Friday, February 4, 2011

February 2, 2011: DAY ONE

So here's the good news: This is the view out Trevor's window.

7:30 AM-
Woke up to a phone call from my mom saying Trevor hit his head and was being airlifted to the University of Utah hospital. Got up, got dressed and headed straight to the hospital to wait for his arrival. Scared out of my mind with no idea what happened or what to expect.

9:10 AM-
Got a phone call from my Uncle Larry, FINALLY, explaining what in the world was going on. Apparently Trevor was on a snowmobile trip with them in the middle of nowhere, Wyoming. They had only been to the cottages for about 4 hours and were getting the snowmobiles prepared and heading to bed for the night. He realized Trevor was missing and went out to look for him. He found Trevor's sled tipped over in the middle of the meadow, but didn't see Trevor. Got the guys to search for him with their snowmobiles and finally found him wandering around confused and loopy. He appeared to be fine, with no bruising or blood anywhere so they put him to bed, keeping a close eye on him. They woke up at 4:00 AM to Trevor vomiting and having a seizure where he was stiff-armed and legged. They immediately called 911. It took about 30 minutes for the ambulance to arrive and then they had a 75 mile journey to the Lander, WY hospital. There, the doctors immediately put him on Kepra (anti-seizure medication) and also put him into a medically-induced coma. The seizure lasted about 4 hours. The whole time Trevor was in the Lander hospital, his doctors were in direct contact with the U hospital to ensure proper treatment. They decided to transfer him to the U hospital because it was one of the closest ones, and the most convenient as well. The U hospital kept delaying takeoff by 20 minutes but the plane was finally leaving Salt Lake City. My uncle kept emphasizing how much blood there was and how he didn't know if Trevor was going to make it or not.

10:08 AM-
Finally departed Lander hospital. Took an ambulance to the Lander airport, a medical plane to the SLC airport and then another ambulance to the University of Utah hospital.

12:25 PM-
Trevor arrived at the U hospital. My friend came and talked to me, informing me that he was on the plane with Trev and that they did everything they could and kept him stable. It was incredibly reassuring to know that someone I knew was there with Trevor since my uncle Larry couldn't be!

1:00(ish) PM-
Medical resident doctors came in to talk to us. Asked a lot of questions about what Trevor went through last April, how many surgeries, where the plate was and what it was made of. Scary that they were going to work on my brother without having studied his medical history records. They said there was a lot of blood and damage to the left side of his brain but they wanted to try to treating him medically at first. It's okay though; this is a teaching hospital!

3:15 PM-
Uncle Larry and Steve showed up. Glad someone who was there when it happened was finally here.

4:00 PM-
Resident informs us that they need to perform an emergency surgery to make more room for swelling. They were going to remove the plastic plate replacing his bone flap, which completely dislodged itself from the pressure and swelling of the injury. They were also going to remove more of his skull. Dude said he would keep us updated every once in a while and that it should only take "a couple hours."

7:00(ish) PM-
Fed up with the Resident not keeping us updated on the surgery once, Larry and I go into the NCCU (Neuro Critical Care Unit) to check on Trevor's status. Apparently he was already out of surgery and back in the NCCU. Pissed that they kept us completely out of the loop, I demanded the REAL doctor to come talk to us about the surgery. Stupid Resident, he will learn.

7:30 PM-
Resident finally comes to update us. Surgery went great. They cleaned up the area, removed a blood clot and ended up not having to remove as much of the skull as they anticipated. Vitals were stable and everything looked A-OK.

Resident took Larry and me back to see Trevor for the first time. Intense feelings of Deja Vu that I can't even begin to describe. He looked a lot better than the last time around, his head less swollen and bruised. Couldn't believe this was happening all over again. I thought we won the battle, but apparently it was just half-time...

8:30 PM-
My mom, dad and Walker arrive. This is really happening; it's not a nightmare I'm going to wake up from. Just realized it is exactly 10 months, to the day, after his previous accident. Trevor is no longer allowed to leave the house on the 2nd of any month...

The second time around leaves no room for containing emotions. Mental breakdowns left and right. Bringing back memories from the past and combining them with nightmares of the future. No clue what to expect.

Visitors today: Megan Dennehy, Justin Allen and Austin Stevens, Matt Piasecki and Eddie Grams, Nikita Apostol, Chloe and Christian, Uncle Larry and Uncle Steve, Claire Gartrell (in the form of cookies), Ian Colwell and Alex Cato

AH, CRACK!

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