Miracles still happen

Wow where do I even start. Saturday August 23, 2011 my big brother Abraham Heaps accidentally shot himself in the head. Anyone who knows Abe knows that he is always pushing the limits, and loves the shock factor. This time the inevitable happened and went a little too far.

I went into work at 5 and finished up feeding the girls dinner when I get a call from Abe's roommate and close friend. I assumed he was calling me about the painting he did for my apartment and just planned on calling him later. Half hour later I text him and said "Hey! what's up? Did you call?" and then the dreaded text came. He told me Abe had accidentally shot a bullet through his head and that he is in surgery right now but he is fine and not to freak out". Well good luck not freaking out. I immediately called him and he proceeds to tell me the story.

Abe and his roommate were just watching a T.V. show and after it ended Abe was just goofing around and pointed the Glock under his chin. Now the dangerous part about a Glock gun is they don't have safeties first of all and second is that when you put the magazine in it automatically shuffles the bullet into the chamber. When Abe pointed the gun to himself the magazine was out. Then click. The dreaded sound of a gun shot. His roommate ran and grabbed towels but miraculously Abe was still conscious, talking and trying to stand up. The ambulance and cops soon came and luckily Abe was conscious to tell them it was his fault and it was an accident. Two days later the Paramedics came and visited Abe. The nurse told us that she was really surprised because with the amount of people they bring in they rarely come visit to see how they are doing. Apparently Abe had an interesting conversation on the way up to hospital... I guess.

Well my whole family was down at Lake Powell this weekend, even my husband. I had to stay home because of work. I get off the phone with his roommate and become hysterical. There are very few times I have cried like that and this was definitely one of them. All kinds of thoughts started racing through my head making me dizzy... death, vegetable, brain damage, etc etc etc. I finally calmed myself for about thirty seconds and tried to make a plan for what I would do. I begin to call one of my co-workers and she answers. Of couse I am hysterical so I guarantee she had no clue what was going on but she said "Ill be there in five".  How grateful I am for her. Then I made the long drive up to Salt Lake.

While I am driving I kind of gain my composure because I know I need to be strong, especially where my parents weren't there. I began to call everyone that I knew was in Lake Powell with them. Left everyone message after message after message. Knowing deep down that Heavenly Father would be the only one to prompt them to go out into the channel where they get cell service. The last person I call is Blake Matthews and can I tell you what a relief it was when he answered the phone. I told him I needed to talk to my parents and that it was an emergency. He said he wasn't with my parents and that he didn't end up going because his daughter got her tonsils out. He asked what was wrong and I told him. He automatically said okay I'll get your parents home you go worry about Abe. I felt this relief of pressure and started sobbing. Literally 5 minutes later he called me and said "I have the Lake Powell Coast Guard going out to get them in Annie's Canyon". I was shocked, how did I not think of that ... It was brilliant. Then he continued to tell me he had a private jet headed down to go get them. WOW! I was shocked, a blessing and a half right there. Thank goodness for his clear mind because mine had shut down. I know with all my heart our families relationship and the love we have for each other, they would have sacrificed everything, as we would have sacrificed anything for one of their kids, those are true friends right there, irreplaceable.

Soon after, still while driving I get a phone call from Mark Warner, one of my parents friends that were in Lake Powell. They came out cause they felt like they needed to call their kids. Once they turned on their phones and received all of my messages, they knew something was wrong. They immediately called me and I told them what was going on. They got back to the boat and told my parents what happened. My mom went into shock and fell to her knees. My dad was like we have to go. They dressed my mom and literally 3 minutes later the boat was fueled and they were off.

They met up with the coastguard and they were off. Thank goodness because by that time it was dark, so they escorted them in. Got in the rangers car and flew to the airport. When they got there the lady in the one room airport said she couldn't use any electricity until right when he was supposed to land because they have problems with the power down there. The lights turned on right on time and turned off right as he landed, one of the many blessings. There were six seats in the plane just enough for Mom, Dad, Dave, Brig and Lauren. The pilot told them it takes 45 minutes to get to Salt Lake, if he had 45 minutes left of his gas he would take all of us but if he had 44 then he would just take my parents. He landed in Salt Lake City with 4 minutes of gas left in his tank. He later told the Mathews that in the 20 years he has been flying commercial, and privates planes he has never flown a darker night. He said he had to completely rely on his instruments because he could literally see nothing. He then proceeded to say that Angels must have been flying the plane because it was so dark outside that he had no clue how he could have done it alone.

They landed in Salt Lake and Mathews picked them up and hauled up to the hospital. In the meantime Abe's roommate, girlfriend and I had been sitting in the Emergency Waiting Room, and ICU waiting room, when finally someone told us how he was doing. The nurse from the surgery came up and told us they had to put a tracheotomy in because he damaged the trachea with the bullet. There was bleeding on the brain but they didn't know how much brain damage had occurred. They stitched him all up and he would be in the Surgical ICU in a half hour after his CT scan. They gave him the code name of "Trama Mojave".

We finally got to go in and it took every ounce of strength and courage to walk in that room. I woke him up and he started freaking out because he didn't know why he couldn't talk. I tried to explain everything and help him calm down. His arms were restrained and he was not happy about that. He was trying so hard to communicate but it was so hard especially after surgery. I was trying SO hard to read his lips and look at his hand signs but it was SO difficult. I had to try so hard not to burst into tears but heavenly father was by my side helping me through it. He always is when you need him and always has for me. To see someone you love SO much and have been through so much with, suffering, in pain, and scared it really shakes the very core inside you. The sweet nurse who was in the room with us was telling us all about his machines and what did what. After Abe calmed down he proceeded to tell us he was fine and not to worry, ha, like that would happen but it was sweet of him to think of us. It was very comforting for two reasons; one he looked like himself with tons of tubes, and second he was acting like himself :) Then the nurse said she needed to situate him a little more then we could come back in. I kissed Abeo on the forehead and as soon as I turned the corner I broke down, sinking into the pit in my stomach. The sweet nurse came and pulled me up and gave me a big hug and told me that everything would be okay and not worry because if anything changed she would come get me. That nurse will never know how much that meant and comforted me in my vulnerable, broken state.

Soon after my parents arrived and I took them into the room and introduced them to the sweet nurse. My mom turned white as a sheet, we rushed her to the seat and the look on her face was enough to break anyones heart. Hopefully one day I will be able to feel that same deep love my mom has for us for my children and I will understand. Just as a little sister seeing my big brother in that state was like nothing I have ever experienced before, let alone what my mom was feeling, I can't even imagine. She is such a strong woman.

The Neurosurgeon came in to tell us what was going on. The bullet passed thru a portion of his brain and exited his left temple. The neurosurgeon said "there is a one in a trillion chance that he could have taken a bullet like he has and still have the functions that he has at this point. Abe is the one in that trillion.". All that said, he obviously has a very long road of recovery ahead of him which will include multiple surgeries all a great risk in and of themselves. The next couple of days will be critical as his brian reacts to the intrusion by swelling and deals with a chip of bone that is lodged next to a main artery within the brain. There are a couple options at this point if the brain does swell they will first go in and  try to take out the bone fragment hoping to eliminate some of the irritation but don't want to do that because they might cause more damage than good. If the brain continues to swell they will cut the top of his cranium off, put it in the fridge and let the brain do its thing and swell. Once it comes back down they will reattached the bone and go on. But they didn't want to do that unless it was vital. Now how do you know if the brain is swelling? Well there are two ways, one they drill a hole in his skull and put a pressure gage in. Two they keep him on very very little pain killer, wake him up every half hour, and watch through his behavior, once he starts loosing the behaviors he is put into brain surgery immediately. They neurosurgeon said that the body is amazing thing that has gone through so much that they just want to watch and wait this one out to see what happens.

The next couple of days were absolute hell. He was in immense pain, his ventalator was pushing air into him (its like taking a deep breath every breathe) but they needed to keep him on that in case he stopped breathing. He has tubes, IV's, pick line, catheter, and he was restrained so he couldn't move. They couldn't give him any pain killer because that was the only window to see if the brain was swelling was through his actions. He kept pulling his feeding tube out so he barley ate, and he couldn't have water because it would go straight to his lungs. How miserable he was. He did great on all of his tests they woke him every half hour and continued to be mentally with it. He was very aggitated and very angry. This made it hard for us to be around him becuase it was so sad to see him in so much pain and so angry. One day he pulled his restraints so hard that he bent the metal he was strapped too. Day after day at the hospital and hour after hour it seemed like we had been there for months. Getting to know the people in the waiting room and watching as those they loved passed away, one after another.

Abe slowly got better each day, with minor setbacks some days. I could go into a day to day detail but to make this post readable I won't. Six days after the accident he was moved out of ICU and to an intermediate ICU. Seventh day he was moved out of ICU. On the eighth day my parents went to his room and he was gone. They had moved him to the Neuro ICU (NCCU). The fluid around your brain contains a level of sodium. Often times with a traumatic brain injury your pituitary gland can be damaged which causes your hormone secretion to be messed up. Apparently his hormone that regulates the levels of his sodium wasn't secreting. A normal level of sodium is from either 170-180 or 180-190 (I can't remember) but his had dropped down to 119. Once your body hits about 140 it causes seizures. They had been tracking this since the accident but their were more important things to worry about at the time. Because of the low sodium in his brain it caused him to go completely out of it and start having hallucinations, mixing all of his memories, thoughts, books, movies etc together into one big jumble. At this time he had a speech valve on his traich so as he would talk. It was both sad and funny at the same time, because he was so enthusiastic when he was having his hallucinations, which is unlike Abe. He would come in and out of the hallucinations. They had to give him slow dosages of sodium because obviously salt pulls water out and it will dehydrate his spinal cord. So they slowly gave him little bits at a time. The issue came when he wasn't coming out of his hallucinations and his sodium levels were up. The doctors were puzzled and finally one doctor said quite brilliantly,"Maybe it's because he hasn't slept in 10 days". Ironic right. DUH! thats what we have been trying to tell them. Abe's body gave in and he slept. Once he woke up he was Abe again.

This was one of Abe's first memories since the accident was day 10. Which just shows how traumatic the brain injury was. From this point on it has been a VERY speedy recovery. The one thing we are dealing with is just helping him separate what was reality and what was hallucinations. For the longest time Abe thought I had gotten married while he was in the hospital, and was so mad at me. Finally he was like I can't believe Abi wouldn't have just waited till I got out of the hospital to get married. Kiley told him that he was at my wedding and proceeded to clear everything up. The stories of dreams and hallucinations he had were crazy!! But we are still sorting those things out. Mid week they moved him to the Neuro section of the hospital to start rehab. That following friday they moved him to the IHC in Murray to do his rehab and outpatient rehab. He set new records on the PT (Physical Therapy) and OT (Occupational Therapy) tests there. His triach hole is healing but he has to put his hand over it when he talks because air still comes out of it.

He then was released that Wednesday morning and doesn't need any outpatient therapy just follow up visits with multiple doctors. On Thursday he went to see an ear doctor about the deafness he was feeling in his left ear. The doctor of course came out laughing (since that seems to be the trend with Abe) and in shock. He said he deals with people loosing their hearing after a gun is shot 10 feet away not right next to you. He said Abe had a small hole in his eardrum which was causing the deafness but that would heal over time. He said he couldn't believe his eyes.

So pretty much he walked away from this with some deafness in one ear, three scars, and minimal brain damage.  As a family we acknowledge the blessing that he is still with us and recognize the tenuious and critical nature of his condition. We know there is an all powerful and loving God in heaven who loves Abe. After 18 days of laying in a hospital bed fighting for life due to a 40 caliber bullet tearing through his head (brain), he was bent on doing something physical and "normal" as soon as he got out. One of his passions is cycling and all he could think of was getting back in the saddle and feeling the wind in his face and the burn in his muscles. Knowing his current limitations he and my dad conceded to 9 holes of cart golf.

They will do follow up visit in weeks to come with some of the doctors who worked on him. As my dad said, "From all outward indicators he seems to have dodged a bullet, no pun intended" And its true.

When we received the news of his accident we anticipated all kinds of less than ideal scenarios. Especially upon considering its nature. We simply prayed for His blessings to be upon Abe and asked that the Lord would give us the strength to deal with whatever stood before us. He has done that and so much more. We have witnessed a miraculous healing. One that has not only preserved the life of Abe, but has restored him to his full mental and physical capacity. All within 18 days. I remind you my dad golfed with him and he insists that they go cycling in the evening. All of you know our family. You know we believe in and have faith in an Almighty and Loving God. One who has infinite wisdom and love for each of us. Even amid the stupid things we do as mortals. One who knows us personally (both our strength and weaknesses) and hears our petitions through the blessing of faith based prayer. Many of you stand on the same spiritual ground, and have demonstrated your faith in Him and His will as you have spiritually stood right next to us fasting, praying and caring for us. Thank you. We are humbled by your love and faith based support. Similarly, we are humbled to be the recipients of such dramatic blessings from On High. The whole experience has again reminded us how absolutely reliant we are upon our Heavenly Father all the time especially during times like these.

Thank you again for your support, love and especially your prayers. They have made all the difference. We will be forever grateful to you and the Lord. Miracles still happen. I wish I could have counted the number of miracles that occurred because I can honestly say in 18 days there were thousands of miracles noticeable to us, not counting the ones we didn't notice.We are so thankful to all the doctors and nurses who took such good care of him and saved his life. We are so thankful to those who called every temple in the United States and put Abe's name on the prayer role for two weeks. I am so grateful Abe can live out his life and be with our family.  Thank you one last time for all your love and support, It means more that you will ever know to us. We love you all!!

Here are some pictures....

Abe and My dad golfing at Riverside

Abe's First walk outside, right before he got his Traich out

Abe showing me his bed that goes like 6 feet in the air :)

The farthest parking spot away at the IHC in Murray haha I love it :)

The flowers my visiting teacher's brought when they heard about Abe, so cute huh :)

The view from one of our many hospital rooms, gorgeous 

Aunt Ali giving us massages after hours in the waiting room, so thoughtful

 Showing us his gross tongue ha

My parents talking to close friends in waiting room

took out his traich 

This is my dad using his new app that lets you get a 360 degree picture