One year ago today was the turning point for Taylor. Shortly after the accident on March 1st, 2007, Doctors discovered brain swelling, so a drain was drilled into his forehead to draw spinal fluid. When that stopped working, he was put on Mannitol, a medication that helps suppress brain swelling. After the swelling continued, a medical coma and paralysis was induced. This was done to minimize brain activity, and to allow the swelling to subside.
Then, on March 6th, things changed. For 26 hours the coma/paralysis was working ok. Taylor seemed to be leveling out on the brain pressure number, and we thought Taylor had made a turning point. He hadn't. His pressure suddenly started to slowly climb, and was making it's way through the danger zone into the critical zone and headed to the fatal zone. There was controlled chaos in Taylor's room. They told us they were taking him into the operating room. I don't recall them saying why, but I knew what was next.
As each new effort was tried to stop the swelling, I would ask "If this doesn't work, what's next?" But, I never got beyond the "next" thing. I really didn't want to know anything beyond the here and now and what the next step would be.
We knew that Taylor was being taken into the operating room to have a piece of his skull removed to try and relieve the swelling. And, I knew that this was THE moment. This was the last procedure available to save his life.
We were told to leave Taylor's room while they got him ready for surgery. I was in controlled (I think) panic and I quickly began to make phone calls. I called my Sister and told her what was going on and asked her to bring my Mother. I told her not to say why, just tell her they were coming to visit. I called a friend to pick up Lauren, who had gone home to change clothes. And, I called 4 of Taylor's friends. I told them something bad had happened, and we didn't know if the surgery would work or not. I told them that I knew Taylor would want them there, and knew they would want to be there should the surgery not work.
While I was making the calls, Taylor's mother, Suzie, was not doing so well. I had been slowly melting down for 5 days while she and Lauren held it together fairly well. Ever the optimist, Suzie was realizing that things were very bad. The nursing staff and friends were very comforting to her, but she really began to unravel like I've never seen in the 23 years I've known her. But, this is the worst event of our lives, so it was to be expected.
I made that phone call at about 5:30 pm. At 6:20 pm, a friend of Taylor's took a photo in the Chapel of those who were either at the hospital already, or heard from the 4 that Taylor was in trouble.
While Taylor's friends were arriving, his Mother and I stood at the doorway to the operating rooms, waiting for them to bring Taylor. Rather than move him to a transport gurney, he was transported on his entire bed (the ones in ICU are huge). Taylor had been on a Ventilator in his room, so one of the Nurses was using an Ambu Bag to keep him breathing.
They stopped for us to tell Taylor we loved him and to keep fighting, then we watched them take him through the doors wondering if that would be the last time we'd see him alive.
We would later learn that Dr. Campanelli's Physician's Assistant, Melissa, rode on Taylor's bed plucking metal staples from his scalp so Dr. Campanelli could get the skull off faster. Taylor had a blood clot removed from his brain earlier, so the skull was already loose.
By now, so many people had arrived at Lakeland Regional Medical Center, the waiting room was overflowing. We went to the Chapel, not just to have more room, but it was just the obvious place to be. We spent a LOT of time in the Chapel in the previous 5 days, and it was where we needed to be then. The entire group held hands and prayed, and we waited. As I looked around the room, I saw some of Taylor's friends that I had not seen in a long time. I saw some that had driven from Tampa, and got a phone call from one who was on the way from Sarasota. I wondered if God had brought everyone that loves him and that he loves together to say good bye.
At about 6:20pm, the hospital Chaplain came to tell us that Taylor was out of surgery. We went to see him and the Doctor said the surgery went well, and we'd now just have to wait. As the night wore one, his friends that came to visit slowly began to leave the hospital. It was then that I became convinced that Taylor would live. I knew that God would not let him die alone in his room when all those friends had been there. His last friend left the hospital around midnight, and we stayed up all night checking his brain pressure levels. It climbed some, but nothing near what it was before.
Then, Taylor began to make progress almost every day. He began to do things faster and better than many expected. Six weeks later Taylor had another surgery to replace the missing skull with a Titanium plate.
March 6th was the defining day in Taylor's survival. God, Taylor, Dr. Campanelli, Diane and the other medical staff did what they do best to make sure he'd live. We thank God daily, think of the medical staff often and love Taylor every day.
Then, on March 6th, things changed. For 26 hours the coma/paralysis was working ok. Taylor seemed to be leveling out on the brain pressure number, and we thought Taylor had made a turning point. He hadn't. His pressure suddenly started to slowly climb, and was making it's way through the danger zone into the critical zone and headed to the fatal zone. There was controlled chaos in Taylor's room. They told us they were taking him into the operating room. I don't recall them saying why, but I knew what was next.
As each new effort was tried to stop the swelling, I would ask "If this doesn't work, what's next?" But, I never got beyond the "next" thing. I really didn't want to know anything beyond the here and now and what the next step would be.
We knew that Taylor was being taken into the operating room to have a piece of his skull removed to try and relieve the swelling. And, I knew that this was THE moment. This was the last procedure available to save his life.
We were told to leave Taylor's room while they got him ready for surgery. I was in controlled (I think) panic and I quickly began to make phone calls. I called my Sister and told her what was going on and asked her to bring my Mother. I told her not to say why, just tell her they were coming to visit. I called a friend to pick up Lauren, who had gone home to change clothes. And, I called 4 of Taylor's friends. I told them something bad had happened, and we didn't know if the surgery would work or not. I told them that I knew Taylor would want them there, and knew they would want to be there should the surgery not work.
While I was making the calls, Taylor's mother, Suzie, was not doing so well. I had been slowly melting down for 5 days while she and Lauren held it together fairly well. Ever the optimist, Suzie was realizing that things were very bad. The nursing staff and friends were very comforting to her, but she really began to unravel like I've never seen in the 23 years I've known her. But, this is the worst event of our lives, so it was to be expected.
I made that phone call at about 5:30 pm. At 6:20 pm, a friend of Taylor's took a photo in the Chapel of those who were either at the hospital already, or heard from the 4 that Taylor was in trouble.
While Taylor's friends were arriving, his Mother and I stood at the doorway to the operating rooms, waiting for them to bring Taylor. Rather than move him to a transport gurney, he was transported on his entire bed (the ones in ICU are huge). Taylor had been on a Ventilator in his room, so one of the Nurses was using an Ambu Bag to keep him breathing.
They stopped for us to tell Taylor we loved him and to keep fighting, then we watched them take him through the doors wondering if that would be the last time we'd see him alive.
We would later learn that Dr. Campanelli's Physician's Assistant, Melissa, rode on Taylor's bed plucking metal staples from his scalp so Dr. Campanelli could get the skull off faster. Taylor had a blood clot removed from his brain earlier, so the skull was already loose.
By now, so many people had arrived at Lakeland Regional Medical Center, the waiting room was overflowing. We went to the Chapel, not just to have more room, but it was just the obvious place to be. We spent a LOT of time in the Chapel in the previous 5 days, and it was where we needed to be then. The entire group held hands and prayed, and we waited. As I looked around the room, I saw some of Taylor's friends that I had not seen in a long time. I saw some that had driven from Tampa, and got a phone call from one who was on the way from Sarasota. I wondered if God had brought everyone that loves him and that he loves together to say good bye.
At about 6:20pm, the hospital Chaplain came to tell us that Taylor was out of surgery. We went to see him and the Doctor said the surgery went well, and we'd now just have to wait. As the night wore one, his friends that came to visit slowly began to leave the hospital. It was then that I became convinced that Taylor would live. I knew that God would not let him die alone in his room when all those friends had been there. His last friend left the hospital around midnight, and we stayed up all night checking his brain pressure levels. It climbed some, but nothing near what it was before.
Then, Taylor began to make progress almost every day. He began to do things faster and better than many expected. Six weeks later Taylor had another surgery to replace the missing skull with a Titanium plate.
March 6th was the defining day in Taylor's survival. God, Taylor, Dr. Campanelli, Diane and the other medical staff did what they do best to make sure he'd live. We thank God daily, think of the medical staff often and love Taylor every day.
No comments:
Post a Comment