Chatsfromcarla

November 28, 2018

Progress. We were at Arkansas Children’s and Morgan was progressing. She was doing more, improving every day. But, her brain was not improving. When she was brought into Arkansas Children’s they placed her on what they call the TBI Glasgow Scale. It is a system they use for traumatic brain injury patients, to rate their condition, their improvement, and know where they are with treatment options. Morgan was very low on the Glasgow scale when she was brought in that first night. Let’s face it, we weren’t sure if she was going to live. (sorry, I’m backtracking a little) When we met with the neurosurgeon after her surgery that night/morning, he was talking about brain damage and my mind just started racing. Brain damage? Severe brain damage? My daughter has severe brain damage? Will she talk, walk, run, play soccer, get married, have kids? When I looked at him and asked him what kind of damage were we talking about – I mean, would she ever function as a normal teenager again??? He was kind, but straightforward. He said, “Ma’am, right now, we just need for her to live.” Okay. We need for Morgan to live. So I focused on Morgan living. Once we got out of the woods and she was living, I never looked backwards, only forwards. What do we do from here? Therapy, and we were off! So, moving forward again, she was very low on the Glasgow scale. It is a 15-pt scale and she started at 3 – no response, no eye opening, no sounds, in a coma- which means no meaningful response, no voluntary activities. You can be in a state of unconsciousness through Level 8. Morgan was “awake” and she had started therapy, but she was still at a 3. We do believe that Morgan recognized people and voices. She would look at the door when people walked in and when people said her name. She responded to her friends, and oh my goodness to her Granddaddy!! She would give thumbs up and thumbs down; it was just not consistent enough. One day, the PCT ladies were going to give Morgan a bath, so I was going downstairs to get some food. After I walked out, I realized I had forgotten something so I went back in and I heard one of them comforting Morgan and telling her it was okay. I walked around the curtain to check and she said Morgan had started crying. Emotion!! I started crying. I was beside myself, I just didn’t know what to think or do. It was the first time she had showed real, visible emotion. She would smile at her Granddaddy and other people who came to see her. She loved music therapy and she would show real signs of true enjoyment while she was having music therapy.

The day before Morgan was scheduled to discharge from Arkansas Children’s and leave for Shepherd Center, Morgan was visited by Amanda Jolly. Amanda is one of the amazing emergency medical technicians that tended to Morgan at the site of her accident. She was with Morgan and stayed with her, and encouraged her (even with other people told Amanda that Morgan could not hear her) until the med flight transported her to the hospital. Amanda became a very important person is our lives and we love her. She visited Morgan twice while she was at Arkansas Children’s; the first-time was when Morgan was in the PICU. Amanda admitted to us that she seldom is drawn to follow-up on a patient like she was with Morgan. While Amanda was talking to Morgan, she gazed at Amanda as if recognizing, if not her face, then her voice. Morgan closed her eyes tightly as if she was thinking and considering what Amanda was saying and began to shed tears for only the second time. Unfortunately, I was not personally there to experience it, but Kevin said it was a very emotional time for all of them. I wish I could have been there. We watched Morgan go from nothing to being able to smile, show emotion and shed tears. I don’t know if her brain was healing but God was working. Morgan was getting better and our faith was stronger and growing by the day.

Photo #1- I cannot remember exactly what the question was, but I remember telling Morgan that Mason was doing something this day and giving him a thumb's up!