PART FIVE: The Day of the Accident

I noticed there was an emergency room nurse in the waiting room with Nate.  She had been texted by friends of ours from Lynchburg.  She knew Elisha had been airlifted to Charlottesville.  She had just gotten off work when she received the text.  She felt the Lord prompt to her to stay and wait for our little boy.  When Elisha arrived she laid hands on him and prayed for him while he was getting ready for his Cat Scan.  We didn’t know her but the Lord was already bringing people around us who would prove to us God was all over this situation.  I was humbled the Lord had put her in our lives and that she made the choice to stay to pray.  I finally started to cry.  How sweet of the Lord to bring this precious lady into our lives to lay hands on our son immediately after he was wheeled on his stretcher into the emergency room.  She introduced herself to me and shared with me what she had already told Nate.  She said Elisha did move before his scan but there were still a lot of questions about his condition.

Nate’s mom and dad arrived in Charlottesville about the same time as my dad.  We were all quiet as we sat in the tiny ER waiting room.  Again, no one knew what to say.  We had a deep, real, hope because of the promise we received from God's Word earlier in the day and the peace from hearing Him speak to our spirit but it truly made my heart leap when the nurse had told us Elisha had moved right before his CT scan.

 

Nate and I then decided to take a walk.  We grabbed hands and walked out of the family lounge, through the doors of the emergency room and to the sidewalk outside of the ER entrance.  Where had the day gone? It was dark, a little cool because it had rained but so quiet and peaceful outside.  I took a deep breath and looked up to the sky.  There was turmoil going on inside the hospital and in Elisha’s body yet, just a few feet outside of the hospital doors it was calm.  I felt the same way, calm and confident, especially, with my hand in my husband's. We began walking up the sidewalk and Nate shared with me his faith in what God spoke to him.  He was sure.  It was truth to him.  I was so grateful to have Nate.  He had so much resolve in what God had spoken to the both of us.  We prayed thanking God for healing Elisha and making his body whole.   

We turned around to walk back into the emergency room.  Friends had started showing up at the hospital and we hadn’t called anyone outside of our parents.  Our pastors were walking into the emergency room just as we were.  We didn't know them well but we were thankful they chose to drive to Charlottesville to spend time with us.  Little did we know then how close of friends we would become.  One of Elisha’s friends showed up with his mom at the same time.  We soon had about 15 people come to pray with us and support us as we were at the beginning stages of Elisha’s journey.

 

The initial cat scan said there was no brain bleed or swelling, or so it seemed.  We were so thankful! We thought in that moment, out of our naiveté, Elisha would wake up and be ok.  No one really knew what was taking place in Elisha's body.  The doctors were still doing their evaluation of our little boy.  Everything we were being told was so preliminary but it seemed hopeful. 

  

Elisha went straight to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit where they had him on several machines to monitor him.  Elisha’s vitals were good.  He was intubated to help him breath and his heart was beating.  They did an MRI and we were waiting for the results.  We believe Elisha hit the car on his left side which caused the compound fracture to his femur.  His broken femur tore through Elisha's skin.  We were told in a normal situation when the bone is exposed like that then it must be cleaned and set within 24 hrs of the accident.  The orthopedic surgeon decided to go ahead and operate on Elisha’s compound leg fracture that evening.  

I wasn't afraid.  I was in my own world, protected by God's presence. Just me, God and Nate.  I stayed in the PICU with Elisha while Nate went and updated everyone in the family lounge. 

There were several people in Elisha's room in scrubs.  I couldn't begin to tell you who was a doctor and who was a nurse.  Everyone was on a mission.  I was in the way and I could tell I was.  No one would ever tell me to get out of the way but all of the polite "excuse mes" as people tried to get past me was confirmation enough. They were rushed and determined to get Elisha ready for his leg surgery.  Nate came back to the room and didn't want Elisha to go into surgery without us praying for him.  We had connected immediately with one of Elisha's PICU nurses.  We told her we wanted to pray for Elisha before his surgery.  She was all for it, as a matter of fact, she asked to join us in prayer and laid hands on Elisha while we prayed for him.

The nurses and the doctors began transporting Elisha to the operating room.  Nate and I followed behind them as they rolled him to the elevator.  I stared at the closing elevator doors with supernatural hope and expectation.  Nate and I walked into family lounge, let everyone know what was going on and waited.  

It had to have been about 15 minutes when the elevator doors opened back up and we saw them rushing Elisha back to the PICU.   Elisha’s vitals had become unstable.  The neurosurgeon came to the family lounge as Nate and I were getting ready to go into the PICU.  He told us the stimulation from moving Elisha had caused the intracranial pressure to increase to critical levels.  He walked us through the process they were getting ready to perform of drilling a bolt through Elisha's skull to monitor his brain pressure.   

Once the procedure was completed we were allowed back into Elisha's PICU room.  We were told to keep the lights low and to be as quiet as possible to prevent any stimulation.  We looked at Elisha and it was hard not to notice the bolt in his head.  To be honest, Elisha looked like he had an off-centered unicorn horn. The bolt was doing it's job.  The doctors realized his brain swelling was having a significant impact on all of his vitals.  They didn’t want Elisha to have a stroke or to have any other major medical complications from his injuries so the doctors decided to put Elisha into a medically induced coma to help stabilize him. His leg surgery was going to have to wait.