There will be a few people writing on the blog, this is a family effort to inform people about what happened with my youngest brother, Brad. I am Brads sister, Beth and then there are my two older brothers Zak, the oldest and Derek the middle brother and their wives, April, who is married to Zak and Lisa, married to Derek and my Dad, Bob. My family can write about their experience with the phone call on the morning of the accident, I can only relay mine.
My Brother Brad is 22 years old, fun loving, carefree and all heart. He is always trying to make people laugh. He is the baby in the family. He rides mountain bikes, skateboards, likes music and is a "ladies man" He can go anywhere and get a number without even trying. He loves life and lives it to the fullest.
9/17/08 Wednesday 0500
The phone rings, waking my husband and I up, Its 5 am... who would be calling? I look at the caller ID and I see a hospital number. Its my dad on the line. He tells me that Brad is in the hospital, has been out and sustained a head injury. I figure he will be okay, I am not panicked, I ask my dad if he is intubated, he says yes. Now I am worried, I know what this can mean. I have done this before, I have been the nurse in the ER for these patients. I immediately feel that knot move from my stomach to my throat, trying to contain myself until I get off the phone. I have to be strong, I have to process everything, I feel like my whole world has been tilted on its side. I rush to get dressed and brush my teeth, I ask my husband Bill to print me out a map to the hospital, he does, I tell him to make it two in case the outcome is immediately bad and he has to come right away. I tell him I am going to need him to call in to work for the day so that he can stay home with our daughter.
I drive to the hospital and I don’t think it has ever taking me so long to get to the interstate. I get to the hospital at 0602 and walk in to the ER, I am directed to a room where my brother is laying under a warming blanket on a vent, unconscious with sedation. My dad and oldest brother, Zak are at his side. I immediately go into assessment mode, heart rate is normal, normal blood pressure, good reflexes on the left side, purposeful movement on the left, empty bottles of mannitol on the counter. Mannitol is a medication to help decrease the swelling on the brain. Brad is still in c-collar, I ask my dad if they told him about any kind of cervical spine injury, Dad says no, just the head injury. I realize that as much as I hate to throw around title, I need to know what is going on, and it is easier to relay situations in medical jargon. I tell them that I am a nurse and that I would like to see the nurse taking care of him. I know that this does not get me points, in fact it makes people mad, nobody likes it when toes are being stepped on. The nurse comes in, doesn’t make eye contact, begins to package him to go to CT. I ask if he was intubated in the field or at the hospital. She says that they intubated him when he got here, that initial report from the field was that he was talking, though I don’t know his initial GCS. He was riding in the back of the truck and was thrown from the vehicle. He has multiple small subdural hematomas( bleeding in the brain) and a closed skull fracture. They have paged neurosurgery to come, Brad has been at the hospital for about 2 hours and has received appropriate life saving treatment, He is as stable as he can be given the situation.
The neurosurgeon arrives and tells us that he has looked at the CT scan and he feels like with Brads situation he feels like immediate surgery is required. He tells us that he is going to remove 2 pieces of skull from each side of his head to allow room for swelling. He tells us that he will place the bone in my brothers abdomen for storage. More family has arrived, April, my aunts on our mothers side Melinda, Julie, and Teresa, and a cousin Travis and his fiance, Crystal. We are all anxious and upset. He is taken directly to the OR from a repeat CT scan. We are directed to the OR waiting room, where we wait until about 1100 when the doctor comes out to tell us how the surgery went, He says that Brad did well in surgery, there was less bleeding than expected. He tells us that he is going to keep Brad sedated and intubated for 10 days at least to allow the brain to rest and allow plenty of time for the brain to swell and then go back down.
Brad will be in ICU, we are given a room number an hour later after he has been taken up from the recovery room. We go upstairs and wait for the nurse to let us back. When we are allowed to go back to see him, we are taken to his room, we walk in and he is laying in the bed, breathing tube in place, on the monitors, with about 5 IV medications going, they are giving him steroids, tube feedings, blood pressure medication, IV insulin, and antibiotics. He has his head wrapped up in a dressing that looks like a big white turban. He has no other injuries that we are aware of, they have removed his cervical neck collar. We spend some time with him and my dad and Zak go to try to find out where my brother left his truck. Derek and Lisa are on the way from Texas, and should get in through the night. I stay at the hospital, My husband comes to the hospital, the nurse comes in and informs us that Brad has developed a fever, they give him Tylenol through the tube that is going to his stomach.
I realize that I haven't eaten since the day before and it is 4 in the afternoon. My husband takes me to get something to eat, and we come back to the hospital until shift change for the nurses when they have all family members leave for two hours, My husband and I go home to feed our children and I need a shower and I pack a bag to stay at the hospital. I don't have to go back to work until the weekend, I arrange for my daughter to spend the night with a friend. I pack a bag, kiss my husband goodbye and head for the hospital to stay with my brother, I intend to stay for the first 48 hours.
I get back to the hospital about 10 pm. The night shift nurse is there in the room and I ask about his fever and his neurological checks, She informs me of my brothers status, he is stable, no longer has a fever, and asks if I am the family member that is a nurse. I say yes that I am an ER nurse. Brad is getting finger sticks every hour to check his blood sugar, They are good after being on the insulin for a while and the insulin is stopped, the blood pressure medication is stopped too, because it has improved. He has started to move his right side more, we are having to keep his hands tied to keep him from grabbing for the tube when they stop the sedation to check his reflexes. I sit in the chair by my brothers bed, teasing him about various things. Though it is not nearly as entertaining as when he partakes in the banter. I tease him about the tube feedings that he is receiving....umm lunch. I tell him that if he starts to run another fever, they will give him rectal Tylenol. I cope with my fear and anxiety through humor. I try to sleep a little at a time in the room. They come to get him for a repeat of the CT scan to determine the progress of the swelling and bleeding. They let me stay all night until the change of shift in the morning.
9/18/08 Thursday 0630- I go to the waiting room and make a makeshift bed from chairs, I stay until they are done with the change of shift, I wish that I was allowed to be back when the PA came back, I want the results of the CT scan that was done through the night.
My brother, Derek has arrived from Texas and my dad arrives at the hospital, we are in the room, talking to Brad, holding his hands, worrying about his condition. Zak and April arrive around noon and we visit with Brad for a while, we all need to eat, we decide to go to lunch, I go back to the hospital, Brad is running a fever when I get back, he has gotten more Tylenol. He seems to be more agitated, moving his legs in the bed, still his hands are restrained and Derek teases Brad about being tied up by nurses. He occasionally pulls against the restraints and has started to furrow his eyebrows. He gets agitated every time we turn him or when his breathing tube is suctioned. He is needing medication to sedate him and another to help relax him, we have also had to start back on the insulin and blood pressure medication. We have noticed that Brad has new swelling in the right side of his face, mostly his eye. The nurse says that this is to be expected. I am coming to the realization that this is going to be 1 step forward and 2 steps back with his recovery. Derek says that he is going to stay so my dad and I go back to his house and I get a couple of hours of sleep and a shower. We are all back at the hospital that night, my family stays for a while and I call my husband to bring me a few things and some food. It is late and everyone plans on meeting back at the hospital the next morning, Bill arrives and we eat, and I stay in the room again with Brad that night, I have seen some neurological improvement over the last 24 hours, he is using his right side more and when sedation is held for a few minutes he can flutter his eyelashes, we ask him to attempt to put up two fingers, I can see the muscles in his arm working, but he appears unable to control his fingers. I joke with him to just give us the middle finger. His heart rate and blood pressure are stable, he is more calm when someone is in with him. I sleep by the bed again in the fold out chair, the night shift nurse doesn't kick me out at 630 for change of shift, so I am there when the Dr. comes in.
9/19/08 Friday 0715- I ask about Brads progress, inform him of my observations, and his states that he is pleased with his condition, we are still on track to keep him sedated for 10 full days, he states that there is no reason to rush. The doctor asks about the ultrasound that they do to check for blood clots, the nurse informs him that it was negative, the chest xray that was done that morning looks good. I feel a little better about the progress. Dad calls and he asks if there is anything that he can bring me, I ask him just to bring a coffee. We all meet back at the hospital at 1000 and talk about his progress, what the doctor has said. I have a previously scheduled appt for my dog at the vet and I haven't seen my child in two days, I go with my dad to run a few errands and get some lunch, I have to leave after to take care of the appts I have. We plan on meeting at Lisa's Parents house for dinner. I take Jack(the dog) to his appt and sleep for about an hour. We go to dinner, everyone is there except for Brad, We toast to a speedy recovery. I finally allow myself to have a good long cry before going to bed. I pray that my brother will get better, I have to get up in the morning for work, so I try to get to sleep, I will be back at the hospital on Monday.
