I went back there to get her and picked her up like I always do...campbell started crying and screaming and pulling on my legs, stepping on my feet, etc. This is nothing new. He does this all the time and would prefer that I carried him around nonstop! Well, I got her and put her up on my shoulder. I literally turned to tell Campbell to stop pulling on me and he moved and I tripped over him. Larkin threw her head back and fell out of my arms. I tried to catch her. Tried sooo hard. But, she hit the ground. She immediately started crying and I picked her. Seconds. It all happened in seconds...really more like nano seconds. I knew she had fallen a long ways and hard. I immediately called Liz and matt and asked Liz to come over to help me assess her. The boys have fallen numerous times so I knew crying right away was good. Anyway, she came really fast. I called gc and they said "if she is acting fine, then she's fine." well. She was acting fine. She was fussy but alert. So, I called matt. I didn't feel right. So once Liz got there, I left with Larkin and headed to gc. I wanted her checked just to be sure. I mean...isn't that why I have a pediatrician? I'm certainly not one. Even though I do feel like I missed out on my calling. Anyway, matt and I ran in and they said they couldn't see her. They were too busy and backed up. Seriously?!?! You can't have the dr come out and just look at her eyes and head. It would literally take seconds. So, we headed to the ER. Honestly I felt like we were wasting our time and that they were going to be a little irritated that we came in. She was acting fine! We got called back immediately. The physicians assistant came in...had absolutely no bedside manner at all! He asked what had happened. Examined her quickly and said she needed a ct scan. So I started to get a little more nervous. We went back and and I almost lost it when I had to put her on the table. She was crying!!! After they strapped her body down, she calmed down. They started the test. Matt and I were able to stay right there with her. While the circle was going around her head, the radiology tech said "man, that's alot of radiation". So matt asked if that was a really bad thing. He mumbled lots of bad things about the test and how the radiation never leaves your body and how it causes cancer among other things...I mean...seriously???? Is that a necessary time to give us that information? While the test is going on? Anyway, we got back to the er room. We waited for a little bit and the physicians assistant came back in and said in a very lighthearted manner "I have some bad news (pause)" and I seriously thought he was going to say "...you aren't staying here" or some other unimportant finish. Instead, he said "she has a skull fracture...". I LOST it...to say I lost it really doesn't even describe it accurately!!! Thankfully, one of our friends is a nurse in the ER. He came in right then and tried his best to calm me down. Matt was in complete shock. He was frozen! I was hysterically crying. And for those of you that know me...that would not be considered as something normal for me! They told us that her fracture was on the right side of her head and she had (has) blood on her brain and that she would have to be transported to lsus PICU. I asked how they would transport her and they said by ambulance. And of course I asked if I could go with her and they said yes. It's all a huge blur. Huge blur. In some ways it seems like that 24 hours was a week long and in other ways, it seems like such a blur that it couldn't have lasted that long. Anyway, they had to get an iv started so they could transport her. It took an hour and a half (no lie). They blew 7 veins, had four different people try...including an ER nurse (supposedly the best iv nurse), two nicu nurses, and the nicu nurse practitioner. It was miserable and she kept locking eyes on matt like "please help me". They finally got it in her foot and were able to avoid her right hand/arm since she sucks her thumb on that side. Normally they would've put it in her scalp but they couldn't since she had a head injury. So, the paramedics showed up and got her all ready to go. I snapped a few pictures...just bc that's what I normally do and I was searching for things to be "normal".
She did good on the ambulance ride there. Matt followed in my car so that we would have a vehicle over there. Larkin stared at me forever. By this point it was around 8pm and she was exhausted of course...I did get he to smile a few times on the ambulance ride. I finally stopped looking at her and talking to her and she fell asleep.
When we got to lsus, we really didnt know what to expect. They had warned us that we may only be allowed to be in the room one at a time. They told us that she might have to have another ct scan. Well, our nurse, Byron, was so nice. He got Larkin all hooked up to her leads, pulse ox, iv fluids, etc. Not that the NICU is great but I think it prepared me for this PICU visit!!!!! I wasn't worried when our machine alarmed and could usually fix the problem before the nurse got in there. That was nice bc if I was a first timer, the constant alarms would've definitely unnerved me. We immediately saw a pediatrician. The great thing about lsus is that there are drs of all sorts there 24-7. So there was no waiting until the morning. We saw him and he examined Larkin. He told us that she looked good but the neurosurgeons would have to look at her neck and spine. 30-45 min later, neurosurgeon came in and said she looked ok. No reason for another ct scan. The nurse came in around 11 and drew blood which was interesting bc she screamed her head off, blew another vein, and I'm sure woke up all the picu patients...most definitely our roommate and his grandmother. They told me I could nurse her which was a huge relief. She nursed great. We put her down and she slept good in her little crib. They told me I couldn't feed her after four in case they had to do surgery for some reason in the morning...which was bizarre to me bc the thought of surgery hadnt even crossed our minds. Things were quiet for the most part from 1130 to 4.
I fed her then and she went back to sleep. We got about an hour and half of sleep...chopped up sleep. The nurse told us that the neurosurgeon team and trauma surgeon/critical care team would be around in the morning. When the neuro team came around, we got wonderful news that Larkin looked great....no surgery was needed and we could probably go home that afternoon...if the trauma team agreed.
Matts parents came and visited around 9 and brought me some advil (praise the Lord) bc i was in major pain from sinuses!!!!! My parents got there around 11...my dad and matt went down to eat and get us some food. The trauma team didn't come around until 1130ish and when they walked in, I almost burst into tears. My second cousin is one of the head trauma surgeons there...we had forgotten that. When Katie walked in, I was sooooo relieved. She hugged Liz and I and talked to us for awhile about Larkin. She assured us that Larkin looked good. My friend, amy, came by shortly after katie (dr. Whitlock) left and had larkin just a smiling!!! All of our children love amy (and gabe)! So thankful to have friends that truly care about our family!!! We were discharged around 330pm.
Throughout this whole 24 hours, I got so many emails and so many texts. I will never know the exact amount of people that prayed for our precious baby but I know it was alot of people!!!! I am sooo thankful to have friends and family that will stop what they are doing and pray for my family!!! God was truly watching over Larkin. It could've been so much worse. We are praising Jesus right now bc we have come through another storm that could've had a totally different outcome!
I have to say that I felt many things after that 24 hours...one of which was being thankful for the health of my children. We are constantly sick at our house. But let me tell you....PICU is NOT where you want to be as a parent. We were there a little less than 24 hours. I'm not sure how long our roommate had been there but it seemed to be a long, long time. He was a young boy (between 8-10) and was on a vent. I'm not sure of his story but there are some sick, sick children on that wing of the hospital. I have never been so relieved than when we drove away.
Larkin is on seizure medicine (along with her antibiotic for ear infection and regular meds) for a week...this is routine with an trauma to the head.
Larkin will see dr slusher this week to be checked. And, we have to go back in a month for a recheck with a pediatric neurosurgeon and will probably have to have another ct scan to make sure the fracture is healing and the blood that is on her brain is absorbing and not increasing. Her head is still swollen and bruised. The swelling is actually on the left side...but her fracture is on the right. They told us with such blunt force, it can make the swelling happen on the opposite side.
When I think about how blessed we are to be home and be ironing clothes for all three of my children to wear to church tomorrow...yep, we are all five healthy enough to head to our Fathers house!!!!
These are a few pictures to prove that she is doing great. They were taken thursday and Friday.
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