I didn't expect the emotion to flood like it did. It was just television. Yet, there I was just as if I had gotten the phone call again. Perhaps it was because I was tired. Maybe it was the graphic pictures. It could have been the unexpected pictures.
My body shook with the knowledge of it. My throat clenched tight, the tears fell like water out of a faucet, my heart raced, and my mind was there again. Present - seeing her, smelling the antiseptic, hearing the noise of the machines...
"It's OK. I took care of her.", he says in a whisper to me.
"Yes. Yes. Oh thank you Father. Thank you.", my mind replies as the sobs begin to ease.
As I watched Gray's Anatomy tonight I had and unexpected visit from a memory tucked away. A little over 5 years ago my youngest daughter suffered serious injuries in a car accident. 2 of her friends also were seriously injured. It's been 5 years and life has gone on. Her friends have recovered physically. She, however, is in a constant state of recovery. TBI. Yes, it's that word you have heard on the news lately, it seems to be the topic of many TV shows at the moment also. Traumatic Brain Injury. Personally, I think it should be DTBI. Devastating Traumatic Brain Injury.
It's not good TV when it's your child who might not awaken. When your child - your vibrant, bubbly, full of life teenager - is lying motionless and swollen in ICU hooked up to machines and iv's fighting for their life. When you child doesn't awaken the next day - when she takes 29 days to open her eyes that no longer function together but wander independently unable to focus. When your child is no longer who she was and has to fight regain every skill ever learned beginning with learning to breathe on her own. It doesn't take a day - it takes months - years for some - and for some it never comes.
"I took care of her.", He says.
"Yes. Yes. Thank You Jesus. Thank you."
