Update On Christopher 7-27-2009

Jo and I and the kids spent Thursday night at her Mom and Dad's place. Friday morning started like pretty much every morning in our household. Christopher was awake before anyone else and scurrying around the house looking for something to eat. He came crawling into our bed and said "It's morning time. The sun is up, the sky is blue and the clouds are 'wipe' Get up Mom and Dad. Hurry!. The rest of the day I wouldn't mind forgetting, but it happened so I'll try to give you all an update. Jo and I were upstairs getting ready to leave to go back to our house in Newport. Timothy and Christopher were being crazy as usual. running up and down steps and in and out every door they could find, laughing and screaming. I remember saying why can't these kids just go outside, but neither of us had the energy to actually make that happen. Then we heard this wierd cry coming from downstairs. I had never heard Christopher make a sound like that in his life. Timothy came running up the stairs yelling "Dad I can't get him out!" Jo and I ran down and found Christopher with the sharp corner of a little table jammed in his left ear and with a treadmill that had been folded up laying on top of his head. I remember lifting the treadmill and thinking there's no way this can be happening to us. it was so heavy for such a little head and there was bright red blood coming out of his ear. Jo and I looked at each other and began a mad scramble for the van somehow picking up Christopher, Timothy, and Adam along the way. I think our dog Otis even jumped in just because everyone else was. I held Christopher while Jo drove to the hospital in Bonners Ferry. I kept him talking the whole way, but he got more and more sleepy. In the ER the doctor took a quick look and sent him to CT. A quick 30 second scan of his head confirmed what I had been in denial about the whole time. He had a skull fracture and an epidural hematoma. An artery was bleeding and compressing his brain tissue. This was my worst nightmare come true. I'd spent years as an EMT in Bonners Ferry and I know firsthand how hard it is to get someone with a severe injury to the trauma center in Spokane. We call it the "Golden Hour". Any trauma patient has ideally one hour to be in surgery from the time of the accident to have the best chance of survival. In small towns like Bonners that hour can stretch to 3, 4, or 5 depending on the weather and the availability of a helicopter. I had seen this kind of dilemma before, but just never imagined it happening to one of my own kids. The next few hours without a doubt were some of the most difficult that Jo or I had ever faced. A lot of things happened in sequence that I can't explain or even pretend to understand, so I just have to be thankful and chalk it up to the goodness of God. It turns out that a helicopter was already in the air flying to Bonners Ferry for someone else. Although this person's injury was just as serious, Christopher's case was bumped to the front because of his age. We didn't meet the other family, but I don't even have the words in my vocabulary to express how grateful I am that Christopher could take their helicopter. There was no room for an extra person so neither one of us could go along for the ride. I felt very helpless and humbled. Here I am supposed to be this big, bad nurse and I can't even do anything to help my own son. We left him with the crew and started driving to Spokane with Doug and Deb. We weren't even in Sandpoint when they flew overhead. I remember telling God how helpless I felt and just letting him know there was nothing I could do about it anymore. The pediatric neurosurgeon in Spokane called and told me a repeat CT showed the bleed had tripled in size and they needed to take him to surgery immediately because the pressures in his head were dangerously high and close to compressing his brain stem. I said please do it. He was in surgery before we got there. I found out later that Christopher's right side was not working very well by the time he arrived. Dr. Ling performed an emergency craniotomy, taking a piece out of his skull, removing the blood that had accumulated, shutting off the artery that was bleeding, and inserting a drain to keep pressure from building up later. He came out of surgery with no neuro deficits, which means he could move both sides equally well and knew where and who he was. We just brought him home this morning and I'm amazed at how much he acts like the little boy that woke us up Friday morning. I can't say thank you enough to God for saving his life and for Dr. Ling and the whole health care team at Sacred Heart that helped him recover. Thank you to all of you who were praying for us. I also especially want to thank Marylane, MeLisa, Jeremy, Janice, and my friend Brian who made it to the ER in Spokane to be with him when we couldn't be there. Also a big thanks to everyone else who came and visited us and helped us through his hospital stay. We will always be grateful.

Marcus Byler Wow, that's scarry. Praise the Lord it worked out so well. We were praying for you. I can only imagine how frightening it must have been. Date: 07-30-2009 08:07:49 Delete | Edit