Eric

Sorry this is a long post.  I am writing every detail for journaling purposes.  I've been meaning to post what happened to Eric for the last week now, but was too busy to get it together.  Luckily, Diane was smart enough to take a couple pictures of Eric with her phone, otherwise I wouldn't have had any.  These pictures are of Eric in the Primary Children's ICU at about midnight.

On September 18th, Eric was at his friends house watching a movie.  He was suppose to be home at 5 pm, but he was late.  He looked at the clock and it said 5:30.  He jumped up and ran out the door and got on his bike to come home.  His friend only lives 2 blocks away from us.

After 1 block, Eric remembers everything going black.  My neighbor was outside and witnessed the accident.  Eric's shoulders slumped over, and his handlebars on his bike twisted.  He smacked his head on the pavement.  My neighbor ran over to him and carried him onto the grass and called Zac.  I came home about 10 minutes after it happened.  Eric was laying on the couch, with a black eye and some cuts on his forehead.  They weren't big enough for stitches.  I was concerned Eric fainted in the first place, so I called his doctor and was able to get an after hours appointment.

When we got to the doctors, Eric was telling me that his right ear hurt really bad.  The black eye was on the left side of his face, not the right.  I told the doctor, she looked in his ear and said there was blood.  She left the room to consult with some other doctors.  When she came back, she said she talked with 5 different doctors, including at AF hospital, Riverton hospital and Primary Childrens.  They all said to go straight to Primary's.  The doctor told me to drive straight there.  I found out afterwards that they were debating on using an ambulance to transport Eric.

When we got to Primary's there was a big line at check-in at the E.R.  At this time, I didn't realize how urgent it was for Eric to be there, so as crying babies were coming in, or parent's who had children life-flighted, I let them go in front of me.  They checked in all the patients and had them sit in the lobby.  When I got to the desk, they all exclaimed how they have been waiting for us.  They quickly took us inside, and before I could even put my purse down in our room, we had a neurologist in there.  They quickly took CT scans of Eric's brain and head.  We discovered that he had a 3 inch fracture on his skull, which caused bleeding and air pockets in between the skull and membrane of the brain.  They also took x-rays of Eric's heart, did an EKG, took a lot of blood samples, etc, to try to figure out why he fainted in the first place.   When the neurologist cam in to talk to us, Eric told him that his injury could have been a lot worse.  He could have broken his wrist like Grandpa.  Ha!  The neuorologist didn't really see the humor...I thought it was funny.  Dad and Diane were at the hospital with us until after midnight.

Once we found out about the bleeding in his head, they quickly admitted Eric to ICU.  I was so impressed with the staff at Primary's.  I don't think I can say enough good things about them.  As soon as we got into the ICU, I hear Eric's name over the intercom.  Next thing I know, we have about 20 doctors, nurses, residents, etc., surrounding Eric.  The doctor started to tell everyone what happened to Eric, all the different tests they ran, results of those tests, and projected tests to come.  So all the staff on the ICU floor knew what to look for. 

That night was a long night.  Because of the bleeding, they made Eric sleep with his head at 30 degrees or higher.  The nurse and doctors would come in and take his vitals every hour.  Because it was a head injury, they also would have to wake him up and ask him a series of questions.  The next morning, we had another CT scan.  It came back as "stable."  The blood and air pockets did not grow, but they did not decrease either.  Eric was starting to have some pain, so they gave him morphine.  Zac was able to come up and see Eric around 10 am.  Eric was sitting up playing the xBox.  As soon as Zac walked in, Eric patted his bed and said, "Here Dad, I saved a spot for you.  There's the other controller."  I was able to go to work real quick and tie up some loose strings from leaving so sudden.  When I came back, we had the good news that Eric was being transferred to the Neuroscience Trauma Unit.  They weren't able to figure out why he fainted in the first place.  All the major things it could have been came back negative.  Zac, Eric and I all have low blood pressure.  Eric's was reading at 76/39 most of the time.  I'm guessing (in my non-medical opinion) that he just stood up too fast, and while he was on his bike started to blackout, and he couldn't stop it.  He has never fainted before.

Once at the NTU, we were able to have a little more privacy.  Eric would rest, play video games, or watch tv.  He was really nauseous and started throwing up.  We were able to give him some zofran and he felt better.  The IV in his arm wasn't working anymore, so they took it and and was going to try his other hand.  Eric did not want the IV in his hand anymore.  So he made a deal with the nurse.  If he drank 2 big glasses of water, she said she wouldn't put another IV in.  He drank them within the hour.  About 2 am, I was trying to sleep, when the nurse came in and I heard Eric say, "You lied to me!"  The nurse had to put another IV in.  He was not happy.

The next day we saw a lot of doctors again.  We were getting mixed signals on whether or not we could go home.  The head of neurology said that if Eric were his patient, he would not let him go home yet.  Eric kept on throwing up.  I had the nurse give him some more zofran and got him to eat 1/2 a pretzel.  I was basically begging to go home at this point.  I could keep his pain under control at home, and he would get a lot more sleep.  They finally gave into me, and let us go home that evening.

Eric needs to have 2 feet on the ground at all times for the next 8 weeks.  His CT scan that following Tuesday showed the air pockets were gone, and the blood starting to drain/absorb.  There was still quite a bit of blood there, but it's heading in the right direction.  Eric will need to go to speech/cognitive therapy 2 x a week for the next 6 months.  He is now dyslexic.  He cannot problem solve.  He also has trouble with visual/spacial relations.  They told me that it will probably take 1 year before he is "back to normal."  Because of the bleeding, Eric's ear drum is pushed out.  So he hears echos and a different octave in his right ear.  They think it should get better in 6-8 weeks.  His memory is great for events, but he is having a hard time remembering what some alphabet letters look like.

For journaling purposes, Eric's medical diagnosis is: traumatic brain injury; R Temporal fracture; Pneumacephalus; B hemotympanum; and R temporal Epidural hemorrhage.

He has been seen by PCMC: Education; NTU Interdis Rounds; PICU Red; Rehabilitation; Social Work and Trauma.

We will also be going to a concussion specialist later this month.

It is amazing how fast your life can change.  I'm am so grateful that he is alive and his injuries are not worse.  He is such a good boy, and we love him so much.