Trauma and Recovery. My Miracle. My Elequil Story

tanner_cvr

For my son Tanner, it was going to be a really fun summer, the one between high school and college when all the friends are together for one more season. 

It wasn’t.  

On June 10th 2017, Tanner wasn’t in a crosswalk when he was hit by the car.

The car was travelling at 45 mph. The driver didn’t see anyone in the road, and didn’t realize that what crashed into his windshield was a person. The phone call came shortly after. 

The friend, who was with Tanner when it happened, called us. You can imagine how that call went.

There were no assurances that Tanner would make it through this. 

As my daughter and I were running out of the house, I grabbed my purse. My daughter and I drove to the scene and arrived in minutes. The ambulance had already left, headed to Harborview Trauma Center in Seattle.  

Tanner’s friend jumped in the van with us and we headed to the hospital not knowing what we were going to find out when we got there.  

We were trying to understand what had happened, but his friend couldn’t speak. He was trying but just couldn’t. He was in shock and no words would come out. The police had told us where the ambulance was headed and that’s all we knew. 

My purse happened to have some Elequil aromaTabs® in it. I gave my daughter a Lavender- Sandalwood one and asked her to open it up at max scent and put it on Tanner’s friend.   

She did and he was able to calm down, breathe out, and tell us that Tanner had stepped out and the car was right there. 

The friend, who was on the side of the road, was also on his phone and didn’t see the car, or that Tanner had started to cross right there. It was bad. The driver remained at the scene, but was not at fault. 

From ER to Trauma Surgery ICU

We arrived at Harborview Trauma Center and they took us to the back of the ER. Those aren’t the good rooms to be in. 

We were asked to wait in a small family room until they could give us some information about Tanner’s condition.  

They were stabilizing him and he was going to CT, we would be able to see him when that had finished. 

He was alive.  

By this time, the three of us were all wearing an Elequil aromatab. I had on the Lavender tab, Tanner’s friend and my daughter were wearing the Lavender- Sandalwood ones. 

The Elequil was helping me so much. I was breathing, and present. I was keeping it together, and able to focus on what we were being told. 

We waited.

They transferred Tanner from the ER to Trauma Surgery ICU, after splinting his legs in preparation for surgery.  

The CT revealed Tanner had suffered bilateral open fractures to his lower legs. He had fractures in his pelvis, left scapula, clavicle, and in both hands. His knees had ligament damage requiring future surgeries. He also sustained a massive concussion and they reported a 1 cm bleed in his right frontal cortex

I work in the medical field. I am an ultrasound technologist (Sonographer) who understands exactly what all of these injuries mean. 

I know what happens with brain injuries; I know how things work and how long they take to heal. I know. Yet I was able to stay calm, and listen carefully to everything I was told and didn’t need things repeated which I credit to the Elequil aromatabs®. 

The Road to Recovery

Tanner made it through surgery. 

He had his legs put back together with rods and pins. It took more than 6 hours. They were hoping that an active pelvic vessel bleed would settle down and it did. Since the pelvic fractures were stable they didn’t have to put any hardware in. 

Miraculously, Tanner didn’t have any organs damaged.

It was also a miracle that the hemorrhage from his head injury was not intraparenchymal (inside the brain tissue) as first reported - it was subdural (between the linings) of the brain which has a much better prognosis.  

After Tanner was out of surgery, and then out of the ICU, he spent the next 3 weeks on the Trauma Surgery floor. 

Three days after he arrived at the hospital, Tanner had his high school graduation ceremony on the trauma unit. The steady stream of visiting friends also used Elequil®, as they were having a difficult time emotionally with what had happened.  

Every day Tanner wore both the Orange-Peppermint and Lavender-Sandalwood aromatabs. Every night he used the Lavender ones. We believe they reduced his anxiousness, perception of the pain and helped keep him calm.  

Even the nurses and other hospital staff were asking about them as they witnessed how helpful the Elequil aromatabs were. We provided samples to many staff members.  

Tanner was eventually transferred to a rehabilitation center where he spent the next 4 weeks healing, doing physical therapy, and waiting out his non-weight bearing status. He continued wearing the Aromatabs®, and the facility enjoyed the use of them also. 

Tanner was discharged from the rehabilitation center without any pain medicine and he was on his way back to himself.  

It’s been 7 months now since the accident and he is driving, walking, and has just started his second quarter of college for mechanical engineering. He has to have knee surgery in the spring once his bones are well healed. 

I always knew that Elequil® would bring comfort and relief to people in all types of situations. What I didn’t know was that we would have such a challenging opportunity to experience the direct benefits of this wonderful product ourselves.   

You see, I am the inventor of Elequil Aromatabs, and this is my Elequil® story

Thank you Beekley for making this idea and product come to life for us. We are so very grateful to have had Elequil aromatabs® to help us through the most traumatic event of our lives.  

It wasn’t the summer we were expecting, but every day since is a gift. 

   
Rita Chew, RDMS, RDCS, RVT

Rita Chew, RDMS, RDCS, RVT

RDMS, RDCS, RVT

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