Bus Accident

* NOTE ADDED AFTER WE RETURNED TO THE USA: when I originally posted this - we thought Kaitlin was ok. After Kaitlin was released from the hospital in Uganda with an all clear bill of health, she walked around Uganda for two more weeks, flew internationally (hauled luggage) and upon returning home, went to her doctor. He discovered she has a broken back (the T9 vertibrae) and told her she was lucky she was not paralyzed!



Saturday night, coming back from Paraa, a car cut the bus off unexpectedly in a construction zone. We did not see a brand new speed bump, and the bus hit it very hard. We all flew up out of our seats. Kaitlin was in the back of the bus, hit her head HARD on the roof, and was slammed back down. She was injured, and could not speak or move, but managed to whisper "Help Me!" Debbie heard her, and got the group's attention. Renata and I rushed to the back of the bus. We got the bus to stop (the road was terribly bumpy as all roads here are) and tried to assess what was wrong. Clearly, we had to get to the hospital ASAP... but traffic was a nightmare and we were at least an hour away.
We had no choice but to try to continue to the hospital while the ambulance (we called on the cell) tried to find us... Kaitlin was in severe pain and shock. Her mom is going to read this, so I am not going to get into the scary details, but we were afraid she had a broken back or spinal injury. All of her extremities were in pain, and all the way to the hospital,Renata braced Kaitlin's body and I was massaging her hands and shoulders to keep the feeling. Others were rubbing her feet. Everyone else prayed. I kept watching her pupils to see that they were normal (and they were I just kept talking to her to try to calm her down and to reassure her it would be ok. There was a wild, frightened look in her eyes and she was crying. All she would say is "Something is NOT right.. Something is very wrong!" So it was a time we could not freak out ourselves. We just kept with her. It was about an hour before we made it to the hospital. We called Herb and Ellen Cook, missionaries that have lived in Africa for over 35 years, and they promised to meet us at the hospital, but were some distance away.
At the hospital, the "paramedics" wanted to lift her off the bus.. I told them NO WAY.. she has to be put on a backboard. They said it was not possible to get it through the bus door with her on it.. COME ON PEOPLE... THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!! I insisted they bring it and told them we would lift her out the back window of the bus. No way were they going to mess up her spine.
Gene, Renata and I put her on the backboard ourselves because these people didn't have a clue.
Everyone helped to lift her down off the bus...
It did get somewhat better inside, but again, it will be Kaitlin's choice on how much detail she wants to give about the treatment. Let's just say that the hospitals here are at least 20 to 30 years behind facilities in the USA... and we were at THE most modern hospital in Uganda. I would hate to see the non modern ones.
The neurologist that was called was definitely qualified, and the good news is that she did not break anything, but had a massive and instantaneous compression which caused such pain. And the body reacted with a great deal of shock. She is ok, and now going to be fine.



Fred is a GREAT bus driver... and a lot of fun too!