What a Week!

It seems as though a years worth of time has been packed into the past 7 days. Yet somehow it has only been 7 days. Last Sunday we were traveling back from a fun family trip to Lake City, Colorado (more on that to come). The next day, Monday Sept 3rd, was Avalon's 4th birthday (more coverage on that to  come later as well).
On Tuesday, Sept 4th, Avalon went to her ballet class. I spent some time prepping for the girls' birthday cakes, and we had Life Group at our house that night. There was a much smaller turnout than usual - only 3 families and a total of 7 kids, so we decided to have a hang out night at our house. Part way through the evening, the guys walked over to one of the other group member's house in our neighborhood for a quick errand. The girls were playing outside while the moms were in the kitchen talking. I was working on birthday cake prep when we all heard one of the girls screaming. I looked out the window and saw Avalon laying on the ground in front of the glider swing. I ran outside, scooped her up, and saw that her mouth was bleeding. I figured that she had somehow gotten hit by the swing, but she was crying too hard to say anything. I took her inside and got her a cold washcloth with ice to put on her mouth.
As she sat in my lap, she continued to scream. When I took away the washcloth, I saw that there really wasn't very much blood coming from her lip.
About this time, the guys returned and Daneel came in the kitchen to have a look at Avalon. I told him that I thought she had gotten hit in the mouth. As I was holding her in my arms, he put his hands on her face to have a look at her mouth. Suddenly she screamed, 'MY NECK!!!'
We learned that Avalon had been standing on the cross bar of the swingset, right next to the slide. There were a few too many girls right there and Avalon fell of backwards, about 4 feet, and landed on her back (she says her head). And then she got hit by the glider swing.
As the words 'neck injury' sunk into my brain, I started feeling nauseous and a little fuzzy. And then I blacked out. That's right. Don't call me for help in an emergency situation. :)
In the back of my head, I heard Daneel yell, "JAKE!" and I regained consciousness.
Daneel carefully took Avalon, and I quickly checked to see if either of the urgent care centers by our house were still open. It was just after 8, and they both closed at 8. We decided to take Avalon to the ER at Cook Children's.
Sondrea came over to take care of Julie and we took off for the ER. We didn't want to transfer Avalon again, so I drove while Daneel held Avalon. She cried the whole way to the hospital. I drove very carefully, but every time we went over even the slightest bump, she would scream, 'MY NECK HURTS!'
When we pulled up to the ER entrance, Daneel got out with Avalon. I had no idea where to park, so I got out to ask the man working by the entrance where I could go. As I walked up to him and attempted to get the words out, I burst into tears. He was so kind. He took my keys, gave me a parking slip, and told me to go on inside with Daneel and Avalon while he parked our car.
Inside the ER, the waiting room was completely packed. And it was not a small waiting room. Daneel sat down with Avalon and I checked her in. Almost immediately a man came over to assess Avalon's condition. He looked at Daneel and me and said, "I want you to understand that the kind of fall that she took could be very bad." Within 5 minutes they had her strapped down to a stretcher with her neck in a brace, and they took her to a room.
A team of people came and took her vitals and gave her pain medicine. One of the nurses commented, 'It's a good thing you came in an ambulance so we could get her back here so quickly.'
We told her that we hadn't come in an ambulance. She looked at us in surprise and basically told us that it was a miracle that she got in almost immediately. - Answer to prayer #1.
A doctor came in and told us that they would be taking x-rays of her neck. Depending on those results they might do a CT scan as well.
While we waited I read books with Avalon, and she watched Backyardigans on an Ipod that a nurse had given her. By this time she had calmed down considerably.
My parents came up to the hospital as well as Sondrea's husband, Lyle - a good friend and church elder. While we waited for x-rays, we felt so loved and supported. Our life group leaders had sent a message to all the life group asking them to pray. We had each sent out a couple of texts asking for prayer, and Lyle had sent a text to some more people in the church. Our phones kept buzzing with texts from people asking about Avalon and letting us know that they were praying. It was so encouraging knowing that people everywhere were praying.
Avalon had 3 x-rays taken of her neck and they came back normal. Because she was still experiencing quite a bit of pain and could not turn her neck to the right, or look up, the doctor wanted to do a CT scan. She was also unable to go from a sitting position to a laying down position, or vice versa, without help (even with the brace on). Avalon went through the x-rays and the CT scan like a champ.
I was so impressed with everyone we encountered at Cook Children's. They were absolutely wonderful with her.
The CT scan results also came back clear - praise God! The doctor sent us home with 2 neck braces and told us that Avalon needed to wear them 24/7 until we could see a neuro surgeon in 2 weeks. He also told us that we needed to see her pediatrician within a week. They told us to keep Avalon on pain medicine around the clock for following days because she would probably be in more pain than she had been that night.
We got home from the hospital sometime between midnight and 1am. We were exhausted. Avalon went right to sleep and didn't seem to have any trouble adjusting to the brace.
The next morning she woke up in good spirits and actually told me that her neck wasn't hurting. She sat up in bed all by herself and walked herself out to the living room. I was really encouraged by her progress. When the time came to get dressed however, things went downhill. We couldn't get Avalon's top to fit over the neck brace, but Avalon really wanted to wear it. I told her that we could take off the brace to fit it on, and then put the brace back on. She was thrilled at the thought of getting the brace off.
I took off the brace and tried to put her shirt on very carefully. It was more than Avalon could handle. She started crying and saying that her neck hurt. She was acting very fearful. We needed to get the brace back on and find something else to wear. I had to help Avalon lay down so that we could get the neck brace back on. It was almost like she was a little baby again. I had to fully support her head and neck as she lay back because she couldn't do it herself. She seemed completely helpless.
Seeing her like that was almost more than I could handle. I was pretty emotional the rest of the day. Every time Avalon wasn't around, I couldn't keep from crying. I know that God had his hand on her and protected her from something that could have been much much worse, but I was a mess. I spent the majority of the day crying and praying for her.
Wednesday was by far our most difficult day. After that morning Avalon never asked to have the brace off. In fact, if I told her that I needed to take it off so that I could wash her neck, she didn't want it to come off.
She has been doing progressively better every day, and I know it is a direct result of prayer. She is doing far better than what the doctors had predicted for this point in her journey. We've cut way back on her pain medicine and she hasn't complained about pain again. We've been giving her just a little bit of time without the brace every evening, and each evening gets better and better.
I think there have been hundreds of people praying for Avalon, and that means so much to us.
One night I said, "Avalon, do you know that there are SO many people praying for your neck to get better?" I started naming off the ones that she knew - Ouma, Oupa, Mama Glory and Granddad, friends from life group, friends from New Mexico, Colorado, and South Africa, aunts and uncles, Daddy and Mommy... She interrupted me and said, 'Mommy, you're not praying for me, you're just talking!'

Avalon has an appointment with a neuro surgeon on Sept 21st. He will determine whether she needs to wear the brace longer or whether we can wean her off of it. The nurse that I spoke with said that they almost always want kids to be in the braces at least a month, but I'm praying that 2 weeks will be it.
It's been 5 days since her accident and God has done so much in that time. He's been healing our daughter, speaking encouragement to us through the prayers of others, showing us the power of prayer, giving me a fresh perspective and heart of compassion for others. It's incredible to see all the good in so many areas that have come forth with this.
At this point I feel so blessed and grateful. Thank you for your prayers for Avalon and for our family. They have carried us through these past few days!