My daughter, Kayla, was injured the other day by her steer. She seemed fine Sunday night. We went to the Harpers’ for dinner and she was running around all crazy playing tag and stuff. Monday she complained of being sore. That was to be expected. I had her do her chores anyway. She moved a bale of hay, fed steers 18 lbs of grain each, and other moderate duty chores. Tuesday she complained of more pain on her side. I had her switch chores with Andrew. He was feeding goats that only consume a 1 1/2 lbs of grain a feeding. Wednesday afternoon we went to pick cherries. She didn’t look so hot. She wasn’t sleeping well. I was slightly concerned. Our friend Richelle was concerned about her appearance. I had her sit in the truck instead of gleaning. Thursday morning, Ray called me and queried about her condition. She was still in bed. My husband is not a man to rush off to the doctor’s office for any reason. My radar went sky high on sensitivity when he requested me to take her in if she wasn’t any better.
Kayla awoke and wanted to take a shower. Her chores were done for her. When she came out, she stated things weren’t right with her bowel movement. I took one look at her. I announced to the boys to hustle and get dressed, “We’re off to the Emergency Room.” We scrambled. Fortunately, my friend Christy was able to pick them up a couple of hours later. Bless her heart. Kayla and I were there for hours. The doc ordered an xray and an ultrasound and blood work. Kayla came back from the xray afraid. She described the technicians expression as one that saw something unexpected. So I really started praying. I also contacted some others to pray in agreement. The ultrasound tech came in and started her stuff. Concluding her report, Kayla saw her note a bunch of stuff about her liver. She really was trembling with fear now. I sent a text crying out for “all hands on deck” for prayer warriors. As a mom, inside I was freaking out myself, outside I was trying to remain calm and composed for my daughter’s sake and my own.
The doc ordered some pain meds for Kayla. He gave her the lowest adult dose of Vicodin. Oh my that was scary!!! She got up to go to the bathroom and almost passed out on the way back. The nurse caught her (I thought the nurse was staying with her!). They got her back to bed and her blood pressure was a whopping 85/44. No more Vicodin for this kid.
The verdict was in. A crack in the liver. The doc couldn’t believe she was so tough. He said, ” Most people with blood pushing on the diaphragm like that are in excruciating pain. When she came in here, she had a look of being really constipated. You never would have guessed her liver was bleeding. I told a couple of my colleagues and they didn’t believe me. A thirteen year old girl in here with a bleeding liver with nothing but a look of constipation. She is tough…”
He also admonished her to not play rough at all and light duty for quite a while during the liver’s rebuilding process. Thank The Lord she is all right. Time to rest and recoup. It’s been a long day.
