Whew........The past 6 hours have been amazing.
Samantha was in a horrible accident...single car....boyfriend was driving...he & other passenger had on seatbelts....Sammy did not...(she is very good about seatbelts...they were 1 block from friends house...she had unbuckled to reach down for her purse..).....boyfriend driving too fast and a light rain....car went out of control on a curve....flipped...threw Sammy from the car...
The others were OK....Samantha does have a fracture of the spine...C-5/C-6 vertebrae...BUT....the spinal cord is not severed...not mis-alligned....no boney fragments...The spinal cord does have bad 'bruising' and significant swelling......MD says she will require surgery but will have to wait 2-3 days for some of the trauma to settle or may cause more damage.
At first Sammy had no sensation or movement from the neck down...When I arrived she did have sensation to all extremeties but no movement.
She is receiving high doses of steroids (for the swelling in her brain and swelling at cord)...and just before I left she could lift her wrist/hand with a very floppy movement!!!!!!
Md is very encouraged that she will not be paralyzed but will require surgery to stabalize spine and MONTHS of physical therapy to regain function.....of course Md cannot guarantee what amount of function she will regain but thinks her age and good health are all good things in her favor!
She is currently in Neuro Intensive Care @ Regional medical Center in
Spartanburg S.C....she has the pins into her skull hooked to traction and they are going to allow her mom to stay in the room with her tonight. Her mental function is great and she is one scared young lady! She is such a great kid and was working at a local plant (hard job) to earn some $$$$ for college in the fall. She just got her first paycheck last week and opened her first checking / saving account!!!!
Her parents are totally relieved she was not killed. The HWY patrol told them the car flipped twice and took out 2 fences....but missed 2 giant old pecan trees. If the trees had been hit they would all have died.
Sammy has some hair gone from the front of her head...like someone cut "bangs"..but a bad haircut...when we mentioned her "new-do" the nurses said they did not cut her hair...Sammy said..."My hair is back on the fence".... meaning she was thrown from the car and her head was YANKED back when she hit the fence...with her head....pulling and tearing her hair!!!! It is an absolute miracle her head was not ripped off!!!!!
I'm sorry.....I don't mean to be soooo graphic....but this really has been a miracle....AND..the neuro MD on call was right there in the ER when she came in...did not have to wait even 5 minutes for the best treatment to be started.
Thanks for all the prayers.....I felt them....truly, and know the power of real prayers. Not just for Sammy but for the docs and nurses and the patience we will all need to have over the next few days, weeks and months. Keep us all in your prayers and I will keep you updated.
P.S. My earlier post about "I'm in heaven"...well, the party never happened, but that's OK because it was raining anyway....we will have a party, for sure, but grateful for so much more than just our freedoms and the 4th of July!!!
