My little sister

Saturday afternoon I got a call from my brother and his first words were “don’t freak out”…so after I freaked out, he told me that my sister (18 year old) and her friend had a 4-wheeler accident, and she was unconscious for 5-10 minutes. The ambulance was there; my parents knew; she seemed pretty much ok aside from the unconscious part.

After about one hour and 15 phone calls, I found out at first Laura was fine, but after awhile of checking her out the EMT asked her what happened, and she couldn’t tell him. She got upset and was asking why all the people were there. So...they decided to transport her to Children’s Hospital (where my dad works and one of the best Children’s hospitals in the country). All of her x-rays and her CT came back normal, but she was still having major short-term memory issues. She couldn’t remember (even after someone told her) what happened, and sort of cycled asking questions in the same order every 10 minutes or so.

I got to talk to her the first time right after she made it to the hospital. She was crying and I told her to calm down and that it would be ok. Of course at that point I had NO idea if it WOULD be ok. I got back on the phone with my mom and Laura started screaming in pain because they had to flush her IV. My mom had to go at that point. I tried to keep it together.

I talked to her again a little later…she was calmer. I asked if she knew why she was in the hospital and she said a “kidney infection.” I told her “no, she had a 4-wheeler wreck at Lyndsey's." She said “yea, at her mom’s house,” but she was at her dad’s house. It sucked. She wasn’t my baby sister..

A couple hours later they realized there was a problem with her right leg on top of the memory stuff. She couldn’t point her toes to the ceilingm, just point them down (like a ballerina). This means she couldn’t walk since her toes would just drag the ground. They said it was probably nerve damage and would get better on its own…does that probably jump out at you as much as it did me?? Laura wants to model!! Models have to WALK!!!

They discharged her from the hospital since all of her scans and tests were normal, saying to watch her for a few days. My brother had to carry her in the house, and my mom and aunt gave her a bath. She slept through the night ok…and on into the afternoon.

Yesterday at around 4pm, about a full 24 hrs since it all started, I finally got to talk to “my sister” again. She sounded like herself, and once someone told her, could retain the fact that she had a 4-wheeler wreck. She joked some with me and mom. That was enough progress for me, but she could also move her foot a little more!! Last night about 10 I called to say goodnight and she was sleepy but ok.

What an ordeal!!! I realize how hard it is to live away from home. I can’t just drop everything and run home because it’s too far away. It was all I could do to keep from going home to be there even though I knew that I couldn’t do anything. I’m waiting to hear from mom today. I don’t want to call and wake them up, so I’ll be patient. I am hopeful that today will be another day of progress. Hopefully 2009 will calm down some. Love you all!