Friday, April 18, 2014

Thank you guardian angel

Guardian Angels.
They watch over us and keep us safe. I am so grateful for Reese's guardian angel.
The other night she took a tumble down the stairs, all the way down the stairs. She was wearing my high heels and attempted to walk down the steps with them on. Every girl knows that's a hard feat!
I was in the front living room and saw nearly the whole thing. I relive those few seconds every hour on the hour and it will haunt me. The stairs are carpeted which helped soften each blow, but the very bottom is hard wood and her head hit hard at the bottom, face first.
She cried for a good 5 minutes and we watched her like a hawk to see signs of a concussion. Kayla was staying with us that night and there was definitely a reason she was there, we are so grateful to her. About half hour afterwards she still hadn't walked, just cuddled with us and started falling asleep. We were debating taking her in when she threw up all over me. All over. Kayla and I started cleaning up and Brian rushed upstairs to get more clothes so we could take her in. She threw up again and we rushed to Urgent Care. Kayla stayed home with Bria and not only took care of her but cleaned up all the vomit and our clothes, did dishes, and cleaned the house. Can't thank her enough.

Urgent Care was packed. But with a head injury they get you back right away. Once in the room we talked to the nurse a little and then she left and we waited for the doctor. Reese fell asleep for about five minutes and then woke up and threw up. I went and got the doctor who called the Pediatric Hospital (OHSU) and then felt we should go there in case a CT scan was needed.
So we headed to the hospital. Again, we got back to the room right away and the doctor and nurses were asking us questions when Reese threw up again.
That's when the doctor said, "Please let me do a CT scan."
Brian and I said, "Absolutely."

With an adult they usually don't hesitate to do a scan, but with young kids they do it cautiously due to the radiation. However, there was no way any of us were going to rest easy with the current state of Reese. Not only was she falling asleep and vomiting, but the bump where she hit her head was not very large. Which raises concern as to where that blood is going.
The doctor went to go order the CT scan immediately and that's when our emotions finally caught up with us and the adrenaline kind of dwindled. We realized how serious this all was and were terrified. All the "what if" scenarios started entering my mind and I couldn't push them away any longer. What if there is bleeding on her brain? What if she has to go into surgery? What if there is swelling or brain damage? What if our Reese never fully heals and she is never the same? 

We went back for the CT scan and Reese did great. I got to stay in the room with her and she had her blankie covering half her face. She looked at me for the whole 2 minutes it took and I sang to her and smiled and acted like this was totally normal. It took everything in me not to lose it.
We walked back to the room in constant prayer and Reese fell asleep on me in the bed. The doctor came in minutes later and said that her and her supervisor looked the xray over and they did not see any bleeding on her brain. The doctor let us know that the radiologist still had to look it over and give the final word, but she wanted us to know that things looked really good.

Huge sigh of relief. Many prayers of thanks to God and Reese's guardian angel. 
We had been on such a whirlwind of emotions and it felt so amazing to hear such good news.

Her diagnosis was basically a severe concussion. We stayed at the hospital for a few hours, Reese slept the whole time and Brian and I sat in near silence. I think it was very surreal for us.
Heather came right before we got discharged and helped lend her love and support. We had been talking to family on the phone and getting so many loving texts from everyone. It was truly amazing to feel support and love from so many people. 

Reese slept with us in bed that night and it was very comforting to feel her cuddled up next to me. She woke up in the morning hungry, thirsty, and ready to play. I was in shock. Just hours before she was out of it and in so much pain, now she was nearly back to her old self!
Again, many prayers of thanks were said.
Now the hard part is keeping her low key and calm...that's hard for any 2 year old let alone my busy Reese! But we are managing. She is definitely stir crazy, I'm just grateful to have her back to her old self. 
Thank you God and guardian angels for looking out for Reese and comforting us. We love our little girl so much.

3 comments:

Danielle said...

Thank goodness she is ok. That is so scary!

Kris and MaLanie said...

I'm glad Reese is feeling better! What a terrifying experience!

LoAnn said...

That is SOOO scary. We are so relieved that she is alright and that all of our prayers were answered.