8 July 2011
Lizzi’s Bike Accident 2011
Posted by stephyc under: Uncategorized .
Tuesday, July 5, 2011 was a crazy day! I drove from our home in Cottonwood to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Waited around there for over an hour for my nephew’s flight. Then we went from the Airport to Prescott so he could see his Dad. From there we drove back to my home. Then from Cottonwood to Lake Montezuma and back to Cottonwood.
When I got home I was completely exhausted. Jason and the girls decided to go for a bike ride while I relaxed and read a book. Lizzi couldn’t find her helmet and they almost didn’t go, but she found it. She asked me to help her fix her helmet because it was broken. I asked how it was broken and she told me it didn’t fit. I had her show me how it wasn’t fitting and found that it was too loose. I helped her tighten her helmet and then they were off.
I was just starting to read my book when the doorbell rang. I wondered who it could be….
It was a man I recognized from church….his name isn’t coming to me. I opened the door and said, “Hi!”
He looked at me for a couple seconds and said, “It’s not good!”
I was thinking…What are you talking about. Tell me what’s going on……
He said, “Your daughter was in a bike accident. If you leave now you will probably get there at the same time as the ambulance. I’m not sure what your husband did with the bikes. Maybe the fire department has them….”
I was thinking….Which daughter? Was it a bike and car? Why didn’t Jason call me? …….UGH!!!!!
I said, “Thank you” and closed the door!
I ran to get ready and checked to make sure I had my phone and then I was out the door and to the hospital in less than 2 minutes.
When I arrived Jason and Nikki were with the Firefighters taking the bikes off the back of their truck. They had already moved Lizzi from the ambulance into the hospital. Jason hassled me about not answering my phone….again. Honestly I never heard it ring. I don’t know if the volume was down, a book was covering it and muted the ring, or if it was because my phone was on one side of the house and I was on the other….I don’t know! I told him get me a house phone….anyway….We loaded the bikes into the car, then I parked it, and we went inside.
They allowed us to bring Nikki into the room with Lizzi which was good to let her see that her sister was going to be okay.
The Doctors and Nurses were checking her back, neck, and head when we went into the room. She was on a back board with a neck brace. The most noticeable thing was the large road rash on her right cheek.
The photo above is after x-rays had come back and things were looking good….
We went through the steps of calming her down and explaining things to her. One of the first things she said that I could understand was, “I wish I had just stayed home!” She had a hard time talking because her cheek was so swollen and I’m sure it added to her pain so she didn’t talk much.
Meanwhile, Nikki was starting to go into shock from watching her sister wreck and wrecking her bike too. She had a few scrapes and scratches too, but not too bad. So I had to leave Lizzi and help calm Nikki down. She was crying and so worried about Lizzi. It nearly broke my heart to watch her trying to process all that was happening.
They took Lizzi (Jason went with her) for a CT scan and x-rays.
While they were gone the nurse brought Nikki a blanket to warm up with. I held Nikki in my arms and we talked a little about what had happened and what was happening. Then I told her we could hug each other and send all that love to Lizzi (((hugs)))…. The nurse also brought Nikki the remote for the TV. She started watching Star Trek. I got tired of waiting (they must have been gone for over a half hour…) and asked the nurse when they would be back. She said soon….
When they got back Lizzi took a much needed nap. Nikki and Jason watched TV and I stood beside Lizzi. Suddenly, she puked…all over the floor and me! That quickly changed our plans from waiting for doctors to…. go home and change, plus get Nikki something to eat.
Nikki and I left to go home. We ran into Brother Sparks a member of our bishopric as we were leaving. I explained a couple things and then left. When we got home I immediately ran and got showered and changed. Nikki got Jason’s phone (he had left it at home….) and made a sandwich. I unloaded bikes and then we went back to the hospital. I think we were gone for about 10 minutes.
When we got back to the hospital they were finishing cleaning up Lizzi’s puke. The doctor informed us that all of Lizzi’s x-rays showed no broken bones and he wanted to double check the CT scan to make sure there was no visible concussion. He said because of the vomiting she definitely had a concussion, but it was looking like a closed concussion. He wanted to check again on a better monitor and to get the nurses in to clean up the wound on her face better so she will not end up with a big scar.
A nurse came in to clean the wound on her face and got it as clean as she thought it could come. Later the doctor came in and said it wasn’t good enough it was going to need to be scrubbed. They decided that sedation would be best to clean the wound. They allowed only one of us to stay in the room while they did this, since I can’t watch this stuff Jason stayed. My dad took Nikki home to get some rest it was just after 9pm. A little later the doctor came in to the family waiting room and told us she did great and was dreaming of flowers and unicorns.
They continued to monitor Lizzi and finally released her just before midnight. When we got home I was completely drained. Lizzi slept with me on my bed and I had my alarm set to go off every two hours. I would wake her up and ask her a few questions then we would go back to sleep. It was a long, long night…..
We are already seeing the healing process happening and we are so glad for that. If she continues to heal like she has been I would venture to say that she will have almost nothing on her cheek by Sunday….
More to come….
Stephanie Shultz is a wife and mom two little girls in Cottonwood, Arizona. She enjoys photography, hiking, scrapbooking and sight seeing.