Saturday, May 15, 2010

Challenges

We were faced with a family crisis on April 13th, On his way home from work, Brandon was involved in a car accident on Hwy 191 outside of Douglas @ 3:45pm. I tried calling him at 4pm to see where he was and could not reach him. I later found out around 4:30 from the DPS officer picking up Brandons Cell phone out of the dirt on the side of the road and finally answering it, that "the owner of this phone was in an accident and was air lifted to Tucson." 30 minutes of panic stricken phone calls to ER's and Fire departments to find out if he was even alive, I can honestly say were the most horrific minutes of my life. I will never forget that day.
Here is a little recap for those who haven't heard:

The speed limit was 65 MPH and the car in front of him pulled into the turn lane to turn right, and decided at the last minute to pull back out in front of Brandon. He rear ended them @ 65mph causing the air bags to deploy and then shot him into oncoming traffic where he then was hit, head on by a Ford F150 after the airbags deflated. He was airlifted from the scene of the accident to UMC in Tucson and spent 3 days in ICU recovering from 2 major brain hemmorages, a tear in his spleen, all the ribs on his left side broken, and we just recently found out that on his air flight to Tucson his left lung collapsed and the flight crew had to stick him in the side to reinflate it. Initially he had intestinal damage from his seat belt and was on standby to have a portion of his small intestine removed if the swelling didn't go down. He had some scary moments in ICU and had over 6 CTs throughout the process to watch his bleeding. He had some scares with his blood sugar levels and had to have insulin and his potassium levels kept dropping. He had an allergic reaction to Morphine and it put him in a coma like state.


But... with the help of family and friends and The WONDERFUL staff at UMC, including Breann Tedford (Haynes) who is a trama nurse at UMC, who actually recieved Brandon from the airvac crew, he recovered well enough on day 4 to go to an inpatient rehab facility at TMC for 7 days.

He doesn't remember any of it except the last day in rehab. He said some of the most funniest things and some of the saddest things. He lost his vision but as the blood absorbs in his brain, it gets better and better everyday. And his 24 hour migranes have gone away! YAY!

All in all he was most excited to see his family and Kohan and Paige and talk with friends. Thanks to everyone who came or called of had any part in helping us during this process. thank you for all the support and prayers. Also thank you to the medics, and EMTs who made the right decision to fly Brandon, because they saved his life. I believe it would have been a different story if he had stayed @ the Douglas hospital.

I honestly think he had a guardian angel with him, and is so lucky to be alive. I was too close to finding out what my life might be like without Brandon, and I hope that day does not come that close again. Thank goodnes Everyone involved in the accident, including the 5 month pregnant lady and her 7 year old who pulled out in front of him, and a 65 year old lady in the pickup, were treated and released with no serious injuries.


P.S. on a happier note, during all of this, our family and friends helped move our stuff to our new home in Hereford (suburb of sierra Vista). So thanks to all of you who helped. We are LOVING it down here and are enjoying the weather and our 10 acres to roam. We have been busy planting grass and fruit trees all of which is helping Brandon slowly but surely, get back on his feet and "feel useful" like he says and off the coach and feeling better. He even promised a garden! He loves having his horses here and is living up every minute with his kids.

5 comments:

Danielle Christene said...

I cannot imagine what that would have been like for you... I am so glad that he is ok and that things are going so well. Sounds like you have a beautiful place...

The Fish Family said...

Amy I am so glad that everyone is alright now. That is one of my fears since our hubbies drive so much. You were all in my prayers and remain there still. Sounds like your new place is awesome and I'm sad that we kept putting off getting together when you were in Snowflake! Hopefully someday we will see ya again!! Take care and please tell Brandon 'hi' for us.

Taralee said...

oh my goodness amy. i'm so glad he is ok. i seriously teared up when i was reading it. i just can't imagine having to go through that. you are such a strong person. i hope he continues to have a speedy recovery. :)
Take care miss.

Kourtney Dawn said...

We are soo glad that Brandon is doing so good!!!! What a blessing !!! Hope Southern Az is treating you good!!!!

Jordan said...

Hi Amy,
This is Blake and Jordan Solomon. Brook and Cutter let us know about Brandon a while back, but I just happened to stumble on your blog today. We're so happy that everything is going well and Brandon is recovering! I just cant imagine what you guys have had to go through! Best wishes!