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"You Do What You Have to Do"
Three hours later, Denver neurosurgeons, led by Dr. Charles Wilkinson, enlarged the window made by Bergin and examined the area. All major bleeding had stopped, and Carter's stressed brain was already shifting back to normal.Denver surgeons enlarged the incision, removed some bone and remaining portions of the clot, and cauterized the artery that was torn. They then made a small incision in the dura to see if there was deeper damage -- there was not. They finished cleaning the area and removed the Gelfoam sponge. Finally they replaced the bone with titanium plates and screws, closed up and sent Carter to the recovery room.
Because the trauma to the child's brain had been so severe, doctors told the Engstroms that his recovery could take months. There was the possibility of permanent damage. Aaron and Annie simply rejoiced that their son was alive.
That night Annie slept in Carter's room in the pediatric intensive care unit. Monitors beeped constantly. Tubes ran into him and out of him. He wore a neck brace. It was the first time Annie had seen the bright red, swollen stitches on his half-shaved head.
The next morning Carter was able to get off his breathing apparatus. Annie squeezed his hand. He didn't open his eyes or move. "Mommy's here," she said. She heard something that sounded like, "Yep."
"Mommy loves you," she told him.
"I love you too, Mommy," he said.
A CT scan revealed that the hematoma was gone and the brain appeared undamaged. The doctors took intravenous lines out of his legs and moved him to a medium care unit.
Five days later, after walking on his own in physical therapy, Carter rode to the elevator in one of the little wagons used to transport children in the hospital. The Denver doctors had decided he could go home.
Today Dr. Bergin is still at work in Sidney. Most of his surgeries are planned. "But when you're up to your elbows in alligators and help is miles away, you do what you have to do," he says. That's frontier -- Montana -- medicine. And watching their son once again tear through the house, playing with his cousins, Aaron and Annie Engstrom know that was just fine.
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