Emergency

Yesterday morning I got the phone call that no one ever wants to get. My mother-in-law Ann called at about 9:15 to tell me that Brandon had been injured at work. She did not know how bad, but was told he hurt his head. The police had called my in-laws because they could not find my number. She also said she and Earl (her husband) were on the way to pick me up and take me to the hospital. I immediately called Coca-Cola to find out if they knew anything. Their receptionist Cheryl got me in touch with the police in Evanston. The police dispatcher told me that Brandon had fallen off the back of his work truck and hit his head. She also said he had a seizure and wanted to know if he had a history of seizures. I told her no and gave her some more medical information. She said he was on his way to Evanston Regional Hospital.

After talking to her, I called a couple more people and arranged for Kaitlyn to spend the day with her friend Sierra. Ann and Earl arrived and Ben and I went with them. On the way, the hospital called and told me they were lifeflighting Brandon to Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City. We rushed to the hospital and arrived a couple minutes before Brandon. We watched them unload him from the helicopter and rush him back into the emergency room. We waited for several more minutes while they got him ready for surgery. Then a social worker took us back to see him. He was heavily sedated and they had to put a breathing tube in. He was hooked to all kinds of machines and had IV's all over his arms. I talked to him and waited with him while they finished getting the operating room ready. The doctor said that he had an epidural hematoma on the left side of his brain, which means that blood was collecting between his brain and his skull. He needed immediate surgery to remove the blood and the pressure on his brain.

My parents arrived just as they were getting ready to take him to surgery. My dad Jay and Brandon's step dad Earl gave him a blessing and then the nurses took him away to surgery. We waited in the surgical waiting room. The surgery took about two hours. One of the doctors and a nurse came and told us that the surgery went well. They removed a piece of his skull and removed the blood. The doctor told us that his brain looked good and was not swelling too bad. They believe they removed the blood in time to prevent too much damage but we will not know the permanent effects for several days or weeks. They took Brandon to the ICU Trauma area and got him situated in his room.

Finally, I was taken back to see him as he was coming out of sedation. When I went in the room, he was just barely starting to move. He was really agitated and started trying to pull out the tubes. His hands were tied down. His vitals started to go crazy. The nurse tried to get him to respond and follow some simple commands. He was not responding and just kept thrashing around. They decided to sedate him some more and he calmed down. The rest of the day he pretty much rested. They were going to try to slowly bring him out of sedation over the evening and see if he responded better.

This is a brief explanation of the events, but I think it gives people most of the information needed. He had checked in with the restaurant and went out to unload their product. About five minutes later, one of the employees went out to empty the garbage and found Brandon on the ground unconscious and having a seizure. From what his co-workers have deduced, since no one witnessed the accident, he was moving product around in his truck and did not realized he was that close to the back of the truck. He slipped off the back and landed on his head. His left shoulder was also pretty bruised.

I will try to update the post regularly with information on his status and progress. I figure this will be one of the easiest ways to keep family and friends informed. People wanting more information or to send well wish can email us at bwoch@wildblue.net. I will try to respond as soon as possible. Family and friends are also welcome to call me on my cellphone at any time. The kids and I will be staying at my mom's house in Salt Lake for a while, since it is only a couples minutes from the hospital. Thanks for all the concern and prayers we have received so far. We really appreciate it.