Bringing everyone up to speed

Tuesday Dec. 15th-
Rachel was struck by a possible drunk driver on I-90. She was brought immediately to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. She was taken into surgery right away to assess the internal bleeding. There was damage to her small intestines, large intestines, and colon. Once the proper care was given her Trauma Team considered her stable enough they could then assess all other injuries and temporarily set the breaks and send her up to the ICU where she has been recovering since. She has a Pilon fracture (shattered) left ankle, broken left femur, 2 breaks on her left arm, broken left wrist and a few fingers as well. In addition, she has mid-foot breaks on her right foot, right knee is fractured where it meets the upper shin. There was minor bruising in her brain.

Wednesday Dec 16th-
Rachel was maintaining a stable level throughout the day and into the evening. At one point Nurse Margo woke her up enough to assess how coherent she may be. Once she was able to wake her up she was asking Rachel if she could hear her, and if she could show 2-thumbs up, and she did! This is a good sign that she was able to respond to commands.
Late in the evening they wheeled her off to take more X-rays and Cat Scans. There is some damage to her carotid artery which can over time heal itself, but they will be following up on her to see the severity of the damage. They also found that she has a small break of her jaw. There will be no surgery until she is considered stable by all members of her Team. We are very thankful for the group of Doctors that are taking care of her. She is in the best hands we could ask for, Helen the head nurse even braided her hair!

So far Rachel has had wonderful support from family and friends! Her Safeway crew has made many appearances Rita, Stacey, Jack, Jake, Mark and Mike and friends of them Tony, Jessica, Brittany. I (bestie of Rach) have been here with Sam, Vivien and Robert nearly the whole time. My family and other great friends of Viv, Peggy have all been patiently awaiting any and all news of Rach. I will do my best to keep this updated to pass on the information to all of you.