Chapter Four: More information and the brutal reality

As we waited in the trauma family waiting room, we continued to be greeted by more specialists. We now know that Phoebe has had an air bubble - possibly with some blood involved in her brain cavity. This air came from her sinus and orbital cavity. It was forcibly pushed into her brain cavity as her face made contact with the vehicle. This is a point of concern because the air is known to cause contamination and bring infection to the brain. We also know now that Phoebe has several fractures to facial bones around her right eye socket and cheek. These breaks are in addition to the jaw. She has lost several teeth with the possibility of losing more. The plan at this point is to use a titanium plate to mend the jaw back together. She will require many stitches on her cheek, eyebrow, lip, and inside her mouth. Officer Banks joined us to share his concern. He and his fellow officers conducted on-scene crash forensics and provided us with some disturbing news and affirmation that God was looking out for Phoebe. The student who accidently hit Phoebe was driving a four-door Jeep. The vehicle was damaged on the driver's side fender and Phoebe had made contact with the external rear-view mirror. Stopping distances and the fact that Phoebe's cell phone was thrown forty-feet indicate that the Jeep was traveling in excess of 30 miles per hour. The fact dawned on Carol and I that, had Phoebe been six inches farther into the lane, she would probably no longer be with us. Wow! This hit us like a ton of bricks. I kept looking at the tiles on the floor thinking that, one more tile forward and we would have lost our daughter. I'm trying not to dwell on this because we were blessed with the good fortune of God's grace. Phoebe is in critical condition but the prognosis is looking very positive.