Super Scary

The short version:
Monday night Braydon fell off the monkey bars and fractured his skull and had a severe concussion. We spent 2 days and 2 nights in the hospital. It was extremely scary to see our little guy so completely out of it yet we felt peace and knew he would be alright. He is doing great. We have to keep him from hitting his head again for two-six weeks until it heals. So far it is exhausting work since he is back to his old self but I'm not complaining.

For three hours we did everything we could to keep him awake. He wouldn't talk to us except to say that he didn't know and that he wanted to go to sleep. Once he finally could sleep he was restless and awoke often to complain that his head hurt and to throw up.

From Urgent Care we went to Mercy Gilbert for a CT scan. Once they determined he had a 'possible' skull fracture we went by ambulance to Phoenix Children's Hospital. Most people don't smile while in an ambulance but when Braydon woke up he was talking to us again and even joking around. I didn't realize how much I treasure his little voice until then.

I knew he was going to be ok when he began telling the EMT all about the movie he watched at Grandma's a couple weeks earlier and how he had ridden in an ambulance plenty of times. When the nurse shined a flashlight in his eyes he told me she must not know that rule. The EMTs started laughing and saying that he was their favorite patient.

We shared a bed in the ER for a couple hours until they determined that he was going to be moved to ICU. Those words made me wonder if they weren't telling me something. Because he was beginning to throw up phlegm he needed an IV and to be monitored constantly until they could take another CT scan to be certain it was a fracture and that there wasn't any swelling. He would sleep for 2-3 hours at a time and then watch a movie. As soon as the credits would appear he would turn over and fall to sleep again. He threw up three more times that day.

The Trouts gave him some new Pokemon's. He would only play with them for a few minutes before he wanted to lay back down.

Grandpa came to visit and help Matt give him another blessing. They named his new bear Peekaboo because his fur covered his eyes.

He was so excited to talk to his brothers on the phone. Jason said something funny just as I took the picture. He woke up that night wanting to go home and to eat an egg burrito. :) He settled for some goldfish and apple juice but it didn't stay down for long. He was a champion puker though. He would tell me he needed to throw up and then patiently wait for me to find something to use. The nurses said they wished their other patients were more like that.

We still hadn't heard results on the 2nd CT scan but figured no news was good news. The next morning they said that the white spots on the original scan that they worried were contusions didn't appear on the new scan. What a blessing.

Wednesday morning he was a little drowsy and wanted to go back to sleep. Of course that is when the nurses decided to come check on him. He pulled on her fingers and pushed his feet against her hand. She told him he was so strong. He told her he was "stronger than anything...'cept the monkey bars." She told him that if he could keep some food down then he could go home. He thought pancakes sounded good. I was a little nervous that going home was being determined by hospital food but as soon as he ate he was wide awake and wanting to get out of bed. From then on it was a battle to keep him from pulling out his IV. Tiger was making the rounds that day and stopped by our room. Braydon decided how many times Tiger should bark and sure enough he barked all four times.

Just as he was thinking of taking a nap they brought in a dump truck full of toys and books. We read every story and then he went to building. It seemed to take forever for them to get the paperwork down for us to be discharged but we were finally on our way home. He was so excited to put his underwear on. We held tight to his hands and he took that as an invitation to swing and then jump off the curb. I was so happy and worried to see him feeling so good.

It took merely seconds for him to fall asleep. He was so exhausted that his tongue didn't make it back in his mouth in time.

We are so very grateful for the healing power of the priesthood and that Heavenly Father chose to restore this little boy to complete health. I am thankful for the comforting peace of the Holy Ghost that carried me through this ordeal. We love our Braydon so very much.