Please help with Aspen’s long road to recovery!
Friends and family.. as most of you know, Aspen was involved in a serious ATV accident on Saturday, May 15, 2021. Aspen was riding as passenger on an ATV when it flipped over and landed on her. As she laid on the river for close to 2 hours waiting for the ambulance to arrive, she thought her life was going to end. Before she arrived at the OU Trauma Center, they had began administering many pain meds, to the point that they told her family that the pain was so out of control there was nothing else they could administer. After a CT scan and many xrays it was determined that Aspen had broken her sacrum, right hip wing, right hip joint, coccyx, and the entire pelvic ring. At this time the hospital admitted her and began the transfer upstairs to the trauma unit where she was not going to be hooked up to monitors. The transfer resulted in horrible pain because Aspen was not properly transferred from one bed to the other. When arriving on the unit the surgeon had prescribed more pain meds. The nurse administered IV Dilaudid. Due to all the other pain meds that were already in Aspen’s system, the Dilaudid overdosed Aspen, which resulted in Aspen coding. Her mother screamed to the nurse that she was not responsive and they began rounds of CPR. Epinephrine and Narcan were administered, which thankfully brought Aspen back to us. Aspen was then moved to the step down unit to be monitored. This all occurred by 1 a.m. on Sunday. Later on that day, they needed to insert a metal rod so they could begin traction. Instead of doing a local anesthetic they gave her 2 lidocaine shots and drilled through her bone while she was awake! They then hung 20lbs from her femur. Surgery was on hold until the “A team” was in on Monday. Miraculously, the surgeon was able to go in via small incisions and place 5 long screws to stabilize everything. So far Aspen has battled horrible urinary retention, UTI, and pink eye all due to the trauma.
Her prognosis is that she is non-weight bearing for 3 months. This means completely wheelchair bound. This will be a big struggle because Aspen's always on top of life and very motivated. She is a full time nursing student and will graduate with her RN in December of this year. She has no current health insurance. She was due to start a new job on Monday, after the accident and now has to put that on hold. She is looking at urologist appointments, her ambulance ride, healthcare, home health when she gets home, medical equipment, physical therapy when she can begin walking, and I am sure so much more that she just hasn't faced yet.
We all believe the Lord surrounded her tragedy and she will overcome, it will just take perseverance and determination, which she has!
We are reaching out to everyone, to tell her story, encourage people to be safe, and ask for help. Aspen has a very long road to recovery ahead. During this stressful time, we are trying to help take the financial burden off of her. If it is put on your heart to give, please know that it is a blessing and very much appreciated. Thank you from the bottom of all of our hearts!
***A meal train has also been set up as Aspen will be released from the hospital to home health soon.