The Start Of A Long Journey

As so many of us already know, unexpected events can happen so quickly. Unfortunately on December 7th that is exactly what happened to Kody and his family. That afternoon Kody was helping friends move their horses to winter grounds. Kody was on his young horse, Willow, when she decided to buck him off. Landing on his back first and then whip lashing his head off of the frozen ground. He was flown by Life Flight to EIRMC, where we soon learned that the extent of damage was pretty serious. After doing a CT scan on him we learned that he received a skull fracture on the right side of his head just behind his ear. The left side of his brain was badly damaged from the brain shifting caused by the impact. He was heavily sedated, placed on a ventilator, and also given a paralytic drug to keep him from moving. The doctors didn't want anything to stimulate Kody's brain at that time. The next couple of days the doctors closely monitored the pressure within Kody's head. His brain was swelling creating an uneasy amount of pressure on his brain. By early Saturday morning the doctors told Shanda that they would have to take Kody in for surgery. The surgery entailed taking part of the left side of his skull off and then removing the damaged parts of the left side of his brain. Waiting for Kody to come out of surgery that morning was terrifying. Thankfully he made it through surgery without any complications. We are learning that with every bit of good news there is always a bit of bad news that comes with it. He know has pneumonia in both lungs as well as a staph infection in his airway that they are currently treating with antibiotics. The last couple of days the doctors have taken him off the paralytic drug as well as the sedation drugs. Kody has been able to cough out some of the fluid from his lungs. He is also trying to breathe on his own. As of today he isn't following basic commands from the doctors or nurses yet. However, Shanda says that he responds to her voice and seems to try to follow her with his eyes.

We are so grateful for the love and support that has been shown for Kody and his family. We know that he wouldn't be where he is right now if it wasn't for all the prayers being said. We will try to post things as they happen to keep everyone updated on Kody's journey!