24 Hours

No Mother ever wants to see this....

It all started on Tuesday, November 8th at 4:30pm.  I had just sat down to the computer to pull some pictures off my camera.  The front door bell rang and Emily went to answer it.  I heard several kids voices all saying that Luke had fallen down and he was hurt.  I assumed that they were playing at the school across the street since they came to my front door but then they told me he was playing at the neighbors house behind us.  I grabbed my jacket and went to the back door.

As soon as I opened it, I heard him crying.  One of the boys said, "He's laying over there."  My heart sank.  This was not going to be good.  He's a tuff kid.  If he's laying down and crying, he's really hurt.  I ran over there and on the way the boys tell me he was on the rope swing doing a back flip and fell on his head.  WHAT?!? 

When I got to him he was rolling back and forth a little and crying a lot.  I listened to all of the kids tell me their version of what happened.  I've watched the kids on this swing before, they've played on it every day for months.  I've never seen anyone go fast enough to get their feet up in the air above their heads but that's what everyone, including the oldest girl about 10 years old said.  We realized that he had some thin cotton gloves on and that is probably why his hands slipped.

Leanna, a neighbor came over to see what happened.  I wasn't sure what to do.  I didn't want to over react, I had flashes of huge bills for ambulances and medical air vac's coming (which would not be easy to pay for) but I also wanted to help him and not waste any time.  I decided he was moving enough on his own that it would be OK to carry him home and watch him for a little while.  Leanna brought over a phone number for a chiropractor here in town.  She thought he may have an X-ray machine in his office and might be able to take a look at him before driving almost an hour to the closest hospital.

I called the doctor and he was really nice to take the time to talk to me.  He could hear Luke crying in the background.  His x-ray machine wasn't working right then and he told me that if Luke was still crying in about an hour or so we should probably head to the hospital.  If it was an arm or leg injury we could wait a little longer to see if he calmed down but with a head injury, we needed to be more careful.  As I'm still talking to him Luke starts asking, "Why does my neck hurt?" and "Am I bleeding?" several times.  Dr.Willis then says, "How's your insurance?  You should probably go now."  Then he suggests going to the fire station first so they can stabilize his neck before we leave town.

Right after that L.J. calls as he usually does while he's driving home from work.  Only "home" that week was his brothers house in the valley and not here with us.  I'm starting to freak out a little more and I quickly tell him everything that just happened.  By this time Emily had talked to Luke enough and had gotten him to calm down but he kept asking, "Why does my neck hurt?" and "Am I bleeding?" over and over again.  L.J. told me to get him in the car and go NOW.

I laid Luke in the back seat and carefully drove to the station.  I had a feeling they weren't going to let me drive him myself but I also had a feeling I probably shouldn't.  I was right.  I called L.J. to tell him we were going to the hospital by ambulance.  He told me he would starting making phone calls to find someone who could go there later and pick us up.

The EMT's were all really nice to Luke and when they told him they were going to give us a ride Luke said, "Well OK but sometimes I get car sick."  He asked me several times where we were going and could never remember my answer.  I was getting more nervous.  Then Luke got really nauseous and started to pass out.  We kept him awake for a little while and I heard the EMT's talking about upgrading the code, what ever that meant, I did notice they were driving faster now.

Then he passed out again.  It felt like an eternity to me but I heard later it was for 90 seconds.  I kept talking to him, trying to get him to wake up.  The EMT's went to work and did their thing, it was the longest 90 seconds of my life!  I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if I was alone with him in our car.  Then they told me they were calling for an air vac to Phoenix and getting him on an IV.  Ugh, I hate IV's for him.  Unfortunately, he's had several already in his life and they're never easy to do.  It took them SIX tries and he screamed bloody murder for each one.  Needless to say, he was very conscious after that.

He was excited to hear we were going to get to ride in a helicopter.  Then about 15 minutes later when they told us the helicopter was almost there he said, "A helicopter?" just like he had heard it for the first time.  Then when it finally arrived he was surprised again to hear about it.  As soon as they told me what hospital they were taking us to I sent L.J. a quick text so he could meet us there.

After we were all situated and lifting off I looked out the window.  Even though it was dark I could tell we were just over the tree tops.  THEN.... my door pops open!!!  I was FREAKING out!  It didn't open all the way but it did open enough to see out.  The EMT reaches over me and closes it and then looks at me and shrugs to say, "Sorry."  It was terribly loud and we couldn't really talk.  I grabbed a hold of a bar right next to my head and hung on for dear life.  I prayed the entire way to p l e a s e make it there safely.

While in route Luke past out again.  The girls in the copter went to work and I started praying even harder.  It was only for a few seconds this time.  I was so happy to finally see the Phoenix city lights.  We actually went past the hospital then made a hard left turn to come back and land.  Luke was on the left side and all of the sudden I thought, "If they didn't latch my door, what if his door opens while we're up in the air and turned on our side?"  I was so scared I was crying and couldn't stop.

Finally we land and I'm so relieved to be on solid ground.  L.J. was there within a few minutes and I just melted in his arms.  It was too much.

The ER doc and nurses got to work and soon we're headed for a CT and Xrays.  He kept getting nauseous and then started to pass out again.  It didn't take very long to find out that he had a concussion and a broken collar bone but everything else was clear.  It was a huge relief!!  We were admitted so they could monitor him and soon we were ready to go to sleep for the night.

His vitals were good all through the night.  A team of Interns and a Doctor came to seem him in the morning.  He didn't have any sensitivity to light or sound and after he had breakfast and wasn't nauseous they decided he was OK to go home and rest.  With a collar bone injury there really isn't anything they can do or even try to do for kids his age.  They said it heels quickly on it's own.  He did get a sling to wear for a little while to keep his arm from moving too much.  It wasn't hard though since it hurt anytime he did move it.  I received all kinds of information about concussions and signs to watch for and precautions to take.

We were released and made arrangements to get back home.  My Mom drove us part of the way and then L.J.'s Mom met us and brought us the rest of the way.  Luke was very upset that he had missed Cheesy Nachos for lunch that day at school, it's his all time favorite so we stopped at Taco Bell for lunch.  Then he wanted an ice cream cone but I talked him into waiting until we made it all the way home.  He still gets car sick and I didn't want too much in his stomach.  When we got back into town we first went to the fire station to pick up my car then I stopped at Dairy Queen and bought a box of dilly bars.

When I came into the house I looked at the clock.  It was 4:30pm, exactly 24 hours since the door bell ring.

That was a 24 hours I will never want to repeat but I am so overwhelmed with gratitude for my many blessings.  Heavenly Father gave us one of the greatest gifts that day.  Luke was going to be OK.  We had survived the helicopter ride.  We were HOME!  Marcie and Alice stepped right in and took care of my girls while I was gone.  I received tons of texts wishing us well and letting us know we were in their prayers.  It gave me the strength I needed to get through this experience.  Even little things meant so much.  I noticed that my garbage can had been pulled out to the road while I was gone.  I told the girls I was happy that they had remembered to do that since it was so full and those dirty diapers would be pretty nasty after another week.  Neither one of them did it.  It must have been a neighbor who knew I needed that done.

Keeping Luke down since the accident has not been easy but he's doing so much better now, getting himself dressed again and playing like normal.  He knows NO rope swing, monkey bars or trampoline for awhile still.  We're scheduled for another xray on the 12th to make sure everything did heal alright.  Then he'll be ready to go again.

Luke is still my favorite boy and I'm sure this won't be the last of our many adventures together.