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.

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.