Emily (mom) received a call from Cedar Canyon Elementary school saying Kate wasn’t acting like herself and they thought I should come in. As I started to drive to school, the school called back to say they had called an ambulance They didn’t think I’d make it to school before the ambulance left so suggested I meet it at the hospital. I arrived to the hospital before the ambulance and had the longest wait of my life for Kate to arrive. Couldn’t imagine what was wrong as they just said she wasnt acting like herself. But what did that mean because why would that warrant an ambulance call? I was so confused and needless to say, couldn’t stop crying. I had called chad in between the school calls so he was on his way too.
She was rushed to the ER. Despite the hospital trying to keep us out, we insisted on following them to the ER with Kate. It seemed liked forever but I finally got to go up to her and be beside her. She momentarily opened her eyes to look at me when I said “Kate it’s mommy”
We were soon escorted out of the ER wirh her little shoes, bracelet and clothes on our hands. I did get to see the achool counselour, Cassie, who Kate adores, in the waiting room for hugs. She had told me that Kate let go of monkey bars, landed on her feet, but immediately said her head hurt.
We were moved to another waiting area. At this point, I think we assumed she had a concussion but after it was taking too long, we knew something was wrong. We were moved into a smaller room and told neurosurgeon wanted to come talk to us. When she did, she asked for our permission to put a drain in Kates brain because they saw bleeding on the scan. She came back after that and told us they wanted to get her in the helicopter and down to Riley. We got to go into the ICU and see Kate. Once the Samitaran was ready, Kate and I were loaded up for Riley. My first helicopter ride. It’s still so vivid in my memory. I hate to fly but was so distracted by what was happening that I didn’t even care. Of course, this entire time kate in unconscious with tons of monitors hooked up to her.
I can’t really tell you what happened when we got to Riley. Other than Riley knew we were coming and had a room ready. Instantly got her hooked up to all their stuff and at some point a neurosurgeon talked to us and said it sounded like an AVM, but they wouldn’t know for sure until they could do an MRI. Which at the time we all thought the MRI would be the next day… had no idea it would take her so long to stabilize and be able to lay flat
Emily and I want to say Thank you for every thought and prayer you offered to Kate and our family since a year ago today. So many prayers were answered to help get our girl back home. What a year, but what a little girl!!
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