October 11th, 2013 is only ONE day shy of my 2 year anniversary from being hit by a truck. Now my son Elijah will have a day in which he won't ever forget either.
Friday morning before sending Elijah and Caden off to school I explained to them how dangerous dirtbikes and four wheelers are. How I knew several who have died from accidents involving those off road vehicles. I knew they were heading to a friends house after school and both of those would probably be used. I am certain I had put a little fear into Caden, and was hoping Elijah was listening with both ears. My last words that morning to my sons were "I love you. Have a fun time at your friends house, but come home alive and in one piece". I shut the door as they walked out to their ride and felt a pit in my stomach. Something wasn't right, BUT I figured it was just me being an over reactive mother and being paranoid since this was their first time alone doing these sorts of activities. The day went on.....and then at 3:45pm the phone rings. I look at the caller ID and instantly knew something had happened. It was the parents name on that caller ID. I answered the phone with a HELLO?????? Knowing good and well something was wrong. I was told "Elijah has been in a dirtbike accident and he is being taken by ambulance to St. E hospital". I proceeded to ask questions and quickly hung up. Time to find someone to watch my other children!!! Finally getting ahold of my grandmother(after several other people I tried), she was able to rush over and stay with my two youngest. I called my MIL and she met me and drove me to the hospital thankfully because by then I was pretty shaken up. All I knew at that point was that most likely Elijah had two broken arms and maybe a broken leg?? Knew nothing of internal injuries, or head injuries so my mind was all over the place.
As I walked into the ER, my son says to me "mom, we traded places". Im pretty sure no mother wants to hear those words, but it was all to true. This is what I saw when I walked in. He was very medicated at this point so he looks pretty comfortable.
We were then told that his injuries were serious enough and because of his age that he would need to have his surgeries done at Riley. So he was transported to Riley via ambulance. I rode with him. At this point we knew he would need a rod in his left femur, both wrists would need surgery, and his elbow would need surgery as well. Other than that, he had NO OTHER injuries. Praise the Lord because he could very well have had neck or spinal injuries since he wasn't wearing a helmet.
Arrived at Riley at 10:30pm. Were told surgery would be on the 12th(my 2 year anniversary) and that during the night he would be in traction for his leg. This was VERY painful for him and none of us got much sleep that night!!
He did get about a 3 hour stretch of consistent sleep(even with all those pillows stacked high:))
FINALLY at 11:30am he was taken to surgery!!
FIVE long hours later we were told it was complete and he was "coming out of it" and so we went to see him. Man, seeing him so unresponsive was a bit tough for me. In surgery they put a rod in his left femur, 2 pins in both of his wrists, a cast on his right lower arm, and were unable to do what they had originally thought with the left elbow so he came out of surgery with only a splint on that left arm. We return on November 7th for further xrays and reviews of his elbow and will know what further actions will be needed for his elbow. Its pretty messed up.
By Monday we had him out of bed and sitting in a chair. It was alot of work to get him there, and he was in a great deal of pain. His leg and his arms were very swollen thus causing him such pain and spasms in his muscles. NOTE: If he is smiling it is because we asked him to!! This was one of the hard things for me as a mother. Elijah is a very social and smiling child with jokes here and there. He was NOT himself. No smiles, no jokes and definitely not ever wanting to talk!!
Tuesday morning we were given permission to leave from the surgeon and all we needed was permission to leave from the PT. So that morning we attempted a transfer with just Elijah and myself involved. It went VERY poorly and we both were discouraged and in tears. How was I ever going to be able to transfer him when he can hardly stand, his left leg needs support, let alone he can't use either of his arms to help me????? The PT told us she would come back in the afternoon and we would try again. When she returned she suggested Nick help this time and see how it goes. Ahhh, much better!! That was our sign right there that Nick was not going to be able to return to work until Elijah and I could get the transfer by ourselves. It really did take two people. One person to hold his left leg at a certain angle the entire transfer, and one person to lift him to a standing position on his right leg and help him pivot around to a chair.
This was Monday morning eating breakfast.
This was Tuesday morning after a very rough 1st transfer. He wasn't feeling good either and I think it was the nerves of knowing he was going to have to practice another transfer after lunch!!!
And this was at 5pm on Tuesday after we were officially released from Riley!!! Thanks to my Aunt Joan who was in visiting and stayed to help us take everything out to our truck and help get Elijah into the truck. That was quite an ordeal. No nurses came out with us, so we were on our own in figuring that out!!!
HOME SWEET HOME!!!!
My dear grandmother brought us our dinner that night. We put Elijah straight to work in figuring out silverware!!! He did a great job and fed himself.
His "new" room for the next 6 weeks. Which is usually our office. My very kind Aunt Val offered her sons twin bed to Elijah for the next 6 weeks and it has worked perfectly since Elijah's bedroom is usually upstairs.We are so very blessed that Elijah's injuries were not any worse than what they were. We are so thankful for God's mercy in sparing our son's life. We are so overwhelmed by the love, prayers and support of not only our family(how they drop everything to assist us in a time of need) but of our friends as well. It truly humbles me!!! Thank YOU!!!!
NOTE: I should mention that at this time(18 days post accident) that Elijah can transfer himself pretty much from chair to couch to bed. He can wheel himself around the house on his own with his right leg. He can do his homework and all his swelling is gone. We hope to send him to school this Friday:). Our biggest issue is the use of a restroom at this point:)
