I am Audriana's mom. She was just two weeks into her fourth year when we were in a car accident, and although she was "safe" in a carseat for her size and weight, the car that hit us came through the window on her side and hit her in the head (left side of her skull) She immediately stopped breathing and had no pulse. My husband was driving and he is a paramedic/firefighter and thank God he was with us because he kept her blood flowing to her brain, using CPR, until an ambulance arrived, some ten minutes later. She was then rushed to Loma Linda Medical Center, in CA, which was the nearest facility to our accident site. She was there in the ICU for 5 weeks. In the first three days she was touch and go...the doctors didn't seem to optimistic that she would survive, given the enormous swelling to her brain. In fact, on her second day there, the nuerosurgeon told us that her only chance of suriving this would be to remove a portion of her brain to make room for the swelling that was still going to happen in the days to come. Her ICP pressure at that time was so high, and anymore increased pressure would cut off the blood supply to her brain and she would more than likely end up brain dead. So this surgery was her best bet, and we decided to do it. That was the hardest decision I have ever had to make, and the hardest form to sign my permission to, a form giving permission for a "partial left temporal lobectomy" to my precious daughter. After the surgery she was packed in ice and put into a medicated coma. On the third day, her ICP pressure rose it's highest and the doctors appologized, saying that they did all they could...and we were advised to call a priest and were allowed to have our entire family in her room. The reality sank in that she was probably not going to make it. I couldn't imagine my life, our lives, without her. She was our middle child. There would be a big gap between my then 5 year old and 18 month old....I couldn't bare the thought of losing her, and prayed the hardest I had ever prayed before. Well, her ICP pressure began to go down...on the fourth day. The doctors were amazed. We were then prepared for the possibility that the damage to her brain would be so severe that she may not ever wake up....live in a vegetative state....or be so severely brain damaged that she would have a poor quality of life. I couldn't bare that thought, either. She did wake up, slowly, communicating by wiggling her fingers on her left hand. When she finally opened her eyes up (about two weeks later) she could not move her eyeballs. The right side of her body did not move at all (being hurt on the left side of her brain) and the speech part of her brain had been removed, so we knew that she would be unable to talk. The doctors said that given her age, she would have a good chance of learning to talk again...but, it took about two months for her to learn to "moan" again. She was unable to make any sound. When she cried, we only knew it because her mouth would open and she had tears in her eyes...but, no sound. She spent two months in rehab. Our accident happened on February 17, 1997. It is not two and a half years later, and Audriana has learned to talk again and only has a little trouble "finding" a word sometimes, like the word she wants to say will get "stuck" in her brain, although she knows what she wants to say, it won't come out of her mouth. Very frustrating to her, but really, she talks amazingly well. She doesn't have a slow speech, just choppy at times. Audriana has learned to walk again, but has a limp due to her weak right leg, which hyperextends at the knee when she walks. She runs, but slower than the kids her age, and also with a slight limp. Her right arm does not work, it is curled up to her chest when she exerts herself in anyway....her fingers on her hand will not open at will. She is unable to use her right hand. She used to be right handed, but now uses her left hand very well. Her eyesight has been affected as well, leaving her with a left divergent eye (turns out to the side) and makes her face look awkward, having two eyes that point in different directions. She can pull her eye in straight to look normal for pictures, but can't see well like that, so it naturally goes out again any other time. I love to see her with her eyes straight, she looks so normal. But, it is too hard for her to force that eye in all the time, and her vision is terrible when it is in. She can read, but uses only her right eye. Her memory since the accident hasn't changed. She remembers her past and she remembers long and short term. Her personality has changed a little bit, but the old her still comes out at times, and that really makes me happy to see. She is very smart still, and has learned to read and reads at her age level or better. She attended kindergarten at her normal time, in a normal class, and did well. Her accident has changed our lives. I seem to always feel like I have a dark cloud looming over me, everyday, because I am sad about what has happened to my little girl. I took such good care of myself when I was pregnant with her, I did and ate all the right things, took good care of her when she was born, stimulated her little brain at a young age and taught her many things...she was just starting tap dance and preschool, and life was soooo good, and then two weeks after her 4th birthday a driver loses control of her car and crosses the center line of traffic and hits into my daughter's head, thus changing her life forever. I find it hard to get past that. It has been two and a half years and I STILL wake up in the morning with a heavy heart, knowing that something isn't quite right. And never will be again... I am VERY grateful to still have her here with me. Some might think that I am not grateful enough because I still have so much saddness, but, I am grateful. I just can't help but hurt for her, you know? To see her being left out by the other kids, to hear her wish that she, too, could ride a two-wheeler...like the other kids. The things that I thought I would be teaching my six year old, like how to tie her shoes, I cannot do, because she only has one hand that works. Teaching her to rollarskate, ride a bike. Things like that. It's painful for a parent to see her child hurt, and different from the other children, unable to do simple things, like stand on one foot. She remembers having a body that worked right. It's frustrating for her, and she always askes me, "Mommy, WHEN will my hand work again?" (or my eyes, my leg....) I keep hoping that she will continue to make improvements. I am writing her story in such detail because I am hoping that someone out there will have a similar story with their child and be able to tell me how their child recovered.... so, if anyone responds to this, I will really enjoy hearing from you. My name is Trina, and I have two other children and one more due in October 1999. We are trying to heal from this curve that Life threw at us. It takes time, I know....it's hard to be patient. I know life will never be the same again, but I sure hope that someday that it will be as happy.

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