Bennett Family: March 2009

On Wednesday the 11th of March, I got the phone call every mother fears. The gentlemen on the other end of the line identified himself as a social worker for the Fresno Community Hospital. He asked me if I had a son named Logan. I told him yes and he asked me if I was aware that my son was in the hospital. I told him NO, I had no idea. I must say I am proud of myself I stayed farely calm trying to get all the information from him so that I could no what to do next. He proceeded to tell me that all he knew was that he was brought by ambulance to the hospital from an address I did not recognize at first, I thought it might be his girlfriends but I really wasn't sure. He said that he had been assaulted and that he was in bad shape and was in the Trauma ICU. (I can say that this is where I started to feel a little freaked!) He said that the accident happened on Monday the 9th. I could not believe that he had been there nearly 3 days with no one with him. My heart just sank. I told him I would be right there after a few calls and droping children off. Thanks to good friends and family, I dropped the little ones off and headed to the hospital. There was nothing that could prepare me for the sight I saw. I just had to put my head down and cry. I could not believe I was looking at my son. I would not have recognized him. I was shocked that another human being could do this to another. So we began our road to recovery and being educated on Tramatic Brain Injury. Most of the damage done to Logan was in the frontal lobe of the brain. He did suffer some damage to the Parietal Lobe. What I have learned and what I have witnessed is a miracle. The body is an amazing thing. I have been able to watch Logan go from not being able to stand without help and learning to get his balance and eventually being able to walk on his own again. He had to learn to use his muscles in his throat again just from being incubated 5 days, to swallow food and drink fluids without asperating. He had some issues with his vision in the hospital but those are getting better. He is still working with occupational therapy and speech therapy. He has some cognitived things he is working on but all in all he is doing great. The Doctors and nurses told us that he is a very lucky young man. He could have died. I know it wasn't luck! It was a miracle. The second I knew what had happened we petitioned everyone for their prayers. I had people that did not even know Logan offering up their prayers in his behalf. His name was put in more than one temple. Perry and Uncle Randall gave him a blessing that first day we saw him in the ICU. He doesn't remember alot of the experience but while the blessing was being given his pulse and blood pressure went up and the machines were beeping. I am just so thankful to watch my son each day and I am amazed each day how much stronger and better he gets. It has been 3+ weeks now and the changes I have seen amaze me. I am grateful to everyone that gave me help with meals, childcare, and most of all prayers. I had so many people call me and ask what they could do and I want to let you know that all I could think of was pray. I know that some people wanted to do something more physical than that but never under estimate what a gift you are giving someone when you pray for their loved ones. I am really thankful to my Heavenly Father for his tender mercies and pray each day that Logan will come to understand why the Lord spared his life.

This is what I saw the 3rd day in the Trauma ICU

Logan has just had the feeding tube and everything taken out but he still needed oxygen for awhile.

This is the worst side.

This picture is after they brought him out of the induced comma and the nurse shaved his head.

Riley loved being at the hospital with Logan. This is roughly the 2nd or 3rd day out of the induced comma.The left side was the worst. It took him nearly 2 weeks to be able to open that eye.

Lookin good....this is about 9 days after the accident.