oh my god!

i was at home this evening, my daughter and her friend had just walked out the door on their way over to her friends house. next thing i know, her friend is comming in yelling 'brianna just fell through the glass - please help - she needs you!!

so i jump up, go running out in the front yard and heres my daughter on all fours INSIDE a broken fish tank!!!!

apparently, she was trying to empty the stuff that the girls had put in earlier today (mud, leaves, rocks, whatever else was in there) and she decided to put her KNEE on the glass to brace herself to be able to reach in and pull out the other stuff.

of course her weight broke the glass and her knee slid right through the glass. when i went out she was impaled on a large piece of glass, both in the front and in the back of her leg, her arms were cut and bleeding pretty badly, but her KNEE was cut in the worst way imaginable... the cut was about 5 inches long, and about 2 1/2 inches deep! blood was pouring out all inside the fish tank (what was left of it) and she was screaming for me to help her.

i immediately went to her to try to pick her up out of the glass, thank god i couldnt lift her and the glass was everywhere stabbing her if i moved her at all. i called 911 for help and then called over my neighbor guy - who i dont even know but he was outside- for help to lift her. he was intelligent enough at that moment (i was NOT thinking) and he said no we should not move her, we dont know what bleeding will start, the glass thats in there may be blocking the blood flow, we need to leave her until they get here.

the first police got there and my baby girl was screaming for someone to help her. i was sitting in the mud in front of her helping her to hold up her body so she could rest a bit as her arms were getting very weak. the second cop showed up and they were trying to help her, but they said the same thing, we cant move her until the ambulance gets here because we dont want more bleeding....

at that point i was filled with fear... i didnt know what would happen if/when they moved her out of there! poor brianna was crying so hard - i think at that time more out of fear than anything, i was soaking wet and all muddy trying to get her to calm down and she kept asking me 'mommy, am i going to die????' i did my best to stay as calm as possible and keep her from panicing, even though i had NO idea what was about to happen...

the police called the ambulance and told them to go code yellow, not sure what that means, but they said they would be there very soon. the cop was describing what the injury was and the level of seriousness. every word out of his mouth was making me more and more scared as i tried to keep myself together and not let brianna know what i was thinking...

the ambulance gets there, they are trying to figure out how to get her out without cutting her more. the cop goes to his car and gets out a pair of huge metal clipper things to cut away the top edge of the tank (later i told bri, whats up with that??? they had to use the jaws of life to get you out of the tank!)

it took 5 men to free brianna from this tank, when they got her out, she was in the firemen's arms, and you could see the injury to her leg!!!

OH MY GOD!

thats all i can say about it... it was HUGE and so fucking deep... so much of my baby's insides were on the outside i just wanted to scream!!! brianna and i had made a deal not to look at the cut on her leg, so i pretended not to know what was going on and told her i was sure it wasnt a big thing at all. the whole time my heart was beating out of control and i was scared out of my mind...

they get her in the ambulance, now i dont know what the fuck to do, i have kids here with me that i cant leave alone, and they cant get us all inside the ambulance. i was STUCK! thankfully, brianna was content with jacob going with her and i would follow behind with the other kids and go directly to the hospital with them. as soon as the door closed with her inside the ambulance, i totally LOST it! i was crying and i couldnt catch my breath... the guy said, i cant let you drive like that, you have to calm down so we can go...

a big deep breath and i once again stuffed my feelings, we were on our way. by this time, everyone on my block was outside trying to find out if she was going to be ok. we left and started on the drive. 1/2 way there, they pulled off the road and STOPPED for no reason!!!!! my heart sank. i got out and ran up to the driver and said, what the hell is going on????? what is wrong with her???? i had no idea why they would just STOP! he said, they are starting an IV ... i went back to the back of the ambulance and felt so helpless because i couldnt get to her, but the guy inside gave me a thumbs up and we were on our way again.

the ambulance parked in the overhang, i parked my car and was waiting when they opened the doors... i told bri 'see, i told you i would be right here waiting for you'

they took my baby in, she had to have x-rays to make sure there was no more glass stuck inside her. those turned out good, nothing was left inside. then they numbed it all up - my baby was SCREAMING and crying so hard i was trying to stay focused on her and trying to keep her calm... i know i had tears falling, although i know i wasnt crying...

that was the worst of it, after that, she was fine... they had given her drugs for pain, something like valium to calm her down and a few other shots of whatever the hell they gave her. they stitched her up _30 damn stitches_ on my baby's leg - 5 inside and 25 on the outside. she was a trooper, i know that had to be hell for her...

now shes in a brace to keep her from bending the leg and we are instructed to see a plastic surgeon in 5 days to get the schedual of what to do from here....shes all drugged up and sleeping on the couch, its 2 in the morning and i dont want to leave her, i know me, i will be over her all night




whew!
what a fucking day!
[Edited 5/30/08 23:55pm]

goodness I cant eve imagine going through that

omg... so glad she's safe.

for you for holding it together.