By this time, Laurel had been intubated to help her breathe.  Doctors still wanted to do an MRI, but the MRI machine would not be available until 3:00 that afternoon.  Laurel’s doctors and nurses were doing everything they could to get her in sooner.

As related by Laurel’s Aunt Linda:  We were able to take turns going back to see Laurel at this point so I went back with Matt and I was able to see Laurel. She had lots of tubes and was not awake. There were lots of doctors working inside and outside her room. I squeezed Vayle’s arm and put my hand on Laurel’s head and told her I loved her

The neurologist came in and felt around the base of Laurel’s skull.  Apparently he could feel the buildup of pressure and he immediately started barking orders to elevate her head.  He told us that he wanted to put an emergency drain into Laurel’s head to try to relieve the pressure from her brain swelling.  As they prepared the equipment they would need, Matt asked Laurel’s Grandpa Isom and our Bishop to come in and give her another blessing.

Through them, the Lord blessed Laurel that her body would be strong enough to withstand the treatments it may need to endure.

Later, Bishop Camilo told us that he desperately wanted to bless Laurel with the ability to heal.  But as the words came, the spirit simply did not provide any words of healing.  Bishop Camilo went to his car to have a moment of privacy; he said that he felt he had failed Laurel (and us).  But the Lord’s plan for Laurel was simply beyond what we were all able to see at the time.

The neurologist asked us to clear the room so that they could perform Laurel’s sterile procedure to insert the drain.  This once again allowed Matt to update the ever-expanding family group in the waiting room.  I, again, stayed as close to Laurel as the doctors would allow.  I couldn’t be in the sterile environment, but I could be in the hall and I stood with Laurel’s aunt Linda and the social worker.  I could see between the gap in the hospital room curtain, I didn’t take my eyes off of Laurel.  I think I was in shock and it was still keeping me from realizing that things were as serious as they were.

Linda and I commented on how Laurel’s school-picture streak would continue.  Laurel always had something happen to her right before school pictures.  All of them show her with a scrape on her chin or a bruise on her forehead.  This year, Laurel had her nose broken right before school pictures, and now they were shaving a section of her hair (right up front!) two days before picture retakes.  We thought Laurel would get a chuckle out of that

 I asked the nurse to keep the hair that they shaved from Laurel’s head.  When Laurel woke up she was going to be a little bummed out that she had lost her hair.  I was already preparing to tease her and tell her that it wasn’t “lost”… we had it right here in a baggie!  Her hair was so thick and so gorgeous, that covering the shaved area (which was several square inches) until it grew back wasn’t going to be a problem.

When the procedure was complete, I hurried back to Laurel’s side while Matt came back in along with the next family member who was in line to see Laurel.

Now the doctors prepared to take Laurel (and me) in for another cat-scan to make sure the drain was placed properly.  At this time, Matt and the social worker also moved all of our family to the Pediatric ICU waiting room instead of the ER waiting room.  After her cat-scan, Laurel would be moved to the PICU.  I think we were nearing 12:30 in the afternoon at this point.