Brooke vs. the Bean

Wednesday evening around 5:30 I was working on dinner while Brooke played with one of her very favorite toys, dried kidney beans. I was feeling quite brilliant because I had thought to put her and her beans in a large plastic storage bin. She was having a great time, and I was thrilled, because nary a bean was to be seen skittering around my kitchen floor, and dinner was nearly done. She started coughing a little, and rubbing her nose, then her breathing started to become distressed. I picked her up and hit her back, then she stopped breathing and I tried the Heimlich. Nothing happened, I called 911 and tried hitting her back again. While I was on the phone, she started crying and coughing, but I could hear that there was an obstruction.

I think that the ambulance arrived in about a minute. It felt like a very long minute, but it really was very fast. I ran downstairs with Brooke, leaving the oven on, music playing and the door open. The paramedics were strapping us in together to take her to the ER when she went into cardiac arrest. They took her from me to start CPR and put in a breathing tube. I called Darren to come home and get the car. It is normally a 15 minute walk, up a steep hill. I think he was home in 5! They took us to Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland, probably 15 to 20 minutes. I've never cursed rush hour traffic so vehemently. At the ER she went into cardiac arrest again. They resuscitated her, re-intubated her, and put her back in the ambulance to go to Children's Hospital in Seattle.

At Children's, we were met by a special team. All they do is remove foreign bodies from the trachea of small children! After a quick priesthood blessing (thank you Dave and Sierra), she was in the OR, and the bean was out, although significantly larger than when it went in. Her right lung ruptured a little, because they had to use so much pressure to get enough air past the bean, but that is healing well.

Her brain is another story, that we probably won't know the ending of for way too long. If the damage was minor, then she should have woken up after coming out of the anesthesia, but she didn't. Instead, she started having seizures. Constant seizures every 2 seconds or so, for over 24 hours. It was so awful to watch. The doctors tried all kinds of drugs all night, and most of the next day. Nothing changed. Finally they added one that works, although it can damage the liver and pancreas, and it puts her in a coma (Pentobarbital). But we can deal with that. The hope is that stopping the seizures with drugs for a while (a couple days is the current plan) will allow her brain to rest and reset. Then the doctors will start decreasing the Pentobarb and increasing other drugs that won't knock her out and hopefully the seizures won't come back.

They know that the seizures are coming from deep in her brain, and are the result of brain damage. But they don't know how severe it is yet. If the seizures don't stop, or if they can't control them with more mild drugs, it is a sign of very severe brain damage, and they would have to put her back in the Pentobarb coma. The longer she is in a coma, the worse the likely outcome.

She is going in for an MRI in the next hour, and that should provide some more information. We pray that it is good.

So please pray, with every bit of faith you have ever hoped to have. She is in the hands of God. We know He loves her, even more than we do. And we know He loves us. We also believe that He is a god of miracles, and that those miracles are worked according to our faith. She has received two priesthood blessings, promising that she will recover. We don't feel that Heavenly Father wants to take her back, and we so desperately want to see her bright blue eyes filled with laughter again.

We are so very very thankful for all the of the love and prayers offered for Brooke and ourselves. We are thankful for the power of the priesthood, and the love and service that have been given. Thank you for asking your family and friends to pray for her too. Please keep it up. We have a long road ahead of us, and we appreciate knowing that we have your shoulders to cry on, and your faith to lean on. And we're grateful for the many offers of help. I'm afraid we are going to need it. We are thankful for the peace and strength that have been clear answers to heartfelt, pleading prayers. He gives us what we need to get through the next few hours, and then He gives us more. I pray, that through your prayers for our sweet baby girl, that you will also experience that sweet peace, reassurance and strength.