Driving down Ledo Rd was a normal part of our life, as this is the location of WalMart. I was in the inside West bound lane, headed towards HWY 82 when a Chevy Suburban pulled out in front of me. I couldn't break fast enough. Elijah was sound asleep in his booster seat. His neck was dangling out of the seat.
There was nothing I could do for him or myself - I just prayed that there wouldn't be serious injury. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. I slammed into the back side of the SUV. Saw parts of my car fly in the air. As fast as that happened, the vehicle turned around, leaving skid marks on the road. They pulled back into the WalMart parking lot.
Then Elijah woke crying and asked what happened. I told him we were in a wreck. Before I could get him calmed down, a man was knocking on our widow. It was an off duty police officer. He was already calling the accident into the police and finding out if we needed an ambulance. Several other people were stopping and talking with my by this time and did what they could to help us. Elijah was so upset. I finally got him out of his seat and had him up front with me. Called my mother who was in town a few miles away.
Lee County police arrived and took our statement and had a wrecker on the way. Elijah finally got out of the car with Grandma. When he got out, he said his neck was hurting and he had a headache. Little did I know that this was just the beginning. One of the witnesses said she saw the driver throw something in the trash before walking up to the road. The man that said he was driving was the one that got out of the passenger side according to the witness. He was 20 years old and was on a learners permit. The one that she said was actually in the drivers seat was 22 with no license. There was no licensed driver in the vehicle either - 5 people between 11 and 15 and the 20 and 22 year old.
Police took the statement of 1 witness who saw the wreck but did not take the statement of the other witness. He told her to hang around for a while. He let the driver go and never came back to take the lady's statement. She did give us her name and phone # in case we ever needed it.
Mon morning, Elijah and I both went to our drs. No x-rays were done. We were both told that we had whiplash. I was given a compounded cream for inflammation. Then Fri we went to an ortho. I received x-rays and was told I had whiplash and had inflammation in my shoulder and told to go to therapy. Nothing was done for Elijah there either. He was having headaches every couple of days. These headaches sometimes would last for 2 or 3 min and be over with. But they started coming more frequent and with greater intensity Some days he would have 5 or 6 episodes over 2 hours, the first would be mild and last 2 min, then each one after would progress in length and strength, then finally back off. Some would cause him to fall to his knee screaming, break out in a sweat, and all color would leave his face.
We were later sent to a neurologist in Macon about the headaches. This was now about 6 weeks after the wreck and Elijah still had a stiff neck and did not have full range of motion. He was given Elavil to help with the headaches. All it did was make him more hyper and interfered with his sleep. A couple of weeks later, he went back to his sleep dr and she changed him to Depakote. Same thing again. I have taken both of these meds in the past as an adult, even the same dose as Elijah, and they put me to sleep in a few minutes. I was unable to function with Depakote.
On April 24, we were on our way to Macon to Elijah's gastro and he started to scream and hold his head. For the whole 2 hour trip he was like this. We had to make several stops so he could throw up. Got to his dr and Elijah didn't want any light on. He also wanted me to lay on his head or put some sort of pressure o it. His dr walked in and talked to us for a min and Elijah started throwing up again. He told us to get to the ER and have him checked out as something serious could be going on. 6 hours after the headache began, it was finally over. Elijah received a CT scan at the ER. This showed that Elijah has 2 vertebrae that have been shoved forward by the impact of the wreck. If the dr had done the x-ray at the beginning, maybe Elijah wouldn't have dealt with this much pain. As we were coming out of the ER, Elijah was riding in a wagon. I was going to bring him down the handicap ramp instead of making him walk down the stairs. Well, the wagon picked up speed and nearly got away from me. I moved someway to keep it from running over me, but instead I fell down and was dragged at least 5 feet, if not more. My knee was scraped up and bruised. Also my hip was bruised badly. Over the next few days, I found it difficult to walk or lay on my left hip. Back to Elijah.
The ER dr suggested having an MRI done, but we can't get any dr to do one. We later called the ortho that saw us in Jan and asked him. The lady at appointments said that she would see if he would schedule an MRI before hand so we could get the results sooner, but she saw that we had a balance and she couldn't make an appt till we paid. We brought the CT in a few days later and paid the balance of the bill (that the insurance didn't pay). After we paid them, we were told quite rudely that this dr didn't see children and we would have to go elsewhere.
I called the neurologist a couple days later and he changed Elijah's med once again - to Tegretal. This usually works great for migraines (which he says Elijah has). After starting this med, the headaches continued and it still caused sleep issues.
Before April 24, I contacted Mayo concerning the shoulder pain I was still having and asked for a 2nd opinion. After the fall at the ER with Elijah, I called and asked them if they would do an x-ray of my knee and hip also. Knee was fine, except for inflammation. The hips were another story. It was nothing to do with the wreck, but it was a fortunate find. I was diagnosed with osteo-necrosis in both hips, with the left one being the worst. I'll talk about this in another post.
With just the shoulder x-rays they couldn't tell much so they set up an MRI. I had the MRI on June 21 and told that I have a labral tear, tendinitis, bursitis, and osteo-arthritis. The tear, tendinitis, and bursitis have been caused by the wreck. Still waiting on the hip MRI and surgical consult on this.
We had a trip on May 23 to see the dr. Yet again, another med change. This time to Neurontin. 4th medication less than 3 months. This med was another bad one for Elijah. No sleep, but it changed his mood. He became violent with us and himself. The least little thing would set him off. Not being able to open a package or the computer going dead - or just speaking to him. Sometimes he would begin to beat me or Papa, throw things and try to break them, or beat himself. Then he would just sit down and cry. I gave this to him on Thurs, Fri, and Sat only. His moods got worse day by day. Tues he finally started acting better. He would look up and laugh again. He still has moments where things set him off and he gets angry, but they are getting better. Not yet a week since his last dose of meds, so it may take a few more days to get it out of his system.
On Wed, May 28 I called the Neuro and told him what was going on and that I had taken him off the Neurontin, but I didn't want to try another med right now. Elijah needs a break from these meds for a while. Not sure what we can do for the time being, but something has to be better than guessing.
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