In a completely freak accident, my beautiful little gir, Harriet, often referred to as HRH, got kicked in the head by a horse in a field at home last Saturday evening, having gone under the fence into a paddock with 2 horses in followed by a dog, only for the horses to get spooked and gallop off, causing Harriet to be kicked in the middle of the forehead. Daddy and I both saw it happen and heard the most terrifying noise. Harriet fell instantly to the floor. She had the most awful wound to her forehead and there was a lot of blood and her skull was visible. Whilst I applied pressure to her head, my husband called the emergency services. Our very good neighbours were there to help us in minutes, as was my mum and more neighbours who went back to the house to look after Ted. The Ambulance crew arrived about 40 minutes later, we do live a long way from any hospital. Never have I been so grateful to see them. Poor Harriet was dipping in and out of consciousness which was unbearable. Every time she woke again with a little struggle and a cry it was a little bit of relief for me that she was still with us. I honestly thought at times that I had lost her.
We were blue lighted to Stoke hospital where there was a huge team of doctors waiting for her. She was put into an induced coma and instantly underwent CT scans to see if there was any damage to her brain. I had travelled with her in the ambulance and the paramedic had said to me that they needed me to understand that her conscious level was 3 and that they needed it to be 15 and that her condition was life threatening. I can’t explain how that made me feel, it was the worst thing I’ve ever heard.
It seems like she had been gone ages whilst we waited in the parents room for any news. The doctors had said that in an ideal world they would get her transferred to Alder Hey which is best equipped for little people but if it came to the matter of time then they could perform surgery on her at Stoke. Fortunately someone was watching over us that night and the CT scans came back with no sign of damage to the brain, a small bleed at the back of the brain which wasn’t a concern and a fractured skull but the brain itself was unharmed. This meant that they were able to move her to Alder Hey about 1.30am Sunday morning, with a medical team to look after her. Tom and I travelled there separately. Once there they called in the surgeons and she underwent more CT scans. About 11am Sunday morning she went down to surgery to close up the wound in her head which took just short of 2 hours. They decided they wouldn’t touch the skull fracture and hope that it will mend itself as she has an age advantage being only 4 years old. If it was to need altering later on that’s an operation that can be done at a later date. Once she was out of theatre they instantly started reducing the sedation for her to come back round.
That wait seems like a life time, I said to my husband I wouldn’t start to feel more positive until she was awake and recognising us.
In true Harriet style she woke with quite the bang, trying to sit up and pull the tubes from her mouth, which must have been terrifying for her, but then calmed down and came round much more slowly. The moment Tom asked her if she knew her little brothers name and she replied “yes” and I asked her what it was and she said “Teddy “ was one of the most amazing things ever!!!
For the next 3 nights we stayed up at Alder Hey with her in various rooms. Next time you stop for a McDonalds drive through please do drop your spare pennies in the charity collection box as the Ronald McDonald House is a house where they put parents up in these sort of circumstances and is a 5 minute walk from the hospital and it was amazing to be able to get a shower and put our heads down for a sleep. We went from ICU, to HDU and then a private room on the Neuro Ward. The Monday was a sleepy day, but she showed great signs, by Tuesday she was sat up in bed eating ice cream and by Wednesday she was walking herself to the toilet and was allowed to come home. And 8 days later she has been playing outside with friends and enjoying lots of presents she has been given by lots of super generous friends.
My daughter has proven she is one of the strongest, most determined people I know. And I can’t tell you how grateful I am that she is still here.
I didn’t even cry for nearly 24 hours after it happened, the shock of it all was just too much. All I can say is thank god non of my horses are shod, this may have been a whole different post if they were.
It’s going to be some time before she is able to return to the adrenaline fuelled little person that we all know and love, but she is making huge progress every day and she couldn’t wait to go down to the stables and see her 3 beautiful ponies and her mummy’s horses.
I think I have possibly gone a little grey over the last week but I will be forever grateful to the amazing medical team that helped her, my mum for being there to look after Ted whilst we were in Liverpool, my amazing neighbours that helped take control of the situation whilst we waited for the ambulance to arrive and then looked after my horses for the next 4 days, to some very special friends who brought supplies to Tom and I in hospital as we left with nothing, another amazing friend who came and picked us up from hospital when we were told we could leave and our friends and family who have called, texted and sent cards and gifts which have cheered Harriet up no end. Thank you all so much. xxx