‘ive seen people die from injuries not as bad as this one’
Ive spent the past week in an emergency room, ICU and finally the office of a brain specialist. My brother Taylor fell skateboarding which caused taylor to have a bad head injury. Taylor hit the back of his head which caused his brain to slam the front of his skull, Taylor’s brain then started to swell and bleed.
The first hospital in Los Angeles was Brotman Hospital, and they were horrible. They didnt know how to deal with head injuries so they redirected us to another hospital 30 minutes away. Taylor was then taken into the LAC+USC emergency room where they did a cat scan right away. Taylor was in so much pain at this point that he couldnt sleep, watch TV or even open his eyes in a lit room. It took over 12 hours for taylor to get a bed and a room in the ICU, and he was in the ICU for 1 night. Taylor didnt have health insurance so throughout the process we felt like they were just trying to get taylor out of the hospital in order to make more space or free up a bed. At one point, the doctors even tried to release taylor without looking at his second catscan. They released Taylor and gave us some basic instructions to watch taylor.Pretty much ‘dont bring taylor back unless hes having a seizure.’
We left the hospital without any closure, so we made an appointment with a very well known brain surgeon in san diego.
The Brain specialist in san diego said ‘you are lucky to be a functioning human- ive seen people die from brain injuries not as bad as this one. You have a significant amount of swelling and bleeding in your brain, luckily its not getting worse and you will start to get better.” The doctor was shocked with how together Taylor was, and said ‘Now, its gonna take some time for taylor to feel 100% again,’
Lesson learned: Buy Health Insurance and wear a helmet if you skateboard.
Some more photos:
my mom sleeping on the floor, underneath the chairs
rookie nurse tried to put in a IV into Taylors arm
This is Taylors Brain. The white part in the top is where the bleeding and swelling occurred. Thats alot of bleeding
this is a nightmare story… terrible to hear this!
Thank god he’ll be alright, and hopefully 100% sooner than later.
the politics at hospitals are terrible, and this is a shame… Just thankful he’s alive, and yes health insurance is a must these days.
Knarly… our prayers to your family, sounds like its better, but sketchy! Our health system is whaked!
Derek,
Holding good thoughts to your Brother and Family. That is scary to skirt the edge and not know for so long how bad things were or could have been. Tell your Bro I hope he feels better and has a full recovery. As for the health care system, makes no sense. We offer public education, and people do not get all bent out of shape about that. Why not make a universal health care system like all the other developed nations have had in place for number of years. I’m sort of leftist when it comes to this subject, and feel every human should have a shot at a healthy life. What is more sicking is if you look up how much the CEO’s of Medical Insurance company’s make. I did it it, Atena Blue Cross dude makes like 9 million a year. Not to mention they are raising there rates to boot. Huh? Take care
RODG
Hey Derek,
How is your brother doing now? Ever since I read this story I have had his well being on my mind. I’d love to know how he is doing. Thanks and I hope you are well.
Thanks for the concern, i really appreciate it, Taylor is doing alot better now,
Ill do a post on how Taylor is doing today,
thanks again
DD