daughter in hospital

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My daughter is in the hospital:
This morning at 10 my 32 year old daughter with autism, mental retardation, bi-polar, OCD, and seizure disorder fell into the wooden box around the garbage can outside. She fell in headfirst between the can and the rough wooden walls and could not get out. The respite care provider could not get her out. She and the companion home provider could not get her out. The respite got me when the ambulance came. I live three blocks away. When I got there, 6 ambulance and firefighter pulled her out and I have spent most of today in the ER. She has just been admitted and my husband is there while I shower and eat, then I'll stay there until midnight when the care provider will take over. Then I'll probably take my daughter home in the morning. Her face has ballooned with swelling, so much so she can't see which bothers her immensely. She is all cut up and scraped and bruised. Cat Scan showed her bones ok. She kept moving so they could not get an MRI. They want to keep her until the swelling is gone.
I think when she rips all the tubes out and runs naked down the hall they might let me take her home sooner.

I am SO sorry this happened to your daughter. I hope and pray that they will not send her home sooner than she needs.

oh geez, I'm so sorry and this chills me to the bone. My daughter has seizures, too and some bad stuff happened to her because of them, too. I hate this. My heart goes out to you.

I am so sorry - I hope she'll recover soon upon her return home. You're a great mother to her, lelia!

I'm really sorry to hear this I've never been in hospital, but it's a very stressful experience for anyone, let alone someone with Autism and your daughter's needs. I really hope she gets the best medical care available, and is not treated second rate because of her conditions. If you feel this is happening please speak to a medical lawyer, as there is no way they should send her home until her body is fit enough, her mental state should not be the determining factor in her discharge.

Good luck to you all from me.

When the companion home provider relieved me at midnight, we could see the tips of Lucinda's eyelashes between the swelling, so the swelling is going down. I managed to give her a shower and after the clean-up, I could see that some patches of her scalp are missing. I don't know why the patches were still oozing 14 hours later instead of clotting. Since my daughter is strong and very persistent, despite my efforts, she managed to pull out her needle for medications, every bandage, all the ID bands , and the catheter with the bulb still inflated.
Well, I need to dress and eat and go in to relieve the home provider. Hopefully I can sign some papers and take her home.
Oh, she is getting very good care at the hospital and everybody is very caring.

lelia, flowers for you & your daughter - I've been thinking about you both. Seems as if she does have good care & she's resilent; that's good news. The flowers are Periwinkle.

periwinkle; is that another word for campanula? It's a beautiful bouquet. Thank you Labpet and everyone else who has responded.
Today she has one eye opened tho still swollen, and a number of patches of scalp are missing. The patches are still oozing more than a day later. She is one big bruise. The doctors wanted to keep her another night, but she let us know that she was leaving NOW. Let the Wookie win. So I took her home in the afternoon before she dismantled the hospital and then went back to hospital to finish the paperwork and get her prescriptions. The box has been dismantled and thrown away, and we got a new, soft garbage can for her. She doesn't like change, but I think she is accepting this one. I knew she would grieve the clothes the ambulance crew cut off her, so I bought her a bunch of new clothes and washed the pieces of cut clothing. She decided to wear the new clothes, and carry around the old ones for a while. She should be okay. With her open, wounded scalp, I would rather not have her in the hospital filled with superbugs waiting to give her a nosocomial infection.

Oh, lelia, what a shock that must have been. I'm glad she didn't break anything, or worse, and that she's home on the mend now. How's your anxiety level?