Thursday 1/20/2011
Today Charis was in surgery from 11 am to 3 pm. They went back in and repaired her bowels and intestines. The liver is still bleeding some; it needs to heal itself. The spleen looking a lot better. She isn't fed liquid food yet--just IV juice.
They found a broken vertebrae and herniated disc. She can't feel her right (?) leg; there may be nerve damage. They hope she will be able to walk okay in the future.
She's too weak for much more surgery now. They will let her get a little stronger, then this weekend or next week they will put a stint in her aorta. They need all the bleeding to stop first; and for her to heal enough so she can have that surgery. After the stint gets in they all can relax some, because now her torn aorta is very dangerous.
The docs are keeping her sedated and on pain medicine so she can just rest and let her body heal. She's in the Intensive Care Unit, which means constant nursing attention. Only two family members are allowed to go in at once. A computer screen shows several vital signs at once. When it beeps the nurse and you look up to the screen to see what problem Charis' body is having.
The doctors are very straight forward telling the family what's going on. Many doctors in different specialties are working together for Charis. There's a respiratory specialist, etc... Each one knows their part very well and work together well to help Charis and do the most important thing next. They're incredible.
Charis has inflatable tubes on her lower legs that pump up and go down over and over so she won't get blood clots in her legs.
She has drains coming out from each punctured lung.
She opens her eyes. She has a big ventilator tube in her throat that breathes for her, so she can't talk. So this morning before her CT scan she motioned around with her hands like she wanted something to write with. She got a pen and paper and wrote to her dad, "I need a hug!" She also does the sign language "I love you" to her family.
Charis has x-ray ears, she can hear quiet things from from far away. So tonight Cassie whispered very quietly to Hayden, "Should we go?" Well, Charis grabbed Cassie's hand very hard and definitely shook her head like, "NO! DON'T YOU DARE GO!!!" I remember when our 17-year-old daughter, Lauralee, was in Primary Children's ICU for three weeks, she didn't ever want to be left alone, either.
Cassie's been holding Charis' hand a lot because the room is cold and Charis likes her mom's warm, warm hand. So tonight Cassie had to just very slowly and gradually pull her hand out from Charis' so Mom could go get a breather.
There's a waiting room where sometimes you can visit the family members. I'd imagine they could use food, notebooks, etc.
Cass and Chad, you may want to take some sleeping pills. We all go pretty wacko without enough sleep over time.
Just so you know, flowers and plants aren't allowed in ICU.
What happened at the accident was some guys had been looking at each other's cars. One guy asked Charis and Ben (her boyfriend) if they wanted a ride in his car. So Charis and Ben got in. Ben and Phil were in the front and Charis was in the back. They were driving down by the lake and at a corner they either slid on ice or gravel, and rolled at least once. I think the roof was pretty caved in. Charis went out the back window. Ben just has some scratches. I'm not sure about Phil.
The family all cries a lot. Her dear dad is having a pretty hard time. Just like when Lauralee was bad at Primary Children's, my husband couldn't talk to people about it--it was too hard. So I talk to Cassie and Kathy.
Ben came to see Charis today.
Gill (Charis' grandpa) just got back from working out of town and hasn't gotten to see her yet. Cassie and Kathy will stay with Charis tonight.
Pretty much all that we can do is to pray for her and her family, and fast some time for the little cutie if you want.
Love,
Susie [Hilton Andersen]
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