A difficult time

These pictures are our cousins Amanda and Jessica and my husband Chad. The bottom one is me, Amanda's Mom and Amanda.

Last Thursday a cousin on my husband’s side and a close friend of mine, was in a horrible car accident. She is in critical condition at KU Medical and has many surgeries ahead of her and a very long road to recovery. So far they have removed a third of her spleen that was bleeding, she has a rod attached to her leg on the outside, and her pelvis has 9 fractures, and has a broken arm in two places. The day after the accident, her brain started swelling. That had to put a stint in her head to relieve the pressure. They attempted surgery on Monday to repair her leg and the swelling came back in her head, so they had to stop. They did get a rod the rod in her leg, but that was it. Today they are attempting to work on her pelvis. They were taking her in this morning, and I haven’t heard anything yet. Yesterday they turned her sedation way down and yelled her name and told her to give them a thumbs up if she could hear them and she did so quickly. Sunday they brushed her hair and she seemed to relax a little, and when they washed her face, her heart rate went up and the nurses said that was really good. She has also moved her left arm a little, so that is a great accomplishment. I’m just ready to have all the surgeries finished and work on getting her better. I went to the hospital Thursday after she was lifeflighted to St. Joe and got to hold her hand for a while before she was flown to KU. This is the most emotionally draining thing I’ve through in my adult life. I have dreamt about her four times that I remember, in the past 6 days. They were all good dreams about her walking around her room in the hospital and doing some physical therapy. Maybe that’s a good sign. My three year old was sitting in the recliner yesterday drinking his milk, watching cartoons while I was working on homework. All of a sudden he looked at me and said Momma, Amanda’s okay. I said yes, she will be. He said No, she IS okay. So, maybe he knows more than we think he does. The only thing they said about the swelling in her brain is, she might have to have a little speech therapy, and her personality might be altered for a short time. That is the worst case scenario. I think she is going to be bed ridden for a long time, and she may have to learn how to walk again, but if anyone can do it, she can. She had three small, beautiful children at home that need their Momma. They are only seven, five, and three. They have not been told much of course, but they know she was in an accident and will be in the hospital for a while. But, I’m sure she’ll be fine. I know she will be. She’s a fighter.