Braxton's accident the next few days....

The next few days were a lot of waiting. Braxton was in an induced coma and they woke him up every four hours to do a neuro test on him. It was very hard to watch as his body didn't respond in the way they thought. Then he would get agitated and they would put him back to sleep. They were watching for swelling on the brain to decide if he needed to have a hole drilled into his skull to relieve pressure. Many doctors and nurses came into his room. There was even a neuro doc on the TV screen above his bed that checked in during the day when they woke him up for his neuro tests. Shane and I sat there all day from about 6:30 AM until 9:00 PM. Then we went home, slept, and came back. Our poor Dakota and Cameron were completely taken care of by family members and loving neighbors and friends feeding them. It was really difficult for me to just stop being their mom while devoting all my energy and time to Braxton, but so many people picked up where I couldn't at that time.

It was a heart wrenching experience that is very hard to put into words. I know there is absolutely no way I could have survived except for the prayers of hundreds of people on his behalf. Prayers and fasting literally carried us through the darkest days of our lives. Our energy level was higher then to be expected, we slept well the few hours we allowed ourselves to leave the hospital, we were fed well by tons of people bringing us food to the hospital or eating at the cafeteria. God was right there with us every minute in that hospital room. I have no doubt. God saved Braxton. God gave him a second chance at life and its because we and the people we loved called upon the powers of heaven in his behalf. I don't know if God saved Braxton for Braxton's sake, but I do know that he saved Braxton for my sake. I also know he has a great work to perform here on this earth or he wouldn't be alive today. 

Three days into the ICU they took out his intubation. This is where we began to live the horror of watching a Traumatic Brain Injury begin to heal. He repeated his words over and over like his brain was stuck. He didn't speak much, but enough that we wondered every hour of every day if this was his new quality of life. One time I was reading him a book and it said "said Lucy", which he proceeded to repeat 25 times over and over "said Lucy, said Lucy, said Lucy". It was very hard to witness. He had a lot of bathroom issues and would scream "people out, people out" and that meant we needed to go behind the curtain so he could try the commode on the side of his bed. He had a ton of visitors, so many they called him "Mr. Popular" and his bathroom issues usually had many cuss words involved that kept his friends and family entertained. 

Dakota was in the line at one of his best friends weddings all the while all this went on. He was so handsome and stopped by in his clothes after the wedding. And Tara took them shopping for the wedding gift.