. 

Ten minutes later the meds kicked in and she was cheerful and ready to take on the world. She did a speedy lap around the ward and impressed the heck out of everyone.

Cognition is very up and down. I see improvements every day but it definitely changes minute by minute. This morning I got a good  pinch for being so annoying and this evening she told Liz and Katie that I was her best friend. She meant both. I am fine. I am just delighted that she’s here and getting better. Up and down is hard but we can do hard things!

Tatum got sick a couple days ago so we haven’t been able to swap. (Did I already say that?...who needs the dive chamber?)

It’s been fine. I don’t mind the hospital. I do wish I could spend some time with Hannah before she goes back to Idaho. 

Sierra was having us cracking up tonight. She ate well, got her bath, and then the four of us were around her bed (Sierra in it of course) and we were just laughing as she told us about work, her hair, meeting Chris and how he’s going to propose and how she loves him and lots of other stuff. It was a bright spot.

She doesn’t remember the accident and we have to tell her about it, and tell her she has broken arms, and tell her not to pull out her feeding tube every 5 minutes, etc, I just sing in my head 🎶forgetful Lucy, she’s got a cute caboosee🎵.

Love that Sierra girl! 

Other things

 Rob has been spending a lot of time with the family and  the grands. They are adorable!

We got some great pictures of our missionary!

Forgetting

 I want to write down what has happened so we can remember it, as we go. But sadly I am busy busy and don’t remember but here’s some of it.

“I am learning a lot of cool things about how the body works and how amazing medicine is. Sierra goes to the hyperbaric chamber (the dive chamber for those in the know 😉) twice a day. It’s really cool and helps with soft tissue and bone healing. Inside it’s 100% oxygen and the pressure you would find 20-30 ft under water. 

Also did you know they use shark collagen to help in tissue regeneration? Some of the skin and tissue around her wound is necrotic so she will have plastic surgery in a couple of days. They will use the shark collagen then. 

Pretty amazing!

Sierra is doing well, considering. Her bones are set and healing. Her lungs and organs are doing well. She is moving around and doing PT. 

She talks and makes sense sometimes. She is confused and scared and uncooperative other times. All of this is normal and part of the expected recovery process with TBIs. 

It’s hard, super hard, but we have great hope that she will continue to recover and that she will be well. I will tell her about the great outpouring of love and support she has, and I will tell her of the miracles she experienced while she was getting better.”

From my FB

“She does not do well at night. She’s been cussing & swearing. She punched (twice)the sitter and tried to bite her. She’s kicked us and yelled. Finally we had to restrain her and she settled right down. By that time she had been given 5-6 different meds but each just made the situation worse.”

From a text to my sibs

Every day we have PT, OT, Speech, trips to the dive chamber, eating, baths, phone calls to answer, idk what else. 

The last two nights have been awful. Watching her get restrained was heartbreaking. Tonight it seems like our new game plan is going well and so far she’s sleeping peacefully.  

Update: first thank you all so much for the kind words, the prayers and positive thoughts. We have been  blessed by so so many people reaching out, bringing food, tending babies, driving kids, sending positive messages, offers of help and love and support. It has been such a tender time and I, and my whole family, are so so grateful.

“I know everyone wants an update on Sierra. She continues to rest and to heal. We have had some really bad nights but the days are better. She follows commands, recognizes people and expresses her emotions. These are all wonderful signs. I was told by one doctor to temper my enthusiasm however I believe in miracles, I believe in the power of prayer, I know Sierra was protected because no one thinks she should have lived. This girl is a fighter and I am so grateful for her. 

Tomorrow she has another surgery, more therapies and she’ll be one day closer to getting out of here!”

Copied from FB

People have been so kind and so generous. Lana came by and brought me this quilt she made that I love! Andrea got us minky blankets! People have been bribing food every night for the family. They’ve started different fundraisers and a go fund me and they’ve been so amazingly kind!

Is it Tuesday?

 

Each minute is such a roller coaster ride and it’s crazy the depths of worry and fear that come with bad news, and the elation that comes with the tiniest improvement. It’s cray-Z!

So late last night we got the results of her MRI. They found spots on her frontal lobe that suggest shear trauma. My heart sank. They talked about personality changes and long term care facilities. It felt very grim. 

Then this morning they said they thought her organs were pushing thru her diaphragm into her chest cavity. Plus she was pretty unresponsive and uncommunicative.

We prayed hard and asked for others to join us in praying. She went for a CT of her chest to learn what was going on with her organs and got the good news that it was fine. There are pockets of fluid around her spleen and liver that will take care of themselves and that were making the muscle look compromised when it wasn’t.   Miracle!

She went for her tube surgery and that went great. Collapsed lung is working just fine as well so now she can go to the hyperbaric chamber.

Then this afternoon she started talking.  A lot. She passed her swallow test. She participated in PT and OT. She’s been in a great mood. She doesn’t recognize me or Dani but tells about her life with good details. She was cracking us up. Miracle 7-22!!

So she’s not out of the woods and we can’t be certain but I really feel like she will continue to improve. 

Time slows down

It’s the weirdest thing, it feels like it’s been so long since we’ve come to Utah to be with Sierra but really it’s only been 2 days, 3 since the accident. Saturday night I stayed here and Dani went home. She came back in the morning. Saturday Mark snuck up to be with her for a minute and Rob and Chris came up to give her a blessing. I slept at home Saturday night and Dani stayed here. Today we are swapping. 

She’s had some good news and bad news in these last couple of days that have felt like months. She had a collapsed lung, that is not inflated and she can have her chest tube removed. They are not going to remove it because it’s good to have it in when you are in the hyperbaric chamber, which she will go in tomorrow. She’s had a lot of CT scans and the bleeding in her brain is now gone. She had an MRI today, still no results. She’s not as responsive as we’d like (meaning she doesn’t know her name, or who I am, or anything) we are hoping and praying it’s from the meds and the concussion and that she will recover. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

She’s had two surgeries on her arms. They went well. She will need plastic surgery on her right arm because it was severely damaged. The bones literally folded in half and her soft tissues and skin were deprived of blood. 

She is in a lot of pain or she is totally drugged up.

She failed her swallow test so they are putting in a feeding tube (I had to leave the room). Once that’s in they can give her oral meds which will provide steady pain relief and we hope will let her have some more clarity. They are doing that while I’m writing and I can hear her cries from down the hall. 

Her chest X-rays are looking good. Her liver enzymes are better. She’s moving her legs and arms and fingers and toes. 

We feel the presence of angels and have faith that she will be healed. We (I) also need a little divine help to maintain that faith.

This morning we went and had breakfast with Ethan and his companion. The MP called Rob and invited us to do that . He said he felt inspired that it would be good for him. He is doing so great! He was anxious for breakfast to be done and to get back to work. It was great to see him. 

Grandpa is getting to spend some nice time with the grands!

Ethan and Elder Burns.

The one without a title

 Friday evening we were at Action Gator taking little blue for an oil change and a steering wheel adjustment when we ran in to Jack and Laurie. Jack said hey come over and we can take the jet skis out. So we did. Sage and Grace had fun. We all had fun and ended up staying and eating together. 

Thousands of miles away at the exact same time Sierra and Chris were in an accident. Val called me and it was de ja vu. 10 months ago, same time of night, same panicked called, different well loved young adult family member, same anguish and shock. 

They were driving to a camping trip, Chris was pulling a trailer and somehow whether it was a gust of wind or whatever happened the trailer jackknifed and separated from the truck. The truck flipped down the embankment and Sierra  was ejected from the truck.

Do you believe in miracles?

I sure do. Sierra has horrible injuries, but she’s alive and it looks like she will recover. She broke both her arms, her right arm very severely and she had surgery on it last night. They were able to restore blood flow and she can move all her fingers and toes. She broke her clavicle, her scapula, and many ribs. She has a leak in her lung that is closing on her own, a brain injury that at first looked like it might be devastating but now the doctors think she will recover from. 

Driving on the freeway behind them was a firefighter and a nurse. They stopped to help and saved her life. She had coded but with CPR they kept her heart pumping and oxygen going to her brain.

So we got the call and knelt to pray. Then we got things rolling. We cleaned the house, did laundry packed, made flights, got Grace situated, waited for morning and flew out to Utah at the crack of dawn. Again. 

Dani spent the night with Si last night. I’m staying tonight. We will be trading off.  She will have a second surgery tomorrow. 

The nurses here are amazing. I am very grateful for all the help and care she’s gotten, from angels earthly and heavenly. 

So she’s awake a little bit every now and then. This evening she’s had some confusion but that could be from the meds. She has a little fever and looks pretty bad. From a mom point of view it seems awful, from a trauma nurse POV it seems to be going great, at least that’s what they are telling us. 

So now we wait and pray and do what we can to make sure she gets better.