By: Barbara Morris

Barbara Morris — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:08:23 +0000

My then 29 y.o daughter had (an apparent seizure)driving home from work. She crashed through a wooden fence, finally coming to rest less than 1 ft from an inground pool. The fence impaled her in the right temporal lobe. Thankfully the homeowner sat with my daughter & did not try to move her. She was airlifted to the local trauma hospital. My daughter was within 4 houses of being home. When her husband called us to let us know there had been an accident we were very frightened, but never imagined how horrific the crash was until were on seen & then at the hospital. We were placed in the room where families are given tragic news. We waited hours for news, when we told it was a "devastating injury" & we were able to see her. I just remember her lying on a table with the jagged wood, blood coming from her head. She underwent surgery & survived. She had many challenges, surgeries & fought to live.She had complications, but the trauma doctors told us that it would be 2 steps forward, 1 step back. I remember thinking & thanking God for every moment she lived. She even had to overcome MRSA. All of the meds caused an allergic reaction & her body was burning from the inside out. They combated brain swelling, adverse reactions to the most effective med for MRSA. My daught is an occupational therapist. As she was slowly awakened from the drug induced coma, she seemed to be using skills from her training as an OT. She was pulling her mitts off & was able to move her legs to kick off her leg wraps.At one point she had 1 leg over the bed railing trying to get up. With the drain in her head & trying to move, this miracle could have been tragic if she had pulled the drain.She woke up with her trach, & tried to mouth her thoughts. Her sisters brought a dry board & she wrote questions, comments. The doctors remained cautiously optimistic, we prayed for a miracle. I looked at my daughter & it's so hard to put into words what I feel. She survived. The nurses called her "a save". When I see her or talk to her I feel like I'm falling in love with her all over again. She has 2 seizures at home since her discharge, but her dosage has been bumped up & for now seems to be under control. I know I have PTSD but I can only talk to my husband & we both acknowledge & accept what we feel, but it's extremely difficult not to worry & be hypervigilant. Since the accident my concetration has declined, my anxities have increased. I look at my daughter with a look she sometimes finds upsetting. She wants to move on with her life & my anxities, I think relive the accident for her. Coming from the absolute brink of death, (she should not have lived said the nurses, she sustained such a catastrophic injury.they were amazed at her recovery)To come so close to losing my child has changed my life forever.

Comments on: Emotional trauma after a child's injury

By: Barbara Morris