Hailey gets an unexpected Helicopter ride

Tuesday, September 30th (6:10 pm)

Dan took the kids out tonight to pass out fliers for a little family business he is helping them with this fall. As they moved through the neighborhoods Dan would leave the van doors open so the kids could grab fliers easily and also to let the kids jump in and out quickly when they moved to the next block, street, or culdesac. With all the kids in, and seated, Dan pulled around the corner to the next street and asked Kayleb to jump out and put fliers on the first 5 houses. Hailey jumped up with him to get out and Dan said "not yet, you're going to do this little culdesac up here. So at about 10 miles an hour he started pulling forward, Hailey started waving at Kayleb as they passed him by and then accidentally took a tumble out of the car. She landed on her feet but with the momentum of the moving car she was quickly flipped to her back slamming her head into the pavement. Dan was there by himself with the kids so they ran over to her immediately and found her lying in the middle of the road unconscious and completely non responsive with blood pouring out of the back of her head. After a few minutes she came to but wouldn't respond to any of their questions. At this point a witness called 911 and this was also the point I was called. When I pulled up on the scene there were 6 EMT's kneeling around Hailey putting her on a back board, and checking her vitals. Dan was across the street being questioned by a police officer and my other kids were white as ghosts watching what was going on with Hailey. Talk about traumatizing! For Dan and the kids.

I rushed over and talked to the kids and Dan for a minute and then jumped into the ambulance with Hailey. She was taken to Kadlec Medical Center where I was met by the hospital Chaplin. All I was thinking about at that point was how in the movies they always send the Chaplin out to tell the family their loved one had died. I was thinking "I sure hope this guys talks to the people who's loved ones aren't dying. "

Once at the Hospital Hailey was evaluated and then taken in for a CAT scan. At this point Hailey doesn't know what's going on. She was very frightened and confused asking us over and over (about every 30 seconds) Where am I? What's going on? What happened? The Doctor finally came in a told us Hailey had suffered a skull fracture. He explained to us that he saw a small but significant skull fracture and that it was bleeding on the inside, slightly beginning to move her brain. He believed it was a low-pressure venous bleed, as opposed to an arterial bleed. The team at Kadlec determined that she needed to be in pediatric ICU care, and so she was life-flighted (Helicopter ride) to Spokane. The deal is that if it turns out to be an arterial bleed, it can go south in a hurry requiring quick neurosurgery response, and she would need good supervision for the next 72 hours and be prepared to quickly intervene if necessary.

Both Grandpa Rose and Grandpa Ostler made it over to the hospital in time and were able to help Dan give her a blessing before she was put on the helicopter.

The plan was for me to jump on the helicopter with Hailey. I filled out all the appropriate paperwork to go and then when the flight crew came in to start loading her up they mentioned that they can only take someone 180lbs. or less due to the weight of the fuel and other members of the flight crew. So I'm sure you can all guess; I weigh more than 180lbs. So it was a no go on Mom going with Hailey. Luckily Dan weighs less than 180lbs. and was able to switch spots with me at the last minute. Totally depressing :( If that's not motivation to loose weight, I don't know what is!

On the helicopter ride she threw up several times while laying flat on her back all strapped in. That makes for a huge mess! This is the point that Hailey starts being a little more coherent. (about 5 hours after the accident) This little helicopter ride for Hailey will run about $16,500 before insurance. OUCH!

Wednesday, October 1st

Once in the PICU in Spokane she had another CT scan. The news wasn't good. The bleeding had doubled in size. They felt that it had reached the maximum amount of bleeding they wanted to see in order to justify surgery intervention. However, Hailey was actively responding in all the right ways to their neurological tests and was interactive in all the right ways in conversation and mobility. So, they decided to sit tight and watch for a little longer. They wouldn't let her eat anything and started prepping us for the surgery just in case. They explained the surgery and the risks and complications that could arise. Totally a stressful and scary morning for us.

Hailey was taken for her 3rd scan and the results came back that the bleeding was the same size as the scan from earlier that morning. That was good news because the neurosurgeon said he thought the bleeding had stopped. He said that if the blood would remain the same size and not get any larger and Hailey stayed responsive Hailey could possibly squeak by without any surgery.

Hailey spent the next 2 days on lots of pain medicine sleeping. She had alot of pressure, pain, hurting and headaches. Every time she would sit up in bed, go for a CT scan or use the bathroom the pressure would become unbearable and always ended up with her throwing up. It was a rough few days watching her in so much pain.

Thursday, October 2nd

They have since done 3 more CT Scans, (Making in total 6 since the accident) and the last 3 scans re-affirmed that there is no further bleeding.

Kase came up to visit one of the days and was able to help take Hailey down for one of her CT scans. While in the hospital hallways we ran into a robot that delivers medicine to different locations throughout the hospital. He thought it was pretty cool that Hailey was at a hospital with robots!

Hailey is doing well. She will be taken out of PICU and into the pediatric unit this afternoon. A couple more days of monitoring and we should be able to go home. We are feeling very blessed at the news thus far.

Friday, October 3rd

Hailey is feeling alot better today and has been able to sit up and color and play a board game with out to much pain or feeling nauseous. She has also been able to eat real food for the first time since Tuesday. YUM! She is excited to get home to see her brothers and sister and is hoping for good news today.

Saturday, October 4th

We are home now! YEAH!!! No PE, no recess, no soccer for the rest of the season, no rough housing, no anything that will pose a possibility of re-injury for the next 4-6 weeks. They want the clot to reabsorb into the body and for the brain to re-attach itself to the skull. If she jars herself, or re-injures it before that healing process, that would not be good. So we will be making certain to slow her down for a few weeks. That is our biggest challenge right now. Having Hailey slow down :) She is so excited to be home and she feels so much better than she did. She just wants to go, go, go.

We are thinking we may need to send her to school like this : )

If she is successfully monitored and taken care of the right way, everyone is very optimistic that she will be perfectly okay in the future. She will have another scan and a followup appointment with the neurosurgeon on October 20th to make sure everything is getting back to normal.

Under the circumstances, we are feeling good. Certainly feeling very grateful to our Heavenly Father. And very appreciative to all of the friends and family who helped us out and kept us in their prayers.

Lessons learned - Life is fragile, don't take your time with loved ones for granted for even a second. Prayers are heard and answered. Don't drive down streets with open doors and unseatbelted children.