It is hard to overestimate the kick in the stomach that we got from one moment sitting on the steps of the porch in Maine, relaxed and happy, to the next moment trying to comprehend that our daughter has just had a very serious accident. We are not with her, and are far from airports on an island off the coast of Maine.
After Strother’s call we sit there, numbed; the sunset has lost its beauty, dusk is coming on, and our happiness is replaced by cold terror. We feel helpless, waiting for enough time to pass for us to get an assessment of Eliza’s condition from the hospital.
Our decision for the emergency paramedics from the Rockfish Valley to take her to UVA hospital was based on the fact that UVA is a regional trauma center and that they frequently deal with horseback riding accidents.
It takes more time to get to UVA hospital in Charlottesville than it would have taken to get to the hospital just over the mountain in the Shenandoah Valley off of I 64, however at the time we made the decision we didn’t know that among her other injuries, she had also punctured a lung.
On arrival at the Emergency Room her oxygen level was at 37%. When this call came through it seemed that our worst fears were justified, and our immediate goal was to start getting ourselves down the coast to her bedside. But no, we were told to stay put while they further assessed her condition. This way we would be able to give permission if they needed to operate.
It was quite obvious that if they didn’t get her oxygen level up quickly it wouldn’t matter what other injuries she had sustained, and so their immediate focus was on this. A tube was inserted through her chest wall to deal with the collapsed lung.
Since it had gotten late we lay down, half dreading the ring of the telephone, and yet hoping with every fiber in us that when it came it would bring positive news. Sleep was out of the question; prayers took its place.
A young doctor named Chris Derby was in charge of her case, and it was he who finally called around 2:00 a.m. to say the words we were so hoping to hear, that her oxygen level was steadily improving. She was young, and fit, having rowed all four years at college, and he felt confident that we could leave on the three-hour drive to Portland to catch a plane for Virginia. Euphoria swept over us. We felt in our bones that if she was given a fighting chance she would make it. We jumped in our car, Virginia bound.
