Mission Accomplished!

We proudly announce that Elder Taylor McBride has faithfully completed his missionary service and has been released by his Stake President. We are so proud of him and the mission that he served. While there is a bittersweet element to the way his mission was cut short, we are celebrating his success and dedication.

A dear friend of ours told us he looks at Taylor's return much as when a wounded soldier comes home from war. They are celebrated as heroes, given a Purple Heart, and discharged honorably. We feel the same way about Taylor. We know he served with all his heart, might, mind, and strength.

This afternoon he had the opportunity to visit on the phone with his Mission President, who thanked him for his hard work and dedication. Taylor's main concern was that someone should take care of the baptismal dates he had set up for the rest of the month.

Chrissie, and I were privileged to participate with Taylor and President Barker in a bedside mission report and testimony meeting yesterday afternoon. It was a sweet experience to hear Taylor's thoughts on his service, and his witness of the truthfulness of the Gospel. After we closed, President Barker told Taylor that he felt prompted to release Taylor from missionary service, and to begin looking forward to the next phase of his life.

Taylor does feel much sadness that he was unable to finish the way he had planned, and to say goodbye to the people he had served and loved. He left in such a hurry, all he brought home was a backpack with a few of his personal belongings.

We don't really know at this time what the recovery will be like. How long, how difficult, how restrictive. Eventually those things will be determined. Until then, we ask for your continued prayers and faith on Taylor's behalf. We know that through the power of the priesthood, and the prayers and faith of our friends and loved ones, miracles have already occurred. We have hope and great faith that Taylor will make a complete recovery. In fact, we expect it.

Taylor is happy to have visitors. He is still in the ICU, so please call first: Brad 602-418-3135, Chrissie 480-235-5325. (He would still love to get letters - 2869 E. Page Ct., Gilbert, AZ 85234 - or emails to taylormcbride18@gmail.com)

We are proud of our son, and are glad to have him back from the Lord's errand.

Inside Taylor's Head

We are finally understanding what is going on inside Taylor's head, and I wanted to take a minute to try and describe it as simply as I can.

If you look at the picture above, you will notice there are two different sets of stitches. The top set are from when his head hit the curb. The bottom set is from when the gate hit his head, and is the one we are worried about. It is right above the cerebellum. The cerebellum is Latin for the "mini-brain". It controls voluntary movement and balance, among other things.

(The red part is the cerebellum)

You might not be able to tell, but the lower injury is right on top of the cerebellum. When the gate hit his head, it caused two bad things to happen:

1) The skull was fractured and pushed down against the cerebellum.

2) The brain was injured resulting in swelling.

These two things combined are putting pressure on a vein that runs directly under the fracture. That vein's job is to take blood out of the brain, back into the body. The pressure is causing the vein to be partially "occluded" or pinched off. The vein was also cut a little bit, resulting in some bleeding.

So, the doctors are watching to see if the swelling of the cerebellum will go down to let that vein flow more freely.  If the swelling should get worse, then they would operate to relieve the pressure. This, however, is something they don't want to do, because it is delicate and risky.

Our hope is that the swelling quickly goes down, and the vein can flow freely. So, Taylor will be in the ICU for a few days so they can monitor him.

Waiting...waiting...

Sorry there hasn't been any new news posted - but there really hasn't been much news.

Elder McBride is doing well. He is awake more and communicating just fine. They have been running a lot of tests - MRI, EEG, etc. (The picture above is the EEG checking his brain function - happily they found one) He is getting to be an expert on touching his finger to his nose. Right now the main concern is whether or not the swelling in the cerebellum is going to get worse, or better. If it gets worse, all of the surgery-type options come back into play. We are getting closer to the end of the "window" where the swelling usually gets bad, so that's a plus.

Last night he ate his first solid food since he threw up on Monday: Mashed potatoes, mac n' cheese, and lemon jello.

He is still in the ICU, with no talk of moving him for now. But, he is up taking a walk with the nurse right this very moment. Last night his siblings came in and visited (Less Alex who will be here tomorrow), and he was very responsive and enjoyed it. He even had permission from the Stake President to watch the Maverick/Heat game. He is still a missionary, after all.

Today we should learn more about what is coming up, and I will pass the information on to you.

Beginning to Get Some Answers

 The bottom wound is where the gate actually hit Taylor on the head and where his skull is fractured so badly.  The top wound is where he fell and hit his head on the curb.  We are lucky that that one is not a fracture also.

We just met with the neurosurgeon. One of the top men in the world. He has decided to do nothing. He feels that there is more risk of going in and rearranging the bones than in letting them heal themselves. Apparently the depressed fracture is very close to a delicate area that could cause much bigger problems if they went in. Apparently there are some major blood vessels in the area near the fracture and he could bleed to death. So - it is better to leave it alone and let it heal.

The neurologist is pleased with Taylor's motor skills, memory, and brain function, so that part is working well.

The brain did suffer significant trauma (bruising) and it is going to take some time to recover. He will be on anti-seizure medicine for a few months, and he will need to take it easy and be really careful for the rest of the year. A lot of rest. No sports, running, basketball, snowboarding, and most importantly, no going back to the DR to finish the mission. And that is the saddest part of all.

Taylor has only three months left, and wanted to finish strong. Not only will he not be able to do that, his departure was so abrupt that there were no good byes, and plenty of unfinished business. It is really sad for him.

Thankfully, the good news is that the doctor expects him to make a complete recovery. But Taylor will have to be patient, because it will take a while.

For now, it looks like he will be spending a few more days in ICU as they watch for complications that would require more drastic procedures. They also want to do a lot more testing.  After that, it will be home to rest.

It seems that in a wide range of terrible outcomes, Taylor has managed to "thread the needle" and find the solitary option that will help him recover and return to normal the fastest and safest. We recognize how blessed he is, and recognize the Lord's hand throughout this process.

We love Taylor and feel for him. We are so proud of him and the wonderful mission that he served. We have no doubt in our minds that his offering is acceptable to the Lord.  He still needs your prayers.

(Thursday, 10:30am)

The Unexpected Homecoming

Elder McBride arrived in Phoenix Wednesday night about 10pm after a long day of travel. We were so glad to get him home. He was accompanied by a guardian angel disguised as a senior missionary named Elder Kilgore. He is the doctor that serves as the area medical advisor for the Church in the Caribbean. Taylor was tired, but able to talk and visit with us. His speech is good, he is sharp, but a little groggy.

We immediately took Taylor to St. Joesph's Hospital, home of Barrow's Neurological Institute and went through the normal intake procedure. We met with the ER physician, who looked at Taylor's MRI and immediately bumped his case to highest "Red" priority. (The doctor was incredibly helpful - an LDS man named Dr. Bishop - I know, but I'm too tired to make the joke)

In less than 2 hours Taylor had flown through ER, labs, radiology and was in his room in the ICU. The haste did add to our stress. We met with a couple of doctors so far, but are waiting to meet with the main neuro guys later this morning. Chrissie and I spent the night here with him.

So far, it is our understanding that the skull fracture is "significant" or "large", depending on the doctor. It is also quite low on the back of his head. Because of this, the depressed part of the skull is pushing on his cerebellum, which is a part of the brain that influences balance and coordination. There is some internal bleeding and swelling.

One of the neurologists expressed his surprise that Taylor was able to communicate so well and had good motor skills for someone with this type of injury. Apparently the doctor is not familiar with the power of the priesthood and the prayers of hundreds of faithful saints.

It is obvious that the right decision was made to bring him here, and we are grateful for the missionary department for getting him home to us.

We will know more about what the doctors' plan of attack is later this morning. Surgery is almost guaranteed, but we know very little a this point as to what that entails. Will post later today.

The good news: He is home, he is still Taylor, and the Lord is heavily involved.

(Thursday, 5:30am)

This is in the middle of the night after they got him to ICU.  They gave him lots of powerful medicines and he could finally relax and sleep.  I can't even begin to express my feelings that night.

It Just Keeps Getting Worse

Taylor is on his way home.  Turns out that his skull was fractured after all. He had a rough night with pain and vomiting, so they re-scanned him this morning and found a compression fracture. I was able to speak to the neurosurgeon, his Mission President, and the medical advisors in SLC, and they all agreed that it would be better for Taylor to be treated here in the States, rather than in the DR.

A few technical points:

-There is no bleeding inside his head.

-The surgery will be to lift the compressed bone back into place.

-The doctor (in the DR) doesn't think it will be too complicated of a procedure.

-They also want to make sure everything is in the right place, and is clean and won't get infected.

He is flying home commercial, which is a good sign, and will arrive late tonight and go straight to Barrows Hospital in Phoenix. (Which isn't nearly as good as Barro's Pizza)

We will let you know more information as we have it.  The doctors, the Church and all of you have been wonderful and supportive. We appreciate all of you.  Please keep Taylor in your prayers.  The hope is that he can quickly return to the mission field and finish out his service.

He does NOT want to come home.

Change of plans...

Turns out the airline would not let Taylor board without specific documentation, or the right kind of medical supervision. He will have both tomorrow, and they will try again. So, for now, it is back to the hospital.  We will probably get to talk to him today, and will update accordingly. (Tuesday, 12:15pm)

It looks like it will now be Wednesday before Taylor gets home...

Taylor is scheduled to fly out tomorrow morning and arrive tomorrow night. This time he will be accompanied by a wonderful doctor who is serving as the church medical coordinator for the Caribbean - so they'll let him on the plane. Both Chrissie and I got to talk to Taylor for a few minutes. He sounded tired, but coherent, and was able to communicate fine. He had just gotten back to the hospital after the airport fiasco. It was reassuring to hear him. His biggest worry was whether or not he will be able to return to the DR.

I did have a chance to learn more about what could be happening with the injury. Anytime there is a skull fracture with an open wound, it justifies a surgery to go in and make sure there isn't anything that is going to cause infection. Also, the doctors will need to take a look at the dent in the back of his head and decide if they will need to try and lift the bone back to where it should be. (Steve, feel free to edit here)

We are overwhelmed by the outreach and support we have received today. We truly feel loved, and know that Taylor is loved too. Thanks for the texts, emails, FB posts, visits and phone calls. We appreciate every one of them. Please don't feel like you need to leave us alone - you don't. We want you all "in the loop". And your cookies.

Love,

The McBrides

 (Tuesday 7:00pm) 

Spoke with Taylor again this morning. He is on his way to the airport. This time he isn't wearing pajamas, and has a doctor with him. He should be good to go. He reports feeling about the same, still having nausea and some vomiting - the car ride isn't helping. He suggested we not have any big meal planned for him because he isn't eating yet - I told him not to worry - we are just taking him straight to the hospital, and he said "Good."  :(

So, he is scheduled to be back in Phoenix tonight, and we should have some better information by this time tomorrow.

(Wednesday 7:00am) 

The Dreaded Phone Call

This account of Taylor's accident is taken straight off of his missionary blog:

Dear Friends and Family,

I was waiting and wondering this afternoon why I hadn't heard from my boy yet, when I got a call from the mission president's wife.  She said that Taylor had been in an accident.  She said that he and some other missionaries were going to the church to play basketball. Taylor opened a huge sliding metal gate and it broke and fell on his head.  The gate knocked him to the ground where he hit his head again on the curb.  Thankfully, one of the missionaries that was with him was a trained EMT.  They gave him a blessing and he cared for him and called an ambulance.  Eventually, a lady stopped and asked if she could give him a ride to the hospital.  When they told her they were waiting for an ambulance, she told them that it could take hours.  So, they loaded up in the car and went to the hospital.  The lady even gave him some brand new pajamas that she had just bought for her son because his clothes were bloody.  What an angel.  I am very thankful for her.  

The Antivilo's met them there and have been very involved in his care.  He has a neurosurgeon that was trained in Puerto Rico and then the church has a doctor there that they are consulting with also.  He has 20 something stitches on his head and they x-rayed him and gave him a CT scan.  He was very confused and has a concussion and so they are keeping him overnight in the hospital.  The missionary that is a EMT is also staying with him tonight.

It has been a very trying and emotional afternoon and evening.  Here is a first-hand account from one of the missionaries that was there  I hope he doesn't mind.  It was very disturbing for me to read, but it really tells what happened:

"still pouring rain bye the way and we were soaked. elder mcbride opened up the huge wrought iron gate to the church that slides open. he opened it enough to walk in and went in and then the support pole for the gate broke and the entire gate fell on him. the gate hit him in the back of the head and then he turned sideways and fell over backward and hit his head on the curb as well. so he started having convulsions and bleeding from his head, apart from my comp and i and him and his comp there was one other companionship there. by now there was a huge crowd of people around not doing anything. elder lesuier and i got our shirts off and held them to the back of his head to stop the bleeding, and then i had mcbride´s comp elder sena hold my shirt so that i could give him a blessing. here they have no ambulances so people were coming on motors to try to take him and we kept saying no cause we all had to stay together and were all trippin out cause emergencies are handled a lot differently here. an suv stopped with two ladies in it and we got him loaded in the car and tried to grab all of our stuff and left. 2 of our 3 phones didnt work cause they were now wet but we finally got a hold of the mission president to tell him what was going on. we got him to the hospital and they brought out a gernie and started doing their thing. basically things are a lot different here than what i am used to in the states so im glad that everything turned out alright. they got him stitched up and he is going to stay in the hospital overnight so that they can keep an eye on him to make sure that he is okay."

I just got another phone call from sweet Sister Antivilo.  She said that Taylor's companion called tonight and said that he was worse and he was throwing up.  They went over to see him and then talked to both doctors again.  They both reassured her that he was okay and that it was normal for what he was going through.  They thought about letting him call me, but he was pretty out of it and medicated and falling asleep.  She is very confident that he is being properly taken care of and will call if anything goes wrong.

Please keep Taylor in your prayers everybody.  He could use a letter from anyone who can write also - to help keep his spirits up.  We love him so much and pray that he will recover quickly.  I will keep you updated.

Chrissie

Here are pictures of that time that we got later:

Ouch

The horrible giant gate (already fixed).  See the bags of cement

At the hospital in the DR -  Letters from missionaries

 Elder Allen (the EMT), Elder ? (the area doctor), Taylor, ?, President Antivilo and Elder Sena

Still in the DR