Riding in Style

The morning following Hannah's accident, there were lots of well wishers and people who stopped us out and about in the campground asking how Hannah was. The camp hosts who were directly involved in the aftermath of it all, also stopped by to check on Hannah. She was kinda a celebrity throughout the campground. Many people had witnessed the aftermath and saw the emergency vehicles enter and exit the campground.

Betty, our camp host, offered to take Hannah for a ride in her golf cart Thursday evening for a nighttime tour around the campground. She picked her up shortly after 9:00, gave her a volunteer vest to wear, and off they went for a tour.When Betty brought Hannah back to our campsite, she told us about a special wheelchair the campground had for going on the sand. So the next morning, Steven went and got it, free of charge. It was ours to use all day.It was perfect! We were able to get Hannah around much better than her using the crutches to get everywhere. We visited the camp store, Uncle Robbie's campsite, watched the dolphins playing off the shore from the cliffs and then in the afternoon, we hooked up one of the broken beach umbrellas in order to keep Hannah in the shade and went to the beach for our very last afternoon of our vacation.

Daddy and daughter on the beach.
One of my favorite pictures from the week.

The sand wheelchair worked out great for the day! Hannah enjoyed it and it helped her enjoy the last day of our time at the beach.

Bike Accident While Camping

We are currently camping in San Diego County, at our favorite beach campground. We are with about forty friends and family.

Yesterday, my parents came down to visit for the day. My Dad took the day off from work and they packed their chairs, an ice chest, and set out to come see their kids and grandkids enjoying the great Pacific. Little did they know when they started out their day, how it would end.

We had just come up from being on the beach all afternoon. It was that time of the day when showers are taken, dinner is started, and campfires are built.

Hannah had decided to let Rachel go ahead of her for a shower. She got on her bike and went for a ride through the campground.

Minutes later, a friends son came running onto our site to get me. Telling me that Hannah had fallen off her bike. I went running...

About seven campsites down from ours, I found her laying in the middle of the street, her foot caught in her bike, her face bloody, multiple abrasions, and her crying. Saying how sorry she was that we'd have to spend money on her and that she'd ruined our vacation.

Thankfully some off duty firefighters and paramedics were camping in a site in front of where she'd fallen. They were able to begin assessing the situation - asking me to count her teeth, asking her a few questions, trying to free her foot that was trapped between the metal bar of her bike where the tire attaches and her wheel. They had to cut her foot free. They examined her helmet for dents, scratches, trauma.

So many people had gathered, our friends, our family, fellow campers, strangers. Eventually one of the off duty firefighters told everyone to go back to their campsite if they weren't medical professionals or the family.

Then sirens could be heard from PCH. I knew they were coming for Hannah.

A fire truck, followed by an ambulance, made their way down the narrow roadway of the campground. There were now uniformed medical professionals in addition to those who were there camping themselves.

First came the neck brace...

Then the backboard...

Then they taped her to the backboard. And lifted her to the gurney and then into the ambulance.

She had already started exhibiting signs of a concussion, but they weren't sure how serious of a head injury it was. It was 5:30 and smack dab in the middle of evening rush hour traffic. They debated taking her to the hospital just ten minutes away, or going the 25 minutes on the freeway to the local Children's Hospital. Because she was stable, they thought it best to make the trip to the trauma hospital.

It was a mad scramble to get my purse, our phones, Steven's wallet, clothes for Hannah (she was in her bathing suit), etc.

Our friends standing together, gathered together praying.

Steven went with Hannah, sitting in the front of the ambulance. I rode in my parents car, my Dad sticking to the back of the ambulance like glue through rush hour traffic. About 45 minutes later we were at the ER of San Diego Children's Hospital, a trauma hospital.

To make a long story short, a CT scan of the head was negative, foot xrays were negative for a break or fracture. A trauma blood panel was also drawn and it was negative.

Her diagnosis: a pretty bad concussion and a pretty badly sprained ankle.

There was discussion about possibly admitting her for observation. It took hours for her to come back around "to the here and now." She was on this constant loop every 5 minutes of asking the same things over again. "Did I loose teeth?" (her lip was swollen) "Am I gonna die?", "I'm sorry you're having to spend money on me" and then a new loop of things would come about 30-45 minutes later. It was really bad. Really, really bad.

I stepped out occassionally to update my parents in the waiting room. it was close to 10:00 when we discovered a McDonalds just around the corner from the ER waiting room. They'd been eating out of the vending machine for hours. LOL. After I returned from eating, which was only like 15 minutes, the difference in Hannah was like night and day. They'd hooked her up to some IV fluids as they thought maybe she was dehydrated from a day out in the sun, being sunburned, etc.

They did not keep her overnight. We were discharged shortly after midnight. She has her foot splinted and is on crutches. She has mutliple abrasions. But mostly surface.

We came back to the campground. And put her in our tent to sleep as we would need to check on her throughout the night. Rachel had already been taken to my brother's trailer and put to bed there.

At that point, it was well after 12:30am and my parents had an hour and a half drive home after an emotionally and stressful evening. Following behind an ambulance (although there were no sirens and lights for Hannah), as the result of a head injury was all too familiar for my parents. When my brother was 14 he fell off a skateboard (he was not wearing a helmet) and landed on his head, diagnosed with a basal skull fracture, and lost some hearing, smelling, and taste. Some in which he still has problems with to this day and he's 34. My parents safely arrived home around 2:30am. I made them call me when they got home. LOL.

We decided to continue our camping trip. One of her main concerns last night was the fact that she thought she'd ruined vacation and if we packed up and went home we'd only confirm that. She's doing amazingly well today. Taking it easy, sitting in the adults comfy recliner chairs, being waited on, playing games at the picnic table. We'd only be doing the same at home - sitting around, etc, so we thought we'd stay in the cool fresh air and continue our vacation. We are camping with a Registered Nurse, as well as a firefighter. So I had that comfort in the back of my head. Numerous people have come by our campsite to check on her, people stopping us in the street asking us about her, etc. The camp host came by and checked on her this morning as well. They are going to cart her around after dinner in their golf cart this evening and she's looking forward to that! After dinner we are also going to walk down to the campsite where the firefighters are and thank them and give them an update.

There's so many things we are thankful for today.

So many prayers answered.

So thankful we've always hounded our girls to wear helmets. It could have been a lot worse had she not been wearing it.....

Youth Lock In

The Youth group at our church has been planning an overnight Lock In for June 17th for the last several months. The first hour or so is open to anyone who wants to come and hear the opening message, rundown of the night. With Hannah on the brink of Jr High (GASP!) we knew she would attend that portion, but as the afternoon went on, she asked Steven and I if she could stay the entire time! We agreed and our church youth leaders were more than happy to have her join in on the fun and fellowship!!The event began shortly after 7:00 and the night was filled with worship, special music, devotions, rooms set up for gaming, ping pong table, snacks, and somewhere in the night they had an all out NERF gun war!

Steven, being the elder over the ministry stuck around for most of the festivities and came home around 1:30 and went back at 7:00 when the event ended to find that Hannah had indeed survived her FIRST all nighter!! Knowing that we'd be there a while to clean up and get things back in order, he told her to go lay down and she did just that! She fell fast asleep on a pew of chairs.Once home, she didn't go to bed, but instead stayed up the majority of the day. Rachel discovered she'd fallen asleep on her bed when she'd gone back to change to take a shower. She slept a few hours and then we had a friends house to go to for dinner, so then she was up.

She had a great time. Came home talking about one of the devotions that a young woman had shared. She bragged about having a Coke at 10:30 at night and a Sprite at 3:30 in the morning. LOL.

Playing Catch Up

It's no secret that my blogs have been neglected in recent months, Hannah's especially. While there have been no posts made on the blog, it's sure not for a lack of stuff going on. Here are a few pictures recapping the last few months:

One night in early April, we received a call from my sister in law and niece who live in Georgia, informing us that they were here in Southern California checking out collages for the 2012-2013 school year. It had been six years since we'd seen Laura and Alisha and we were fortunate enough to spend a Friday afternoon/evening with them at Disneyland, and some of Saturday visiting and having lunch, before they flew home on Sunday. Hannah especially loved seeing her cousin. In Mid April, Hannah celebrated her 11th birthday. We had a family dinner with the grandparents and Auntie and her cousins at The Old Spaghetti Factory and then it was off to The Apple Store to buy her iPod Touch. She'd been saving money, earning money, and asked for money for her birthday and she had more than enough to get it. She was VERY excited to get it. And with the exception of being away at school, I think it's been glued to her hand ever since getting it. Steven set her up a free text app that allows her to text her friends as well as a video chat app that always video chatting. She's definitely tech savy...but then it's in her genes. :) Hannah has managed for the second school year in a row, to obtain Perfect Attendance for the school year. She was one of twenty six students who got to have her order taken for McDonalds and then have lunch with the principal. Her seating arrangement next to the principal is a result of knowing the person in charge of the lunch. :) On Tuesday, June 7th, it was the last day of school and because of her being in a 5th/6th combo class, Hannah got to help with the 6th grade promotion ceremony. Her job was to stand at the school's front gate and pass the programs out to the incoming families. She was a dress and sandles to school and even wore her hair down. It's hard to believe that this time next year, we'll have a daughter going into middle school!!!It's been a busy few months, but now Hannah looks forward to some time off for summer, and is already very much anticipating the new school year whereas she'll be a 6th grader!

Growing Up

Spring pictures came in a few weeks ago and here is the picture of our "baby". The one who'll be 11 years old in a little more than a month. The one who's in the last trimester of 5th grade. The one who only has one more year of Elementary School and then it's off to Junior High School. The one who's changing every day. Developing her own style, her own sense of things. All the while perfecting her pre-teen attitude. LOL.

Where has the time gone? I look into this face sometimes I see the face that once belonged to a 12 month old, to the 18 month old who finally took up walking. This girl of ours is growing up...

Miss Smarty Pants

The end of January proved to be a very rewarding month for Hannah, academically.

On January 28th, Hannah was recognized as Student of the Month. This is something she's been working towards for the last few months and it's been her talking in class that's prevented it. Her parents are extremely talkative people and her father and I are convinced that trait must have skipped our generation, on both sides of the family. :) Today, Hannah, along with many of her schoolmates, were recognized in a school wide assembly for their high scoring on last years California State Testing. Hannah scored 'Proficient' in Math, and "Advanced" in Literature. The high scoring in literature earned her a medal!We're very proud of Hannah and her accomplishments. We recently passed the 100th day of the school year and it's hard to believe that soon we will have a 6th grader!