Today was a busy day with visitors! Rich came down with the middle sisters-Mara and Skylee. Aunt Brita, Uncle Gibby, cousins Brodie and Addi and Aunt Jenn, Uncle Steve, and cousin Audrey all came down. It was a full house but it was good for the soul. 

As I’m writing this, Taylah suddenly said, “Mom, look!!” I looked over and saw a lump under her blanket, and it took me a minute to realize it was her knee. For the first time since surgery, she was able to move her left leg!

Even though it’s her right knee that needs reconstruction, the flap for Friday's surgery was taken from her left thigh. It may have sounded like “just a piece of skin,” but it was so much more than that. The pain was intense, and for some reason, she was unable to move her leg following the surgery which was really frustrating for her (and us!). We finally got the pain under control, but until now, she still hadn’t been able to move it at all. So this is our big victory of the day!!!

The other victory of the day is that the flap is still doing great! It's so funny, I never thought I would get so excited about hearing a heartbeat in a knee before. Every hour the nurse comes in with a doppler to check for a heartbeat in the artery in the flap in Taylah's knee. Parents, you know that feeling you get when you hear your baby's heartbeat for the first time at your first appointment with the doppler? I get that same feeling every single time they come in to listen to Taylah's knee. I say the same desperate prayer, feel the same anticipation, and feel the same overwhelming emotion, every single time they come in to listen. And then...there it is, the WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH. Just like hearing Taylah's heartbeat for the first time when I was pregnant with her. The fact that she has a knee, she has a leg, she now has her joint covered, and she has her life. It is just overwhelming every time I get to hear her heartbeat. Makes a mama happy.

I know Callie mentioned this yesterday, but I wanted to share it again because it was such a special gesture. Skylee’s school softball team played in the Mayo Triangular softball tournament, and somehow the Mayo Spartans softball team caught wind of Taylah’s accident. They generously donated gift cards to help with the day-to-day expenses, along with a bundle of fun activities and meaningful gifts to help brighten Taylah’s hospital stay. On top of that, they had the girls from all three teams in the tournament (Watertown Mayer, St. Charles, and Mayo) sign a big banner that says “You Got This,” which we hung up right above her hospital bed. Thank you, Mayo Spartans, for your incredible kindness and support. Your thoughtfulness means more than you know! 💛🥎

Taylah's moods really do go up and down. For the most part, she's positive, but there are moments that it's just plain hard. She wants to walk. She wants to be able to go to the bathroom by herself. She's mad she can't get her braid just right, and she's mad I put too much syrup on her pancake and I made them soggy. She's mad we made her room messy and she can't get up and organize it herself. 

She doesn't know when she gets to go home. She doesn't know when she gets to go back to school or if she can finish her eighth grade year. She doesn't know when her next surgery will be, or how many their will be. She doesn't know what her legs will look like. She doesn't know how many more days she will be confined to this darn bed. There are just so many unknowns and it's understandably frustrating and so scary for a 13 year old. Hell, it's scary for an adult! It's heartbreaking for a mom. Thankfully though, the staff here is AMAZING and they keep telling Taylah how strong she is. They keep telling her that she is doing great and she can do this. They don't let her stay down and they keep her spirits up. They joke with her and keep her smiling, even when I am tired and unsure of what's to come next too. 

If you are looking for something specific to pray for, please pray for Taylah's heart and mind. Pray that she can find peace with her situation. Please pray that Taylah can find peace with not knowing an exact timeline or knowing what is to come next. Please pray for continued pain management, continued healing, and good rest.

-Emily

PS: The dates for the posts are automatically entered-I promise I'm not putting them in wrong!

Hi friends! This is Callie (Taylah’s oldest sister). I woke up to a text from Tay this morning at 7:49 am saying “I’m awake so come.” Just incase anyone was worried about her losing her spark, she most definitely has not and has been bossing all of us around the entire week. Michael, Mara and I busted our butts over from the hotel after that lol. Right away this morning, they tried to reposition her, because she is unable to move her legs by herself. She was in a lot of pain, so they ended up holding off until they could get some more meds ordered. After they got the meds ordered, repositioning every 2 hours was a lot easier for her. She was also unable to eat or drink anything today until 6:30pm, just incase they had to take her back into surgery. Everyone went to Skylee’s softball games (that happened to be in Rochester this weekend) so poor Taylah had to spend the whole day alone with me and Michael. We played a few rounds of Uno, did face masks, organized her hospital room, and watched Mufasa inbetween her nurses coming in at least every hour. They also got her a new air bed instead of her regular one. After Skylee’s game, she brought back a poster that every player at her tournament signed. The Mayo High School team raised money for Taylah as well, and gave her a card which made her sooo happy! My college softball team also made her a card that made her super happy. She was able to drink clear liquids at 5 tonight, and was able to eat around 6, so grandpa, Michael and I went and got her some chick fil a (which she had been begginggggg for all day). It was honestly a really long, boring, painful day, with nurses in and out constantly (who were amazing by the way), but we tried to make it as fun as we could. Her graft looks awesome and seems to be taking well! I know my mom has said thank you a few times, but honestly we are all so thankful for everyone who has reached out, prayed, donated, or messaged us. This is obviously not a situation any of us thought Taylah would be in, but she is handling it with more grace, patience, and faith than I think anyone else would have. I am so proud of her and her mindset and attitude, and I’m praying it continues throughout her hospital stay, which sounds like will be another week. If you’re praying, please pray for pain management and for her to continue healing physically and mentally. She still has a long road ahead of her, but this is one step closer.

-Callie

Thank you everyone for your prayers! The doctor called at 7:52pm and said everything went well! They were able to complete the skin flap procedure AND sew up the portion on Taylah's left thigh back up into a straight line! They did have to do a 3cm skin graft because one area was too tight, but I still call this a huge win! God bless the surgeons for spending hours upon hours and working vein by vein to start putting my little girl back together again. Maybe we should start calling her Humpty Dumpty? I feel like I'm going to get in trouble for this one...

I love reading through the comments left by everyone, here and on Facebook. They lift us up and keep us going. I know I keep saying this, but the generosity of everyone is mind blowing. Thank you a million times over.

Taylah has a long road ahead of her, more surgery(ies) and rehab. She will be here for another week and a half. She's understandable starting to get grumpy at times. She's lost her independence and it's heartbreaking, both for her and us. She won't be able to eat anything for the next 24 hours because there is a risk of blood clots in the new skin flap and if one occurs, they will need to take her down to surgery immediately. She will be confined to her bed for 5 days. After that she will be able to "dangle" her legs over the side of the bed for 3 days. Please pray for my active and energetic 13 year old to tolerate this sedentary lifestyle for the next 8 days! Pray that there are no blood clots and pray that this skin flap thrives in it's new placement on my child's body. 

One of our anonymous donors commented a bible verse and it is absolutely perfect for Taylah. I hope she's okay with me sharing this, but when that woman left her alone under the side by side, she cried out to God to save her. If you know my Taylah, you'd know that she is one of the most faith-filled people you will ever meet. When she was a toddler, Jesus was her "imaginary friend". She was born with Him in her heart and you couldn't take Him out if you tried. My little girl cried out to God in her moment of desperate need so when I saw this in the comments I knew she needed it written on the white board across from her bed where she can see it 24/7. To whoever shared this with us, THANK YOU! You know my child well, maybe without ever meeting her.

"He said to her 'Daughter, faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.'" 
-Mark 5:34

They took Taylah down to the pre-op area a little before 11:00am. Taylah passed the time with silly SnapChat filters and giggles. As time passed, anxiety started to rise and she got quiet. She's been having more pain the last few days and it's been hard to watch. Right as I pushed the nurse button to see if we could get something for her pain, they came to get her. It was about 12:00pm when we said our goodbyes and they took her back. I got the text that Taylah went into the operating room at about 12:30pm. Then I got another text saying her procedure had begun at 2:00pm. They will continue to text us updates as the day goes on. The surgery is scheduled for 8 hours.

It's going to be a long day, but like I told Taylah this morning, "it's one step closer to going home." To which she responded, "I can't even take a step!!!" She hasn't lost her humor at least.

Please pray that the skin flap takes and there are no blood clots.

Please pray that the area in her upper left thigh where they take the flap from is stretchy enough that they are able to pull it closed to sew together so a skin graft is not needed. 

Please please please pray for pain management!

I feel like today was the first day of no "surprises" or substantial updates. It felt really good actually. We had some new visitors today. Aunt Brita came to visit and brought cards that each of her third grade students made. Taylah loved them! Hannah came this evening and brought May baskets full of goodies and made us laugh until our sides hurt! Mara came back down this afternoon too. She brought gifts and cards for both Taylah and me from St. John's Church in Winsted. Taylah got beautiful flowers from her friend Kiera who was in the accident with her and her family, as well as flowers from the entire Watertown-Mayer youth Softball League. I have no words for how generous everyone are and how much the prayers mean to us.

Taylah was supposed to start on crutches with PT today but the Psychiatrist came in to talk to Taylah and trumped PT. After Psych was finished, we noticed that one of Taylah's larger wounds on the lower portion of her left leg was "oozing" more than the nurse was comfortable with so she called someone from the plastics surgical team to come check it out. I haven't seen any of Taylah's wounds other than the pictures of her knee and big toe, and again, I wanted to know what my little girl is going through, so when they uncovered it, I looked. It was a harsh reality that the injuries she has that we can't even see but doesn't even complain about are unbelievable. The fact that she is alive is unbelievable. She is unbelievable. 

Luckily right after that, bingo started so the disappointment of not getting able to start crutches didn’t last long. Mara and Taylah both won twice and then I told them they needed to save some prized for the other kids! We were able to go for a “walk” using the wheelchair down to the coffee shop and the teen room to play PlayStation and color. 

Even though today was a super fun day, at the end of the day, there was still the reality of not being fully independent, being stuck in a hospital, missing home, and REALLY missing her best (four legged) buddy Marley. Tonight Taylah's just plain overwhelmed. She's working through a lot of emotion right now and rightfully so. A news article was published in the Mankato paper yesterday about the accident that Taylah was in and she shared it on her Facebook page. It is disturbing. I'm angry. I'm angry at the person who did this. And I'm angry at the person who allowed this to happen. But I have two choices right now. I can either A) put all of my energy into being angry, or B) I can put most of my energy into helping my little girl get better and moving forward to make things right. And I choose B. I hope you will all choose B with me. I can't change what happened, but I can make sure there is justice for my little girl. If you are interested in reading the article, here is the link. If you’re unable to open it without paying, try opening it on a computer instead. It’s been goofy for some people.

https://www.mankatofreepress.com/news/local_news/charges-alcohol-a-factor-in-atv-crash-causing-serious-injuries/article_893de660-a371-4a22-b110-baadfad7167a.html

Thank you all again for your texts, messages, cards, gifts, donations, and prayers. I'm sorry I can't always answer each one, but I will do my best! I wish you could see the smile on Taylah's face every time I tell her someone said a prayer for her or sent a donation. We are so thankful for each and everyone of you!

Please pray extra hard for tomorrow’s surgery to be successful. I know God is already in the operating room and will be guiding the surgeons. Please pray for our anxious hearts.

-Emily

Hey everyone, Aunt Jennifer back again.  You all are so amazing!  You all have just blown us away with all the support and love you have shown Taylah and her family.  Between the prayers, phone calls, messages, and donations... it's truly been amazing and there are really no words besides thank you!

Emily has asked me to put out a request for Taylah. If you would have a moment to drop a card or a note or a picture in the mail and show Taylah visual love and support. Its looking like Taylah is going to be in the hospital a little longer than we had originally thought.  It would be fun for her to look around at her room and not seeing sterile hospital walls, but of get-well cards and pictures. Something very small to us but would be HUGE for Taylah.  It will just be a nice visual reminder for her to see how loved she is by all the people who mean the most to her.  

Thanks again from the bottoms of our hearts!

Address for sending Taylah some love:

Taylah Elg

St Mary's Campus Mayo Hospital

Francis Unit 3-C Room 154

1216 2nd St SW

Rochester, MN 55902

Well today didn't go as planned. They woke us up before 6am to prep Taylah for surgery. They brought us down to the pre op room and showed us the x rays. The doctor explained that a piece at the top of Taylah's tibia was either compacted during the accident, or actually broke off. Due to this, her knee is not stable and she will not be able to put any weight whatsoever on her right leg for two months until they can repair it. Unfortunately, they aren't able to do this now due to a high risk of infection. She also has medial ligament/tendon damage which will need to be repaired at a later date as well. Right now the number one priority is plastic surgery to close up her knee joint.

The original plan was to do the "flap" procedure which was what I explained with swinging up the calf muscle. The problem with this is that once it's attached it's not meant to be moved and they are afraid it won't be a good long term solution with the subsequent surgeries she needs in a couple of months. They simply didn't think this muscle would survive being moved so many times.

Because of this, they introduced an alternative. This involves taking a section of skin from Taylah's left thigh with a layer below which would include vein and artery so it has blood supply. They would then transfer it to her right knee and sew these vessels and artery into the vessels and artery of her knee. The reason for this is that they wouldn't have to move the entire area for future surgeries like they would if they used the calf muscle. This is a little more complicated of a procedure and will involve three surgeons and an entire day in the operating room. She will be monitored closely for 48 hours following the surgery and checked hourly for blood clots. She will not be able to eat anything for 24 hours following the surgery in case they have to bring her back into surgery. Thankfully there is only a 1% chance that this will not take.

Our plastic surgeon, Dr. Wu, who is highly respected and whom we absolutely love, told us she called in her senior doctor and the orthopedic surgeon to help decide what would be the best option. as they wouldn't know which procedure they would do until they got into the operating room. We got set up with the text messages to get updates of her progress with surgery and away she went. They had told us if the flap procedure would take about 2 hours but if they decided to do the alternative surgery it would need to find a day next week. After 30 minutes, I got the text that they were closing her up.

I instantly knew they basically looked at her knee, cleaned her up a little bit, and closed her right back up. No flap procedure. No closing of her joint. It was so disheartening that they weren't able to complete the surgery and there may have been a slight mental breakdown (thanks Callie for bringing me back to reality). It's been hard watching Taylah go through all of this and I just so badly wanted her to be one step closer to recovery.

Eventually the doctor came to talk to us and said they had decided it was best to go with the alternative given the future surgeries she will need to reconstruct her knee. This will give a better cosmetic appearance as well and after she explained more about the appearance (not to sound vain), I know Taylah would be happier with this in the long run. There is only a 1% chance that this procedure will not work, so please pray that we are the 99%!!! This procedure will take place on Friday. I have a feeling this will be a REALLY long day.

Taylah is in good spirits and enjoying having her family around. She is still super sassy and witty. Rich tried to give her a hard time for having pancakes for lunch and she said "I haven't eaten yet today! I had SURGERY for breakfast!" I'm glad my little girl is staying her spunky self through all of this. She likes having her sisters around, especially her biggest sister Callie. Grandma brought Skylee down today who brought her cards from the entire Watertown Mayer softball team and lots of goodies from the HLWW softball team. She loved them!!!

We are so thankful for everyone's generosity. I know I said this yesterday, but honestly, there are no words. Thank you feels insufficient, but it's all we have right now. So thank you and God bless you all! 

-Emily

This is Emily, Taylah's mom. First of all, thank you. This is not the kind of site that anyone wants to have to have but it's incredibly humbling to have my sister set this up in the first place, and then to have people to support it is a whole different level of humbling. (I don't even know if that makes sense but I'm going on pretty much 0 hours of sleep so cut me some slack.)

Saturday night I woke up to a call at 10:35pm from a complete stranger saying "Emily? Taylah's been in a side by side accident....She's being airlifted to Rochester. She's breathing and talking, but I don't know anything else." It is every parent's worst nightmare. Rich, Skylee, and I made the longest drive of our lives to St. Mary's hospital. I called my oldest daughter and her boyfriend who were in South Dakota for a wedding and they immediately started the 4.5 hour drive to Rochester (thank goodness because Taylah REALLY wanted her big sister once things calmed down). I called Mara who was at after-prom at the Mall of America with no way to leave.

On the way there, I called the hospital to get details on what was going on. They said they could not give me any because the patient had not arrived yet and they did not know the patient's name yet but she was about twenty minutes out so I should call back in 30 minutes. Meanwhile, I called the Cleveland, MN police department nonemergency line and left a message. After not getting a phone call back, I called the Rochester police department and they connected me with Le Sueur county Sherriff's department. The person who answered the phone immediately connected me to the responding officer. Her name was Aly and she told me about the accident. She said they had been in a side by side accident that was under investigation so she couldn't give me a lot of information, but basically they took a turn too fast and it turned over on the passenger side and Taylah had pinned underneath. Her and two fireman were first on the scene where they were able to lift the side by side off of her. Taylah later told me she had to crawl out from under the side by side when they lifted it up. Aly said they decided it was best to put a tunicate on her leg and had gotten her into the ambulance and got her pain meds while they waited for the helicopter. She told me how sweet and brave she was.

After what seemed like FOREVER, I was able to talk to the social worker from the hospital who told me she had arrived and they were working on her. She had arrived with a tunicate on her right leg and a lot of significant injuries to her lower extremities. He asked how long it would be until I arrived, which of course would make anyone nervous if there was hidden meaning with such a question. Soon after I hung up, the flight nurse called me to tell me Taylah wanted her to call me. She also told me how sweet Taylah was and how brave she had been. 

When we arrived at the Emergency Room, they brought us back to Taylah were she was laying on a stretcher with a room full of doctor's and nurses. She had a neck brace on and wraps all over her legs so I couldn't see anything, which from the sounds of it was for the best. There was a terror in her eyes that I cannot even explain. I told her it was going to be okay and hugged my little girl, just thankful I still had that opportunity, because I know a lot of parents don't get that chance in a situation like this. If you zoom into the upper right portion of this photo that someone took and posted on Facebook of the scene, you will see two white crosses. I know God was holding Taylah in his hands the entire time. 

The doctor called me over to show me images and give me the details of her injuries. At the time, we thought they were mostly soft tissue injuries like Jenn said. We've since found out that part of her tibia was either compacted during the accident, or actually broke off. There is damage to her MCL. Her fibula is fractured, but will heal on it's own. He asked if I wanted to see the pictures of her knee and big toe area where the joints were exposed. If you know me, you know I don't even handle hang nails very well. I said no, but I want to know what she is going through, so asked him to show me. I will tell you, it was like nothing I've ever seen before. Something you never want your child to go through, but it was real, and now you just ask what we do now. The doctor was calm and the nurses were saints. The nurse reminded me that it was not her head, and we still had my baby girl. Everything else could be fixed and it was going to be okay.

Surgery was right away Sunday morning to clean out the joints because they weren't able to clean everything out with her her awake. They also had to remove a large portion of her left big toe nail but were able to save the portion where the nail grows out of so hopefully she will still have a nail. They have had her legs super wrapped up to keep everything germ free so we haven't seen the extent of her other injuries, but we've been told she has some very deep road rash in other places of her legs and feet.

Next steps: She will have surgery tomorrow (Wednesday). Hopefully everything is clean enough that they can do a "flap". This is where they will take one of her three calf muscles and swing it up over the knee joint to replace the lost muscle. They will then take a scraping of skin from her upper thigh and place it over the area to do a skin graft. If it is not clean enough, they will clean it again, and do the procedure Friday or early next week. After the procedure, she will be completely bedridden in the hospital for 5 days. 

Taylah has a really long journey to recover ahead of her, but we all know how strong she is being the youngest of four girls! She's kept her sass and spunk throughout this, though she understandably has her moments. She was definitely bummed to find out she won't be able to play softball this year but is learning to keep book so she can still be a part of the team! She's been able to get up and walk with a walker since she cannot put any weight at all on her right leg. We tease that her and Mara, who is still on crutches from her knee surgery, should have a race down the hallway. They haven't done it yet, but maybe soon!

Sorry this got so long, but it's been a lot the past few days and we are all just trying to take it in. We have a huge support system and we could not be more blessed! 

Please pray for continued healing and that everything looks good so they are able to do the surgery tomorrow. All of your prayers are definitely felt and they mean the world to Taylah and the rest of us! Thank you all a million times over! 

-Emily