The Phone Call You Never Want to Receive

Katie and I were finishing dinner at a restaurant in a nearby town this evening when her cell phone rang. She answered and immediately all eyes and ears in the restaurant turned to her when she loudly and intently exclaimed "WHAAAAAAT?".

You know, that dreaded "WHAAAAT?" in disbelief with a tone that says this is serious.

I was only hearing one side of the conversation and then she started asking all the "wrong" questions to put me at ease..."is she ok? where is she?" while she was starting to reach for her things and stood to leave.

Katie's eyes reflected grave concern.

I grabbed my coat and started to leave and follow Katie, but remembered to turn back, pick up the check and head to the counter to pay for dinner. Standing in that short line felt like hours!

We finally headed out the door to the car and started the drive home.

Katie's daughter, Tiffany, had called from her semi-formal dance to tell us that her best friend's sister was in a car accident. Tiffany was bawling and very upset and Katie calmed her down a bit, but at this point details were sketchy.

Tiffany told us that the ER had called Marie's mom who was chaperoning the dance and she immediately grabbed Marie and left for the hospital. That's all we knew.

Once Katie and I were headed home, Katie contacted the brother of the girl in the wreck on a cell phone. We learned from him that Holly, 18 years old, had been involved in a car accident and was still unconscious. That's all he knew to tell us. He mentioned that his parents were in with Holly but that's all the information he had.

The accident was serious enough to render Holly unconscious, and by the time we learned of the accident, she had probably been in this condition at least twenty to thirty minutes. Not good.

I am now home...praying...and Katie is heading to the hospital to be with her other best friend whose daughter is injured and lying in a hospital.

I HATE NOT KNOWING WHAT IS GOING ON!

* * * UPDATE 8:37PM CST * * *

I just received an update:

This evening around 7pm Holly was hit broadside by an SUV...She was taken to Jackson General ER. ..The most recent update is that she had head trauma and on a scale from 3-15 with three being the worse, she is a 7. She is not in a coma, a three would be a coma. The Doctor's have guarded optimism. Please keep her in your prayers.

* * * UPDATE 8:56 PM CST * * *

Katie just called from the hospital. Holly's face is pretty cut up, and her mom (RN) thinks she may possibly need plastic surgery. She is still unconscious. Katie basically validated the information I recieved a few minutes ago and stated that it is a very serious situation, but doctors are being optimistic.

Half the church body is at the hospital with the family, which is good news.

* * * UPDATE 9:28 PM CST * * *

There are no broken bones or bleeding on the brain. There are facial lacerations and the head trauma. She does have a concussion.

C'mon people....IS SHE CONSCIOUS YET??????????? The waiting is indeed the hardest part!

* * * UPDATE 9:40 PM CST * * *

Katie just called, she took Tif and Marie back to the dance which is a good distraction. The other girls at the dance enthusiastically welcomed the two back to the dance and that all seems like a good idea.

Meanwhile, the doctors just informed those at the hospital that there were some fractures detected in Holly's pelvis, which contradicts the above update. I guess this was just now made known to the family. Holly is still unconscious, and has been for almost three hours now. I'm concerned, but the nurse at the hospital said that this is not unusual for this kind of injury.

* * * UPDATE 11:25 PM CST * * *

No real news. Marie said she thought she heard her sister moan when she went in to see her earlier, but Holly is still not awake. Reports from relatives who have been in to see her are that her face is swollen and bruised with multiple lacerations which make her virtually unrecognizable. Doctors say her pelvis should heal on it's own in three weeks or so. I would just feel a lot better knowing she was conscious!

Holly has the lead role in the musical (Grease) at her school which is supposed to open in March. Not good.

* * * UPDATE 12:51 AM CST the next morning 01/29/06 * * *

PRAISE THE LORD! Holly's condition has been upgraded and the head trauma number is now raised to 9. The higher it goes the better.

Her dad says she is not driving for a year! LOL (She's had a few accidents already as a young driver, fender-benders, but this one is too scary!)

Looks like all the praying tonight is paying off, and Holly will most likely recover, although, I'm sure she won't feel well for awhile.

With this news of improvement, I'm going to bed.

Hug your kids.