the schrock family : 2014

It's been two weeks already since Daylen's accident. It was early afternoon on Wednesday July 30, I got in the shower while Daylen and Ari were outside playing with the dog. I insisted they stay outside entertaining our new puppy since I couldn't watch after him in the house. I was almost done showering when Ari came in. I asked where Daylen was, he said "He's outside. He fell from the tree." I asked where he was, and how he was, and he replied "He's not ok. He's laying on the ground, coughing a lot." Instantly, I thought about just the previous week. Joe found him about 3/4 of the way up in a tree. He saw the top of the tree swaying and realized Daylen was in it, and had climbed higher than our two story house. I was out in the garden, when Joe called me over to see him. I took a picture (below), and we both made him come down. We told him he could continue climbing, but not to be climbing high anymore, or he could really get hurt.

Rushing to get out of the shower, I got really scared. My mind racing thinking about the possibility that he may have climbed as high as he did that day. I raced out of the house in just my towel, and as soon as I opened the door I saw him laying on the ground. While running to get him, I started screaming his name waiting to see him move, or reply back, but there was nothing. Not until I got over to him. He woke up just for a second, with slurred speech, eyes barely open said "I just need a nap" I realized just how bad his injuries might be. I left him, ran back inside to throw on a cotton dress, and grab my phone that was charging on our bed. I called Joe first, hysterical, he had a hard time understanding me. He said "Hang up right now, and call 911." I called 911 as I ran back out there, and found him unconscious again. He looked pale, and started vomiting. They asked me a lot of questions about the fall, since I wasn't out there to see it, I had no answers. He didn't have blood coming from his head, minimal scrapes and bruising, so I just wasn't sure how he fell, and from how far up. For the next 20 minutes, or so I remained on the phone with 911 waiting for help to get here, just trying to keep him awake. He was in and out of consciousness, most of the time not very responsive. He did tell me out of the blue while I was on the phone "I love you mom. Everything will be ok." Joe pulled in, and jumped out of his UPS truck just as help got here, and they immediately decided instead of taking him to Duke's Hospital, they would air lift him from the church just a 1/2 mile south of our house, to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne. Joe, Ari, June, and I jumped in the van and drove to Fort Wayne as fast as we could. Making calls to all of our closest family on the way up there to let them know what was going on. The drive was long. It only took us about 40 minutes, but that was too much time to be left with lots of what ifs.

We walked into the ER, and waited just a short period of time before a nurse, and the chaplain came to get us. They said "We will take you into a quiet room to wait for the doctor who will talk to you. We can take the kids, if you don't want them in there with you." I got really scared. Did he die? Are they going to tell us something so painful that they think we wouldn't want our kids in there with us? Before we went into the quiet room, they allowed us to go in and see him. We went into the room, where he was surrounded by 20 or more doctors and nurses working on him. He was intubated, hooked up to a lot of machines, and had a cervical collar on. It was such a scary sight. The lead trauma doctor introduced herself, and explained what they were going to do next. She said they had done some x rays, and they looked good so far, but he was heading to get a ct scan next. We went to the quiet room for a while, and then they moved us up to the Pediatric ICU, where we waited much longer for results. We finally got to see him, (picture below) but they were still waiting on results from ct scan. It took hours before we found out that more than likely he just had a severe concussion. Since they hadn't taken x rays of his limbs, they still weren't sure if he had a broken arm/shoulder. That night they decided to try to take him off sedation and see how he did breathing on his own. Slowly he woke up, but had a bad head ache, dizziness, vomiting. He was extremely tired and out of it. They did x rays of his limbs that night, and ruled out broken bones, but he still had on the c collar, because they were waiting on the trauma doctor to say he could take it off. That night was rough. Joe and I got only about 2 hours of sleep. He was on IV Fentanyl, so if when he wasn't passed out, he was up complaining of a headache, and throwing up blood. It was hard for him to even try to lift his head on his own.

On Thursday, the trauma doctor came in to check his neck and he told her it was painful when she touched it. So she ordered an MRI to check to see if there was any muscle or ligament damage in his neck that wouldn't have been found on the ct scan. It was a slow day. He was awake, and a lot more alert, but was still struggling to get up even with help. He was in a lot of pain, dizziness, nausea, and still so tired. After the MRI and going all day without vomiting they decided to move him to the Pediatrics floor, and change his medication to Tylenol with codeine. After his first dose of that, he seemed much more alert, and comfortable. He sat up on his own and worked a little on Legos, and watched a movie. He was still in pain, and had no appetite but we could see he was moving forward. It was such a relief.

He woke up Friday, still in pain, and feeling nauseous. He started vomiting again. I was so bummed to see him feeling so bad still. I just thought he was going to wake up doing better, since the night before he had made a lot of progress. I just wanted him to feel better NOW. I worried about just when he would get his personality back. I thought when they took him off the strong pain medication he would start to show some emotions, but he still wasn't showing any. The Neurological doctor came in and let us know he had didn't have any ligament tears or damage in his neck, just swelling. He went through all of his restrictions for the next few weeks and more, and said they would release him as long as he's able to eat, drink, and keep medication down. They ended up releasing him Friday night, and he went home with my mom and step dad. The other kids came home, they missed us, and Daylen wanted to go to his Grandparents house. It was going to be much quieter there, and I knew he would be in great care, but I couldn't take him being away from me! He came back home Saturday, and my Dad took the other kids so he wasn't over stimulated. It was a slow weekend, but by Sunday night I noticed him being about 75% back to himself. He picked out a 700 piece lego set he was supposed to work on slowly all week, and ended up having it done by Monday morning. Ha! He had his energy and personality back, and now he just acts like nothing has happened. It's been hard to slow him down, make him take breaks, and not allow any physical activity.

He went back to school on Friday. He overall had a great day. He had a headache by the end of the day on first day, but yesterday the teacher said he had a really great day. Still no recess or gym until next week, but kids have been taking turns staying inside to play board games with him. I am really happy so far he's able to concentrate without feeling over stimulated or having headaches. He's been so tough through this all!

I feel really, really blessed...

We are so lucky that things turned out the way they did. We are so thankful for everything- from all the wonderful people that took care of Daylen at the hospital, all of our family, friends, school teachers, the school nurse, and administrators that have been so supportive, understanding, and helpful to his recovery. We feel so loved and blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people. Thank you all for your kind words and support.

How we found him less than a week before the accident, ironically in the same shirt as he was wearing during the accident.

The one we always worry about, is the one who never climbs high. Daylen is our more cautious one, except tree climbing that is. They both have always loved climbing this tree since we moved in.

In pediatric ICU still intubated and sedated

On his way home

On Monday after he finished his big Lego set. He worked on various Lego sets he got from family and friends the first several days, since he was only allowed minimal tv, no video games or anything physical.

We have went to Grandma Bev's for swimming several times this summer. And they've had a blast! After buying Ari and June a new life vest, this is the first year I've felt I could take them by myself. They've really done great this summer at the pool! Grandma Bev always spoils them with lots of snacks, of course! And they love to go and jump on her trampoline! June and I also took a trip to Kokomo Beach one day to meet our best gals, Alli and Naomi while the boys were out of town visiting their cousins Alex and Haley.

Also, this past week we went to the Greentown fair. We met our friends Alli, Nate, and Naomi and we took the kids on their first ferris wheel ride. They loved seeing the animals, and all of the tractors too! It was such a great time but WOW... Joe and I were emotionally spent by the end of it. Trying to keep track of three kids, in the the heat, amongst a crowd, and wait in line for all rides will tire you down real quick. That's why we only go to one fair, one time a year, usually. That's just about as much as the both of us can take.

Swimming out at Grandma Bev's: