Walker's Hit and Run

I've been wanting to document this for a while, but our lawyer didn't want me putting too much out there.  I think we're getting close to wrapping this thing up, so hopefully this is okay.  I might just keep it vague just in case.

It was Sunday afternoon on March 15th.  Anderson and I were inside taking a nap and Tyson, Jake, and Walker were outside playing baseball in the big grassy field across the street from our house. From the evidence, it appears that Walker had already crossed the road to get a ball that had rolled between two parked cars.  It seems that he was leaning over and the car hit him on the left side of his head; the impact knocked him out of his left shoe and threw him on his right side.  Tyson heard the loud hit and went running; Walker was laying in the road screaming and crying.  Tyson looked up and saw a gold SUV, but he was too panicked to get a license plate.  Tyson said that he could tell that the driver was looking back in his rear view mirror but sped off when he (or she) saw Tyson look up.  Tyson scooped Walker up as Jake ran inside to get me.

I was in a fog.  I immediately ran outside to check on Walker and then I grabbed my stuff and threw Walker in the car and left for the hospital.  I obviously wasn't thinking very clearly and had panicked.  I didn't get far down the road when I realized that I wasn't in a position to drive, so I pulled over at our neighborhood fire station.  They said that they had just gotten the call about a hit and run and were actually about to leave for our house.  They loaded Walker up in the ambulance and we took off; about 5 minutes into the drive, Walker started getting drowsy and slurring his words.  Oh my gosh, talk about panic.  The next thing I knew, the EMT threw on the siren and moved me out of the way while they worked on him.  So, so, so scary.

We got to the hospital pretty quickly after that, and they had the trauma team waiting on us.  Y'all, it was like nothing you've ever seen.  No amount of nursing experience or ER shows can prepare you for that moment.  You walk in and are immediately swarmed by 20 people while another 10 look on.  One doctor is assessing his upper body while another checks his lower body; one nurse is starting an IV while another holds his neck stable; a nurse is putting leads on him from the monitor while another puts a blood pressure cuff on him.  And then here comes child life, the chaplain, the police.  Oh my gosh, it was CRAZY!!  There were so many other people- I just couldn't even process the rest.  I was surprisingly calm but I had to be because Walker was going NUTS!  They ended up having to sedate him so they could assess him.

Long story short, Walker was surprisingly able to walk away from this- he was pretty banged up, though.  His head CT came back clear but he had a concussion.  They did an ultrasound of his belly and that came back clear too.  The biggest concern was his neck- the CT showed some swelling between the 2nd and 3rd vertebrae.  Neurosurgery checked him out and felt okay sending him home with strict instructions to watch for any changes.

I'll write more once I'm able to.  Just please pray for Walker; this was all so traumatizing to him.  :(