My Worst Fear!

My worst fear came true Saturday night... Kaitlyn was involved in a go-kart accident. She was on the last lap of the main event in her very first Gold Cup. She had a great start and was able to get into 4th place. On the white flag lap the 2 karts that were fighting for the championship were behind her and split her going into turn 1. Her competitive side went into over drive and she stayed right with them into turn 2. She was just getting ready to go into the loop and was able to get under the #12 kart who saw a very slow kart right in the middle of the turn in the loop. He came down and Kaity was there and she had no choice but to hit the slow kart. She launched (literally) off the slow karts back tire and flipped. She slid upside down across the track and came to rest on the grass with her 245 pound kart on top of her. Rick jumped over the fence and he and Mark (our clubs flagger who was standing on the exit of the track) were the first ones to her and pulled the kart off of her. She was conscious but complaining about her neck and throat.

I could not go out there. Our club president's wife came and held me up. I was hysterical. The immediately called for the ambulance and once I saw her feet moving and saw the ambulance out there I got myself together and went to her. I didn't want her to see me crying as I knew it would scare her more than she already was. Rick held her hand the entire time. She wanted so bad to sit up and take her helmet off but they wouldn't let her. They put her on a back board and strapped her down. It was the most gut-wrenching site. I knew she was ok because she was talking and knew who she was and how old she was but I had no idea what her injuries were. Rick wanted to ride with her in the ambulance so I called my dad and our wonderful karting family kept Trace. They actually brought him out on the track to see Kaity and Rick before they left so he could see she was talking. My dad made it to the track before we even got on the road. They had to call for another ambulance so that one could stay at the racetrack. It was quite obvious from the minute I got to the ambulance that she had a concussion. She kept asking the same questions over and over and did not know what she had been doing or where she was. The ambulance took off and I followed in my car.

By the time I parked and got into her room there were about 8 nurses and the doctor working on her. My heart just hit the floor when I walked in and saw that. Then I heard her voice... asking the nurse that was holding her hand if she was going to die. I of course had tears flowing by that point. One of the nurses was pregnant and she teared up too. They all started laughing and said, leave it to the pregnant one to get all mushy. Kaitlyn must have asked 500 times if she was going to die. Each time either a nurse or doctor answered, "no you aren't going to die Kaitlyn" to which she followed up with "do you pinky promise???". There were a lot of pinky promises given in that room!

Once the doctor determined that her neck was ok they let her sit up, which she had been requesting to do since she got there. As she was sitting up she caught glimpse of her IV. She freaked out. Rick said she didn't even flinch when they put it in but when she saw that thing in her arm all bloody she started screaming. The doctor told her she had to have it for medicine later and she 'reluctantly' agreed not to rip it out. They took her for a CT Scan and an x-ray of her jaw (she had bit her lip pretty good) and was complaining of jaw pain. Both came out perfect. We were allowed to take her home a little after 8:30.

She had no short term memory in the hospital. She kept asking what happened and as soon as we finished telling her she would ask again because she didn't remember asking it before. She now remembers everything from Saturday leading up to the main event. She can't remember any of the race or the ambulance but remembers from when she got up to go potty at the hospital. She has some neck pain, is complaining like crazy about where the IV was and has one bruised up jaw and neck. Her neck is mostly a raspberry from her neck brace rubbing.

Her safety gear saved her life. She had on a full face helmet, a neck collar and a chest and rib protector jacket. I believe the chest/rib protector made a huge difference from the kart not crushing her stomach. The neck collar kept her neck in place and helmet took the impact. She is so lucky. We are pretty strict when it comes to helmets when riding bikes and scooters. There will be no more 'pretty' about it and I will be 'mean mom' strict now.

I stayed home today to deal with the insurance stuff and took her for a check up with our doctor. Matt couldn't get her in this morning so she saw one of his associates. She debated with him for quite a while about 'needing' to race this weekend (which was so not happening ~ Rick even took her kart completely apart so there was no questions). The doctor finally won that debate. Her kart was barely hurt.

Just a friendly reminder... don't allow your kids on bikes or scooters without a helmet. Double check that they are strapped on tight enough so that if they were to fall and hit their head the helmet will actually be in the right spot. We can't put our kids in a bubble or wrap them in bubble wrap. They are kids and we have to let them do what they love, but we can make sure they do it safely!