Update

I know most of my readers are also friends with me on various social media sites, but I wanted to share here what happened to Margaret over the weekend.

On Sunday afternoon,  we were enjoying our quiet day, with my friend Jaime visiting, us resting after a big Sunday brunch, and the kids playing. Margaret was running around the toy room with a box on her head and got pushed by one of the other kids. She fell and hit her head , but at our house, head bumps aren’t un-common, so we just had her sit for a bit, to rest.

After a few hours she started vomiting and after that didn’t stop within a few hours, we made the decision to take her to the local ER. Joshua took her, so I could rest up, which was both laughable (because who could sleep?) and a good idea because the CT scan revealed a skill fracture. She ended up having to be transported to Macon, the closest children’s hospital to us, about two hours away.

She rode in an ambulance and Joshua came home to stay with the kids while I drove up to Macon. Two of the longest hours of my life. It was about half way there that I realized that my little girl was riding in an ambulance with complete strangers, but they took great care of her.

Margaret was in the PICU because of possible bleeding on her brain as well as the fracture that was seen during the CT scan. When I got to the floor, they had given her medicine to keep her from vomiting and that worked, allowing her to begin healing a bit more. She was sleepy and rested on an off for a while.

While she was sleeping, a priest from the nearby parish, St. Joseph (aka our favorite church in the South) came by and she received her fourth sacrament, anointing of the sick. She slept right through it, much like her first sacrament.

When she was awake, she was asked lots of questions, I could tell she was not happy about having to answer questions, but did a good job. I’m almost positive that she was questioning why all these people were asking her the same thing over and over again. I should note that her response to when her birthday is was “I’m not sure, but it is after Christmas.” It didn’t help either that Joshua accidentally gave the wrong year during intake at the local hospital.

Jaime had arrived shortly before noon, bringing Margaret’s critter hat. That made her happy. She also came with cards and drawing from the kids, plus a holy card and miraculous medal from Papa.

Around 1pm she went for another CT scan and amazed me with her braveness. She did what she was told and did a great job for the radiologist. That CT scan revealed a bit of a hematoma, so she was kept in the PICU overnight.

She slept quite a bit that afternoon, so Jaime and I headed to get a bite to eat. Jaime also suggested I go get some sleep, as I had been up since 330 and really only had just over an hour of sleep that night. We decided to split a hotel room and I headed off around 8pm. (Note: Jaime is one of my very good friends, I would trust her with anything, so I felt comfortable that Marg was in good hands, both with the nurses and with her.) I also needed to buy M a toothbrush and underwear as I forgot to pack those as I was putting together things, so I headed off.

I headed back to the hospital around 430a and Margaret had slept well through the night, with no memory of the nurse coming in every hour to check her stats and her eyes. She also woke up without a head ache, which was a good sign.  The neurosurgeon stopped by to take a quick look at her and ordered another CT for her just to make sure all was fine. He also had a JPII style crucifix pin on his lapel!

As Margaret was pretty stable, she was moved down to the 3rd floor around 10am, a great sign. She had a CT at 230 and that was the same, so she was good to go. She was discharged and we headed home. Our first stop was to park in front of St. Joseph Church and make a thanksgiving. We didn’t go in because M needed to rest.

We got home, thankful to see everyone and hug everyone and share stories of the hospital stay.

Now it is just a time of slow recovery. Keeping her sitting still is not easy, nor is telling her she cannot clean things. 🙂

Thank you to everyone for your prayers, we felt them!