solarbird update

Everyone, thank you very much for your comments; I've read every single one of them and I deeply appreciate them. To those of you on my Friends list who are prayer-inclined, thank you as well. I will be telling Dara that you're all asking after her. Thanks to all of you who have called my cell too. You're welcome to call me directly if wish, or just watch here for further updates.

I'm home now, but spazzkat and risu are still at the hospital and plan to be there all night. I came home because a) frankly, I'm freaking, and I'll be useless until I can get some sleep, and b) somebody needed to come home to deal with the pets. So kathrynt and llachglin, who showed up to give us moral support for as long as Q's Very Pregnant State could let her, gave me a ride home. As of when we left Harborview, mamishka had also showed up bearing stuffed animals and hugs, and she gave me a huge hug, chocolate, and her stuffed gator as I tearily informed her I had to go home and crash. Kathryn told me on the way home that as she and her spouse were heading for the hospital, she was in fact mentally composing the speech she intended to give me to get me to come home. Kathryn knows me very well. :}

Medical-data-wise, Dara's sustained a nasty head injury. She has a small skull fracture as well as some bruising along the front part of her head. They have her on heavy sedation and a breathing tube, but while I was there they woke her up to make sure that they could, and they did get her to raise both her thumbs and wiggle her toes on command. Moreover, as near as we could tell, she was definitely in there in her head and very, very annoyed that they had her on the breathing tube as well as restraints. The nurse specifically told us that this was the best possible reaction to see out of her, and I spoke briefly with one of the surgeons as well, who seemed fairly casual about the situation. They'll be doing another CAT scan on her around 4am just to make sure that those results are consistent with the scan they gave her earlier tonight. But it is likely that she will be in the ICU for 2-3 days. I hung out long enough to make sure she heard my voice and to tell her I was going home to crash, that she was in good hands and should let them take care of her, and that I loved her very much. I don't know if she actually heard me, but I wanted to make sure she heard my voice. I also asked the surgeon as well as the nurse if they'd call me if anything remotely urgent happened, and I'll have my phone by my bed, so.

We are pretty sure at this point that it was a hit-and-run accident, as I mentioned. I got a call this evening from a passerby who said that she'd found her by the side of the road, and one presumes that this lady managed to get out of her what her home phone was, and/or found it on Dara's cell phone. Since it was quite literally four blocks down the hill from our home, Paul, Jenna, and I all hastened down there. When we arrived on the scene, medics and a couple of fire station guys and a cop were all around and they were doing triage on her. She was conscious, but not terribly coherent, and the lady who called me said that Dara didn't remember very well what had happened to her. This person also up and vanished pretty much immediately as soon as we showed up, so we didn't get a chance to get any other data out of her. A few confused-looking neighbors had also come out of their houses, and were asking what had happened, but nobody had seen anything.

We were asked to leave her bicycle (the rear wheel of which was quite mangled) and her backpack lying where they were for purposes of investigation, and we'll have to pick it up from the Kenmore Fire Station, so I'll be checking on that tomorrow.

That's about it. There's no net access at the hospital, so further updates over the next 24-48 hours may be somewhat erratic. Y'all might keep an eye on kathrynt's journal or mamishka's as well as mine at least for the next little bit, in case they get to post again before I do.

Dara update

Folks, as of this evening when spazzkat and I left the hospital (to be spelled by our other housemate risu), Dara was in stable condition in the ICU. She's still being kept heavily sedated and on the breathing tube, but they're hoping to get that tube out some time tomorrow. She remains readily responsive when they wake her up and check that she can still wiggle fingers and toes and open her eyes and suchlike. Most importantly, when she rouses, she's quite agitated and quite pissed; it's clear that she's in there and she is really not happy, and the nurses keep telling us this is the best possible reaction to see.

Her X-rays look really good and so they've taken the neck brace off of her as of tonight, which will make her more comfortable. All her numbers on the monitors, blood pressure, heart rate, oxygenation in the blood, etc., are looking good from what the nurses were telling me. And the surgeons that have been in and out have pretty much said that the issue at this point is not her head, but rather her lungs. As I am a big fan of avoiding pneumonia, I'm all for them doing whatever it takes to keep her from going down that road.

We don't know for sure when she'll be able to come home, but we're kind of hoping for Tuesday or Wednesday. We'll know more tomorrow once they get that tube out of her and start trying to get her to wake up for real.

waysofseeing is a prince among men and brought us not only Subway sandwiches for lunch, but hot stew and watermelon for Paul and me around dinnertime. Also, all hail cow for going and picking up Jenna to come and spell Paul and me so we could come home and crash.

Paul and I have both contacted our department at the Times, and hopefully I'll be able to arrange emergency working from home status so that once Dara is allowed to come home, I can be here with her until she's got her strength back.

I continue to get myriad comments, voicemails, text messages, etc. from you all and they are all deeply, deeply appreciated. Those of you who are not local, all good thoughts, prayers, wishes, energies, etc. continue to be most welcome and warmly appreciated. Those of you who are local, ditto.

I got asked about power of attorney papers, which thankfully we have, so I will be showing up at the hospital with those tomorrow.

And I have to pay the middle of the month bills, but right now I have a massive screamer of a headache and have thrown valerian and ibuprofen at it to see if it'll shut up so I can go to bed and actually sleep. Bills can wait until tomorrow.

Keep watching this space and Kathryn and Mimi's journals for more updates as they happen.