Well, there hasn't been much going on in our lives in the last few weeks so Jonathan decided to seek out a new adventure. (I hope you sense the sarcasm here!)
Saturday night, the 14th, Jonathan was trying to ride Kenta's motorcycle. (For those of you who don't know Kenta is our brother in law. Nicole's husband) From what I hear he was trying to figure out the gears on the bike and without realizing it he made the bike take off & he ran in to Wes' brick mailbox. It was obvious very quickly that Jonathan had a concussion as well as a huge bleeding gash in his forehead. We rushed to the Emergency Room at a clinic close to Wes' house. (Props to Nicole on her great "Fast & the Furious" driving!) By the time we got there it looked like things were getting more serious than we had anticipated. Jonathan had a lot of memory loss & was being very repetitive. Fortunately, Jonathan never lost conciousness or had any seizures like he's had in past traumatic situations. We rode an ambulance to a hospital with a trauma center, Del Sol. Once we were there we were in the ER until they figured out more or less what was going on. We figured out that he had broken his nose, got a fracture in the front of his skull, broke the bones around his left eye, has a few fractures in the cheek area, and he had a small brain bleed that wasn't too serious. He also has a very large gash, or laceration to use the technical term, on his forehead just above his eyebrow, a little one on his eyelid, and another under his eye. The left side of his face is where all the damage is. The right side is completely normal without scratches or anything. He has no brain damage but we will still be working with a neuro doctor since the fracture is so close to the brain.
Late Saturday night, which I guess was really close to 3 or 4 am Sunday, we were moved into ICU at Del Sol. Any time there is head trauma it is protocol to send the patient to ICU. His injuries were not life threatening but they had to monitor him just in case. It was scary seeing him all bandaged and hooked up to machines but he did great. He stayed stable throughout the night but he was in a lot of pain. The most emotional part of Saturday was that part of his memory loss included not remembering that his mom had passed away. He kept asking for her and asking if she was on her way up to the hospital. It was really difficult having to tell him that his mom was dead and trying to explain why she couldn't go to the hospital. Every time we had to tell him that his mom was dead it was like he was hearing the news for the first time. He would get really emotional and ask all sorts of questions about her death. It was all absolutely heartbreaking. He also kept getting really scared thinking that he had hurt someone in the accident. Wes took a little while to get there so Jonathan kept asking if Wes had been killed too. There was just so many emotions that first night.
An encouraging part of Saturday was the immediate response of his friends that came to be by his side. Jonathan has a group of friends who were all his best friends in high school; they don't always get to be together now and they go through periods of time without talking much because life is busy but when any of them need each other they are there. His best friend, Watson, was at the ER and stayed with me in ICU through the night until 7 am. Another friend, Aaron, was there to lend support and encourage him when emotions ran high. Ever since then others have come to visit and have really helped raise his spirits. He has some great friends who have been an encouragement to both of us.
Sunday was long and tiring and emotional. It was clear that he would need surgery but we had to wait a while to see what the deal was. There's a lot of tiny details that are the particulars of the surgery but basically once they shift the front part of the skull to repair the fracture they are thinking that the other broken bones around the eye may start to shift. All of this stuff overlaps into many different areas of surgeries and different surgeons specialties so at Del Sol it was difficult to get any doctor to agree to be the main guy to do it. After a neuro guy said he'd take the lead he wanted to have an ENT doctor back him up in case the eye stuff did start to shift. At that point Jonathan was prepped for surgery but then got put on hold. After the neuro guy talked with the ENT guy some more they decided that they were in over their heads and wanted to look to transfer Jonathan to a different hospital where other surgeons are more experienced with this type of procedure. They told me they hoped to get a place in El Paso but if not they'd have to look into Dallas, Houston, or maybe Lubbock. This was frustrating to me because its exactly the same thing that happened with Gigi- in fact all of this was so surreal as to what happened with Gigi. (Did I mention that Jonathan's ICU room shared a wall with the room that Gigi was in exactly 3 weeks before?!) Within an hour or so they told us we would be moved to Thomason Hospital here in El Paso. We were ready to be on the move but then they put us on hold again because they said Thomason ICU was full. From there we waited for over 24 hours.
Monday we were just waiting all day to be moved to Thomason, which is now Texas Tech University Medical Center. Now, if you know me then you know I love all things Tech so I felt like I'd be better off in a hospital full of Double T's & Red Raiders. :) I was also told by various friends & family that UMC was a great hospital and the place where we needed to be. I felt confident in the room & was glad to leave Del Sol. Later in the evening around 6 we finally got on the move to UMC. I must preface this with saying from here on until the end of Monday I got pretty irritated with a lot of different things so please excuse me if I sound angry or perhaps a little offensive. When we got to UMC we were put into an ER holding room. The nurses at Del Sol assured us that UMC would be expecting us and they knew our case. When we got there no one seemed to know who we were or anything about the case. I was really nervous & irritated sitting in the ER room for so long because it didn't make sense to me that we went from ICU to an open room only separated by a little sheet. It seemed like things were off in the ER but I tried to trust that everything was going to be ok. Before I left Del Sol I was given the name of a doctor who they said knew our case at UMC. After we had been waiting for a while Jonathan's brother, Daniel, came to check on us. While we were making our way back to the ER room we got lost in the maze of the hospital. I decided to stop and ask a doctor for directions & lo and behold he happened to be the doctor who was the name I was given at Del Sol! Its nice when God gives a little blessing for reassurance. Once he said his name I told him, "Well, you don't have to give me directions because I'm following you. My husband came here to see you." He looked at me like I was a crazy person & didn't know how I knew all that I was saying. Once I explained a little more things started to click & he led the way to Jonathan. That doctor was able to get some things going and give us some explanations as to what was going on. We started to feel much better about what was going on. That doctor also told us there is no more need to be in ICU, that made me feel so much better because it sounds less scary.
Around 10 or 11 we got moved to his room. We were really irritated with little things still and things got worse when we got in the room. He had a roommate in the room which wasn't so bad but he didn't speak English so it was a little awkward. The nurses didn't speak English and some were speaking broken English. By this point we were so emotional that every little thing made us upset. We were then informed that I wouldn't be able to stay with Jonathan overnight. Since he was already emotional and irritated adding this stress wasn't good for him. The maxilofacial doctor came in before I was kicked out and gave us an overview of what was going on. He told us that Jonathan will likely be here for a week. The doctor was also surprised that none of Jonathan's cuts had been fixed or that he hadn't even been cleaned at all. At that point I was angry with Del Sol and UMC. I sadly left Jonathan who was also sad and I had so many angry thoughts in my mind. I tried to remember how graciosly Wes had handled the situation when his spouse was in the same state and when they wouldn't let him stay but I was still upset. I started asking people to pray for a private room so that I could stay and Jonathan would be more at ease.
Tuesday morning I showed up to the room just before 8 when visiting hours began. Jonathan seemed to be sleeping well and I noticed that he was cleaned and that his cuts had been stitched up. Once he woke up he told me he got to brush his teeth. He was really happy about that, he'd been waiting to be able to do that! Different doctors and specialists came into our room within the next few hours to check him out & answer questions. Tuesday went much better than all the other days. Jonathan's spirits were high and he was being taken care of better than he had before. The swelling in his face went down quite a bit. His right eye (the good one) had gotten so swollen on Monday that he could barely open it. He even got to get up and move around some. We walked laps around the unit and were able to sit in the waiting room to visit with family in the afternoon. I was finally starting to feel reassured that we were at the right place. Our main priority during the day was working on getting his own room. We asked anyone we could ask and left it up to prayer. Around 4 pm we got the word that he got to move! It was such a huge relief & blessing. Walking in to the private room was so relieving. We now have a window, a TV to ourselves, and even some room decor. There's a chair that folds out to a bed for me and just so much more space. It will be nice for Jonathan to have sunlight tomorrow and a little more freedom to move arond & stretch out.
We are still waiting for surgery. The Maxillofacial doctor told us it would be first thing Thursday morning and is supposed to come back later this evening to give us more details. This is definitely a scary time but I'm trying to rest in faith. God has blessed us in huge ways already so I'm trusting that He will continue to take care of us.
I will try to post updates as they happen but it will be a little more difficult for me to give updates this time around, as compared to Gigi, since I'm directly involved with all the chaos. Please keep us in your prayers as well as the Phillips family as a whole.
*Update: 11 pm (Mountain Time) We met with the Maxillofacial surgeon a little while ago. He was very thorough and explained everything in detail. He showed us detailed scans to show us exactly what was going on. He gave us details of the surgery and the risks of what may happen if it isn't done. It sounds scary but I know that the surgery is the best option. For me, not having part of it done is out of the question. He took some time to get to know us and shared with us that he is a religious man. He told us that he's always said that he is just the instrument and that God does the real work. Hearing that gave me some peace. Its great how God takes care of us in so many ways. In fact, Jonathan had a heart procedure 5 years ago and the doctor said that operation will actually help Jonathan get through this one; it will help keep him calm and not have overreactive anxiety. Its crazy how God really does work out every little detail of our life and sets up all the plans from Day 1. So we're still a little scared but we have confidence in the surgeon and in God.
Oh, and the doctor is a Texas Tech Alumni. How cool is that?! It makes me feel even better. :)
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