Ice Cream Sandwich, a Seizure, and Brain Surgery

It's now been almost 18 months since the day that changed our family forever.  On that first day of the kids' summer vacation in McKinney, Texas, I remember standing panicked in the street a few hundred yards from my house while sirens flashed, staring at my motionless son Graham, and wondering if he would ever walk, talk, speak, or even live again.  His head had been run over by a car, and his skull was obviously misshapen.  He was carried away in an ambulance and then in a helicopter, his landing spot unknown to Lindsey and me until several hours later.

Since that day we have witnessed miracle after miracle as Graham endured brain surgery, skull reconstruction, three months in the hospital, and countless hours in therapy.  Graham has healed. Our family has healed.  And for the most part we've gotten back to life as normal.

In particular Graham's short-term memory, while still not back to normal, is much improved.  I can remember in the months following his release from the hospital last year, we would do VERY SIGNIFICANT things like going to a movie as family, visiting Santa at the mall, or taking a trip.  And mere hours after those events he had little if any recollection of them ever occurring.

Yesterday, however, I was having a conversation with Graham, and during the course of it he mentioned that he would love to have some ice cream.  I told him that he could have an ice cream sandwich later, he got a little excited, and we carried on with our conversation.  A few hours thereafter Graham made a point to remind me - "Dad, you promised me you would give me an ice cream sandwich, remember?"  And of course I did remember.  But more importantly - GRAHAM remembered.  Unprompted and un-reminded, he recalled a small detail from earlier in the day.  That NEVER happened during the year following his accident.  But it is starting happen more and more often.

Graham recognizes his inability to remember things, and often reminds people of his condition by quoting Dory from Finding Nemo: "I suffer from short term memory loss!"  Now though, when he says that, we are confidently able to tell him to his delight, "Not anymore Graham, you're getting better!"

Graham still requires constant care, but overall things are getting better.  He's blind in his right eye and legally blind (20/200) in his left, but he manages to get around, read for school and for pleasure, and do his homework.  He even enjoys playing video games and playing catch.

One skill that Graham has maintained before, during (except while in a coma) and after his accident is his ability to quote movies:

He loves to play and be silly and play with his brothers and sister like any normal 7 year-old

He's an awesome big brother, friend, and cousin.

And his big brother Brode, in creating a poster about his hero for school, returns the favor.

Graham is definitely his own man.  He loves to play, create art, exercise in very short spurts.  Non contact taekwondo is perfect for him.

The long walk home from school though?  Not so much!

* * * * * * * * * *

On the last Friday of October, just before Halloween, I was returning from a business trip in Oregon and I got a call that we have feared would come for some time.  I answered and Lindsey was on the other end of the line.  She was calm, but there was obviously fear in her voice - a fear that transferred instantly to me.  "Every thing is OK....Graham had a seizure.  It lasted a really long time.  We called an ambulance and I'm with him and we're on our way to the hospital."

Thoughts and questions began pouring into my mind.  Would Graham really be ok?  Did he fall and hit his head?  Did he suffer more brain damage?  Did my other kids see him?  They suffered immensely from the emotional trauma of Graham's accident.  Would this bring that fear and worry back into their lives?  How is my wife holding up?  Who has the kids?  How much longer till I get home?!?!

We were very worried about Graham, needless to say.  He did hit his head when he fell and seized, but an MRI and CT Scan show he was spared from any additional damage to his brain.  And even though the seizure lasted between 5-10 minutes, he actually breathed through it, meaning the supply of oxygen to his brain was sustained.  And though he was temporarily blind in BOTH eyes during his ambulance ride and shortly thereafter, his vision has returned to "normal."

Since then we have returned to normal as well, and with a few tweaks to his medications we are optimistic that we'll have a nice dry-spell in the seizure department.  So we now turn our thoughts to the next big event - brain surgery.



In case you don't remember, this is what Graham's skull looked like immediately after his accident:

His entire forehead was broken away from the posterior part of his skull, breaking across both orbital bones, the bridge of his nose, and circling around over the top of his head.  After completing brain surgery to repair his torn dura (brain sac), his skull was reconstructed.  At least the outside of his skull.  There was an area of his skull that was inaccessible to the surgeons through his opened skull - the base of his skull, or the "bottom of the bowl" if you will.

This break opened into the sphenoid sinus, meaning his "clean" brain cavity was constantly exposed to his "dirty" sinus.  This puts Graham at a tremendous risk for getting a debilitating and potentially deadly meningitis infection in his brain.  Doctors before and after our move back to Boise, Idaho had differing opinions on how to deal with this issue.  But the good news is we now have a team of doctors a few aways away in Salt Lake City who agree on a plan of action and who are willing to address the issue.  So on December 1, 2015, Graham will have his next, and what we hope will be his final, brain surgery.

The good news is that they don't plan on opening Graham's skull to perform the repair.  They will instead remove some fatty tissue from Graham's belly, and together with some titanium mesh they will construct a "beaver dam" in his head to plug up the hole seen above.  It should take a few hours, and it is still brain surgery, but it's obviously less invasive than the last time he went under the knife.  There are risks and unanswered questions:  How will he respond to prolonged sedation?  Will the mesh stay in place when he sneezes or exerts himself?  Will his brain cavity reject the fat transplant?

Still, I'll relish these questions running through my head compared to the questions that weighed me down as I looked at my son in that driveway 18 months ago.  On November 29 we will fast (go 24 hours without eating or drinking) and pray for our son as a family, and we invite any who feel so inclined to join with us in this.  We are so grateful to God, friends, family, nurses, and doctors have carried us to this point.  And we know that our future is in God's hands, and that's a great future to have, regardless of any short-term obstacles we may run in to.

Thank you all for your positive thoughts and prayers for our son.  We'll keep you posted as Graham jumps over this next hurdle in his life.