Rachel and our Mama
photo taken Nov. 9th

You can check out yesterday’s post, if you would like to read about what happened late Friday night.

I left the hospital last night, just after Rachel received clearance to remove the neck brace and begin a clear liquid diet. She was sitting up and quite cheery, with a long line of friends and family members waiting to see her. She was moved from ICU, just after her last CAT scan of the day came back clear – still no sign of swelling or bleeding in her brain.

Ray and I took the kiddos to see Aunt Rachel this afternoon. She was in a whole lot of pain and just all-around down – a stark contrast from last night. She is not able to hear anything out of her right ear, except for a constant ringing, so she speaks very low and can barely hear. She began physical therapy today, but unfortunately was not able to do more than sit up without getting sick. She will try again tomorrow, and will see the ear specialist tomorrow, as well.

Her latest MRI came back clear – While there is no sign of additional damage in her head, the impact was so severe that, in addition to a 1 1/2in. fracture in her skull and her ruptured ear drum, she also has torn ligaments in her neck and a broken bone in her ear.

She has had many visitors again today, and such a wonderful network of support rallying around her.

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photo taken Nov. 9th

Last night, she and our brothers were out with friends. They were walking home from a night on the town, and Rachel tripped over a curb and fell on the right side of her head. She began to bleed from her ear and immediately went unconscious. She was rushed, in an ambulance, to the hospital, where it was determined that she had, at the very least, a fractured skull and a ruptured eardrum.

After being unconscious for almost seven hours, she regained consciousness at around 6:30 this morning, not sure where she was or why she was there. Never being one to handle blood or needles well, she freaked out at all of the IVs and monitoring devices attached to her, but even now doesn’t remember that.

We saw marked improvement all day, as my family and I took turns sitting by her side. Two CAT scans, several blood tests, and an MRI proved no infections and nothing seriously wrong with her brain or her bones. We PRAISE GOD for that! She’s scared and in pain, but still the same ol’ Rachel… worried about her car being parked in the wrong spot, the inventory that needs to be done at work, and where her purse (specifically her makeup) and her phone are!

Please continue to show me grace as posts don’t go up, reviews aren’t written, and emails aren’t returned. I need to be with my family as much as possible, and trust that you all understand that. I will try to update here, and on twitter, as she progresses.

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