DakotaStrong
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On January 24, 2019, Dakota came home from school complaining of a headache behind her right eye. She is usually not a worrier, but she was seriously concerned about how it felt. Dakota is a straight A student and is all about being the best at anything she does, from softball, to volleyball and certainly her academics. She is a wonderful young lady and has been an absolute joy to our family for the past 12 and a half years! Anyway, she told her mom that day that if this pain continued she didn't think she would be able to attend school on Friday. Fast forward to Friday morning and she felt worse. I stayed home with her that day and as the day went on she felt increasingly bad. Around 4:15 that afternoon, her right eye had begun to swell and I made a call to the doctor's office. We would not be able to get in to be seen until Saturday morning at 8:30 so I agreed. We awoke Saturday morning; her eye was swollen even more so we made our way to the doctor. When we arrived, it was like a typical "sick visit" with the paperwork and check-ins. The doctor noted that her eye was indeed swollen and with all of her other symptoms like achy body, headache, runny nose, high temps and so on, they decided to test her for the flu. The flu test came back negative but the doctor felt as though it would still be beneficial to treat the symptoms so she prescribed Tamiflu and instructed her to drink plenty of fluids to remain hydrated. Also, we could alternate between Tylenol and Motrin to keep her temperature down.
By Saturday night Dakota was struggling to drink any fluids, she stayed in her room away from everyone else and did not want to eat. She had begun taking her medicine and we were all optimistic that she would begin getting better. Sunday morning came and she was too ill to get up and attend church. This concerned me more because she loves church. All day Sunday was very weird, to say the least. She struggled taking the Tylenol and Motrin, she struggled taking the tamiflu and she struggled to take in any fluids and we were becoming more concerned. We did get the medicine down as prescribed but it wasn't easy. Dakota never gets sick and so we assumed her behaviors were related to her not really knowing how to handle being "under the weather". Anyway, we made it through Sunday but Jackie and I agreed that Monday I would likely be home with her again as her temps were not breaking, even with the rotation of the fever medicines.
Monday morning, January 28th, I'm downstairs in my normal morning routine and Jackie calls out to me and says "Hubb check on your baby girl, she's not taking her medicine and is now not making any sense". I didn't know what Jackie meant by "not making any sense" until I went in the room. I spoke to Dakota, she was awake but looking at her eyes and her behaviors I immediately knew she was not well. We took her temp and it was 103.3. I thought she was severely dehydrated and felt as though this flu was a little more serious than anticipated. I rushed her to the hospital immediately. My thought process was, she is dehydrated and they can slap an IV in her arm and get her back up to speed and get the medicines she needs in her system. Boy, would I be surprised!
I knew something was weird leaving the house because I literally carried Dakota down the stairs and to the car. She was wheeled into the E.R. and rushed though triage in a matter of 3 minutes. At this point, she was not using the left side of her body at all. I thought she was cramping from dehydration, however, the doctor's decided to do a CT Scan. At this point, I got Jackie on the phone and she was on her way. By the time Jackie reached the hospital, the results were back and the hospital had set a plan into place to have Dakota airlifted to another hospital who could best treat her.
The CT scans showed that she had a bacterial infection on her brain! The lack of use on the left side of her body was due to swelling of the brain and she needed treatment fast. Jackie arrived at the hospital around the same time as the transport helicopter, they asked a few questions and Jackie and Dakota were off to be flown to another hospital. I jumped in the car and drove. Once I arrived Dakota had been to CT again and spoken to a great Neurosurgeon and the care team was fast at work putting a plan together to treat her. This was the start of the longest 2-week period of our lives.
On the 28th The neurosurgeon explained to us there were 2 options. Option 1. The Ear, Nose & Throat doctor would go up her nose and scrape and clean out the sinus in an attempt to allow gravity to cause the fluid and bacteria that collected around her brain to drain. Option 2. He, the neurosurgeon, would perform a craniotomy! 2 days prior I took my beautiful, God loving, bible studying, fervent praying, straight-A student 12-year-old daughter to her primary doctor for a sinus infection and now Jackie and I were listening to a neurosurgeon explain that he might have to open our baby’s skull! Certainly not what we expected but let’s go and let’s get our baby girl feeling better.
Off to surgery (to perform option 1) she went, it was an hour-long procedure and it was probably the longest hour of our lives but that would change in less than 24 hours! A day later her numbers were not improving the way they had hoped and so the neurosurgeon came back to inform us that now our 12-year-old daughter will have to undergo a craniotomy (option 2) to clean infection from her brain. What is a craniotomy? He explained to us that he would make an incision from ear to ear, peel her face down to expose her skull, cut her entire forehead bone out, scrape it and wash it to remove any visible infection, then using a saline solution he would wash any visible bacteria from her brain. This would take 2.5-3 hours, well the procedure would take this long but from anesthesia to recovery to back to her room in the ICU would be about 4 hours. So now that little 1-hour procedure seemed like nothing! Three hours in, I was called out to the nurse’s station to take a call. It was one of the assistants from the operating room. The assistant said, “Hi Mr. Hubbard, Dr. Moores wanted me to call you to let you know that everything is going well and Dakota is doing fine but we will be a little longer than expected”. That unexpected time was because Dr. Moores saw more infection than the CT showed when he went in and was taking more time to clean it out. He initially only wanted to clean the front and right side but ended up having to go a little further back on the top as well. Afterward, he was very optimistic and reported that everything went well and now we wait…...
Today is Friday February 8th and Dakota is still in the hospital. She has undergone 2 brain surgeries to correct this infection that threatened her life. Her recent MRI shows persistent pockets of fluid on her brain. We are praying our baby will not have to go through a 3rd brain surgery. Doctors are optimistic that antibiotics will treat the pockets of fluids. My wife and I, our family and a ton of friends have spent countless hours in prayer. Seeking peace, healing and a speedy recovery for our girl. There have been plenty of tears shed and confused moments that we simply do not understand-But God. It has been terribly difficult for us and we still do not have all the answers but we continue to stand firm in our faith and we are trusting that God will keep his healing hands on our baby.
Nearly 2 weeks into this whole ordeal and Dakota is progressively getting better. She is still hospitalized and has around the clock monitoring and care, but she is alive and getting better each day. She is still not herself just yet and the doctors say this is because of the trauma to the brain from the swelling. However, the entire care team is optimistic about her recovery and of course we are optimistic as well because we have faith in the doctor that made the doctor. We certainly respect science and the doctor's wisdom and we are tremendously grateful for them, however, we have not and will not waiver in our faith. James 1:2 "consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds". This has been the trial of a lifetime, watching our child suffer through something of this magnitude has been traumatic.
We still do not know when Dakota will be released from the hospital and we can't wait until that day comes but until then, we have to begin to put the pieces of life back together. Jackie has not returned to work since the day she left to come to the hospital, she has not left Dakota’s bedside and I’ve had to postpone some career moves because of this ordeal. Although Dakota is covered under medical insurance, Jackie is not eligible to take advantage of Family Medical Leave because she has not been in her respective positions for at least a year. So as we continue to deal with this and be there for Dakota, sick leave and personal leave days have run out and now the "tightening of the belt" begins. We are not sure yet what our financial responsibility for the medical care will be but we are certain it will have an adverse effect on our household. We already know Dakota’s road to recovery will continue behind the walls of this great facility. There will be follow up visits with the infectious disease clinic, follow ups with the neurology team, she will have scheduled physical therapy and occupational therapy, all in all, our warrior has a fight on her hands and you best believe that through the grace of God, her mom, dad, sister, brother and entire family are right behind her ready to fight! We will fight in the spiritual and we will fight in the natural! Satan can’t have God’s child and he can’t have her abilities! She shall be restored 100% and I am excited to watch her share her testimony with whomever will listen and I’m sure some that don’t care to listen!
I know that was a lot and we thank you for taking the time to read and learn about this ordeal the Hubbards have been through! We appreciate any assistance from others to help us in the quest to offset the financial burden of this unfortunate event in our lives. Thank you for your kind words and prayers. Thank you for any assistance you are able to provide. We will continue to support our baby girl as she pushes on in her fight to remain #DAKOTASTRONG.
By Saturday night Dakota was struggling to drink any fluids, she stayed in her room away from everyone else and did not want to eat. She had begun taking her medicine and we were all optimistic that she would begin getting better. Sunday morning came and she was too ill to get up and attend church. This concerned me more because she loves church. All day Sunday was very weird, to say the least. She struggled taking the Tylenol and Motrin, she struggled taking the tamiflu and she struggled to take in any fluids and we were becoming more concerned. We did get the medicine down as prescribed but it wasn't easy. Dakota never gets sick and so we assumed her behaviors were related to her not really knowing how to handle being "under the weather". Anyway, we made it through Sunday but Jackie and I agreed that Monday I would likely be home with her again as her temps were not breaking, even with the rotation of the fever medicines.
Monday morning, January 28th, I'm downstairs in my normal morning routine and Jackie calls out to me and says "Hubb check on your baby girl, she's not taking her medicine and is now not making any sense". I didn't know what Jackie meant by "not making any sense" until I went in the room. I spoke to Dakota, she was awake but looking at her eyes and her behaviors I immediately knew she was not well. We took her temp and it was 103.3. I thought she was severely dehydrated and felt as though this flu was a little more serious than anticipated. I rushed her to the hospital immediately. My thought process was, she is dehydrated and they can slap an IV in her arm and get her back up to speed and get the medicines she needs in her system. Boy, would I be surprised!
I knew something was weird leaving the house because I literally carried Dakota down the stairs and to the car. She was wheeled into the E.R. and rushed though triage in a matter of 3 minutes. At this point, she was not using the left side of her body at all. I thought she was cramping from dehydration, however, the doctor's decided to do a CT Scan. At this point, I got Jackie on the phone and she was on her way. By the time Jackie reached the hospital, the results were back and the hospital had set a plan into place to have Dakota airlifted to another hospital who could best treat her.
The CT scans showed that she had a bacterial infection on her brain! The lack of use on the left side of her body was due to swelling of the brain and she needed treatment fast. Jackie arrived at the hospital around the same time as the transport helicopter, they asked a few questions and Jackie and Dakota were off to be flown to another hospital. I jumped in the car and drove. Once I arrived Dakota had been to CT again and spoken to a great Neurosurgeon and the care team was fast at work putting a plan together to treat her. This was the start of the longest 2-week period of our lives.
On the 28th The neurosurgeon explained to us there were 2 options. Option 1. The Ear, Nose & Throat doctor would go up her nose and scrape and clean out the sinus in an attempt to allow gravity to cause the fluid and bacteria that collected around her brain to drain. Option 2. He, the neurosurgeon, would perform a craniotomy! 2 days prior I took my beautiful, God loving, bible studying, fervent praying, straight-A student 12-year-old daughter to her primary doctor for a sinus infection and now Jackie and I were listening to a neurosurgeon explain that he might have to open our baby’s skull! Certainly not what we expected but let’s go and let’s get our baby girl feeling better.
Off to surgery (to perform option 1) she went, it was an hour-long procedure and it was probably the longest hour of our lives but that would change in less than 24 hours! A day later her numbers were not improving the way they had hoped and so the neurosurgeon came back to inform us that now our 12-year-old daughter will have to undergo a craniotomy (option 2) to clean infection from her brain. What is a craniotomy? He explained to us that he would make an incision from ear to ear, peel her face down to expose her skull, cut her entire forehead bone out, scrape it and wash it to remove any visible infection, then using a saline solution he would wash any visible bacteria from her brain. This would take 2.5-3 hours, well the procedure would take this long but from anesthesia to recovery to back to her room in the ICU would be about 4 hours. So now that little 1-hour procedure seemed like nothing! Three hours in, I was called out to the nurse’s station to take a call. It was one of the assistants from the operating room. The assistant said, “Hi Mr. Hubbard, Dr. Moores wanted me to call you to let you know that everything is going well and Dakota is doing fine but we will be a little longer than expected”. That unexpected time was because Dr. Moores saw more infection than the CT showed when he went in and was taking more time to clean it out. He initially only wanted to clean the front and right side but ended up having to go a little further back on the top as well. Afterward, he was very optimistic and reported that everything went well and now we wait…...
Today is Friday February 8th and Dakota is still in the hospital. She has undergone 2 brain surgeries to correct this infection that threatened her life. Her recent MRI shows persistent pockets of fluid on her brain. We are praying our baby will not have to go through a 3rd brain surgery. Doctors are optimistic that antibiotics will treat the pockets of fluids. My wife and I, our family and a ton of friends have spent countless hours in prayer. Seeking peace, healing and a speedy recovery for our girl. There have been plenty of tears shed and confused moments that we simply do not understand-But God. It has been terribly difficult for us and we still do not have all the answers but we continue to stand firm in our faith and we are trusting that God will keep his healing hands on our baby.
Nearly 2 weeks into this whole ordeal and Dakota is progressively getting better. She is still hospitalized and has around the clock monitoring and care, but she is alive and getting better each day. She is still not herself just yet and the doctors say this is because of the trauma to the brain from the swelling. However, the entire care team is optimistic about her recovery and of course we are optimistic as well because we have faith in the doctor that made the doctor. We certainly respect science and the doctor's wisdom and we are tremendously grateful for them, however, we have not and will not waiver in our faith. James 1:2 "consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds". This has been the trial of a lifetime, watching our child suffer through something of this magnitude has been traumatic.
We still do not know when Dakota will be released from the hospital and we can't wait until that day comes but until then, we have to begin to put the pieces of life back together. Jackie has not returned to work since the day she left to come to the hospital, she has not left Dakota’s bedside and I’ve had to postpone some career moves because of this ordeal. Although Dakota is covered under medical insurance, Jackie is not eligible to take advantage of Family Medical Leave because she has not been in her respective positions for at least a year. So as we continue to deal with this and be there for Dakota, sick leave and personal leave days have run out and now the "tightening of the belt" begins. We are not sure yet what our financial responsibility for the medical care will be but we are certain it will have an adverse effect on our household. We already know Dakota’s road to recovery will continue behind the walls of this great facility. There will be follow up visits with the infectious disease clinic, follow ups with the neurology team, she will have scheduled physical therapy and occupational therapy, all in all, our warrior has a fight on her hands and you best believe that through the grace of God, her mom, dad, sister, brother and entire family are right behind her ready to fight! We will fight in the spiritual and we will fight in the natural! Satan can’t have God’s child and he can’t have her abilities! She shall be restored 100% and I am excited to watch her share her testimony with whomever will listen and I’m sure some that don’t care to listen!
I know that was a lot and we thank you for taking the time to read and learn about this ordeal the Hubbards have been through! We appreciate any assistance from others to help us in the quest to offset the financial burden of this unfortunate event in our lives. Thank you for your kind words and prayers. Thank you for any assistance you are able to provide. We will continue to support our baby girl as she pushes on in her fight to remain #DAKOTASTRONG.
Organizer
Kevin Hubbard
Organizer
Herndon, VA
