the marathon begins

today is the 5th day that anna has been in the hospital. we know a lot of positive things, given her traumatic accident. she is young and healthy and a fighter. she has no broken bones. she is able to breathe on her own (as of today) and all of her hands and feet respond to physical stimulation. her body involuntarily moves more every day. she has no paralysis.

the accident
late friday night/early saturday (8/22) morning, anna was in a motorcycle accident. she was a passenger. our family did not know the boy she was riding with. she was wearing a partial helmet. she likely landed on her head and slid a bit on the left side of her face, her left shoulder and her left arm. the accident was where capitol blvd. turns into vista, near the train depot. the officer on the scene thinks he arrived within one minute of the crash. anna was having trouble breathing when the EMTs got to her. she was rushed to St. Al's and was sent up to the ICU around 4:30 am.

the injuries
anna's injuries are mostly just in her head. she suffered from a very small fracture at the back of her skull, road rash on the left side of her face, her left arm, and her palms. there was a gash in her left arm near her elbow that got some stitches. the head injury is called Diffuse Axonal Injuries (DAI). this is the kind of injury a person gets from rapid acceleration and deceleration. the most mild form of DAI is a concussion. shaken baby syndrome is also a form of DAI. her primary doctor, the neurosurgeon, dr. manning, has a lot of hopeful things to say about anna's injuries and condition. her injury is a few (probably about 4) small shears in her brain tissue. the doctors don't know enough about the brain to know what those small tears are affecting yet. we won't likely know until she starts to wake up.

how things are going & how they're going to go
anna is still in a coma. dr. manning said this morning that most people with this type of injury begin to wake up after about two weeks. until then, anna is resting and healing. her body is working hard and most of her systems are working. they turned the ventilators off today and anna has been breathing on her own all day. the breathing tube is still in her mouth, but she is breathing through it by herself. if she does well like this, they will take the tube out and see if she can breathe and swallow and handle her saliva without worry. that test should happen in the next few days.

dr. manning said that the recovery process for anna's kind of injury is typically about 9 to 12 months and that we don't really know what the outcome will be. we have to be patient and we have to be hopeful. i was reading in a book that the hospital gave us today a letter from a brain injury survivor. the letter said the best thing his family and friends did for him was stay positive, inspire him to be positive, and share in all the small successes in his recovery.

i will try to keep this blog up to date as the days and weeks go on.

my family and i are so thankful for all of the love and hope and healing vibes and prayers that are being sent anna's way. thank you all so much.

love,
molly