Oh boy where do I even start!!??
I guess we'll start from Sunday morning...We decided to stay and attend church with my parents. We had a wonderful Saturday with Ken and Jessica and so many family members. The reception was absolutely perfect, the food turned out amazing, and our feet didn't fall off. What a great time we were having.
Seth had been asking and asking to be able to ride the 4-wheelers. I promised him after church he could ask and then they could go before it was time to head home. I was glad he wanted to get out and explore the farm. He really, really wanted to drive one himself so Sam got on one with Sarah, Kathryn and Luke and Seth was on the other by himself.
I stayed back at my parents to hang out and visit. A little while later my nephew Bentley comes running in the house tell me Sam is running up the road and to call an ambulance. I can't process this. So I take off outside (with no shoes) and start running down the driveway. Sam was beside himself and is yelling "call an ambulance, call an ambulance!!!!". I dialed 911 and then handed the phone to someone and took off running to find Seth.
My parents live quite far out in the country and Seth was about 1 mile away. I couldn't think of anything except that I needed to get to him and see where the other kids were. My parents had the present of mind to drive the truck and they picked me up 1/4 mile down the road. I was so worried. Sam assured me that Seth was awake and Sarah was with him trying to keep him talking.
(The back story on that is that Seth was following Sam along this hill side, he hit a bump and went straight down the edge--mostly because he is just not that experienced in driving. Sarah saw him go flying. Sam ran to him, made sure he was ok, had Sarah stay, and then tried to come get us. He didn't have a phone with him, he couldn't get one 4 wheeler into neutral, the other 4 wheeler he couldn't get through a gate--even though it was unlocked, the shock was taking over at this point, so he started running. He ran all the way to my parents to get me.)
My brother and sister-in-law take over the phone to direct the ambulance there and we get to the top of the hill. I can't handle it anymore so I jumped out and take off straight down the hill, with Sam close behind me. I can see that he is awake and has a huge gash in his head and both him arms look quite funny. Sam and my brother Spencer immediately gave him a blessing of peace and calm.
I couldn't even feel relief at that point. All I could think was how much worse it could be and that he was awake and he wasn't dead!! Oh my poor heart--made me love that boy so much!! And the other 3. Sarah was amazing, stayed with even with all the blood and crying. She told him stories, asked him questions, kept him awake, and tried to keep him calm. What a wonderful girl she is. Kathryn kept Luke at the top of the hill so he wouldn't be scarred. She kept him entertained by asking him questions. Such amazing kids we have!!!
Because we were so far out, Marsing ambulance came and so did Canyon County after 15 minutes of us being with him. He was in so much pain and all I could do was stay by him, talk to him, comfort him, and tell him I loved him!! Because of the how he got his injuries (the 4 wheeler, being thrown, and falling down the hill), they decided he need to be life flighted to St. Al's in Boise. They got him on a board, splinted his arms, cut off his clothes, and got him some pain medicine while we waited for the helicopter.
They got him loaded up. Sam was able to ride with him. I went back to my parents, put some shoes on, got some clothes for Seth, got a wonderful blessing from my father (as did Sarah, she was pretty traumatized sweet girl!!). I cried all the way to the hospital. I knew he was going to live but we didn't know the extent of his injuries.
By the time I got there they had done a CT scan (negative thank heavens!!) and x-rayed his arms. They could see that nothing was wrong except for his arms and his gash on his head. Oh boy was I so grateful. I felt the Lord's hand so many times through that whole experience. When it could of been absolutely horrific , it was the best it could be.
They decided to do a conscious sedation to set his arms and stitch up his head. His arms were both complex fractures just above the wrists. One was dislocated and one was through the growth plate among many other things that I didn't understand. The doctor was fabulous. She was very worried that he would need to have surgery by a hand surgeon because of the break and that he had messed up his elbows because most of the times on these kinds of breaks, the elbows have problems.
They put him out, and she was able to put his arms right in. She was so amazed and astounded that it worked and only took about 5 minutes per arm. She said that she was bragging on how well she did and Sam and I knew that Heavenly Father was helping her. Plus there were no injuries to his elbows and after having the hand surgeon look at the x-rays after she set his arms, he said there was no need for surgery, they were set perfectly, and we could just see an orthopedic doctor in Twin Falls. Wow!!!
His head was pretty gross (Sam and I stayed with him the whole time and watched them set his arms and fix his head). He actually tried to scalp himself and the only part I got a little whoozy on was when she was lifting his scalp up and cleaning it out. Man!! makes me get nauseous just thinking about it now. She put 4 stitches underneath and then 11 on the outside. The cut is right along his hairline and should be quite the scar. They were able to clean up most of the blood and get him cleaned up.
It took quite awhile for him to wake up and keep him from throwing up. Poor guy!! He was so tired and worn out and just wanted to go home. We finally made it back to my parents at 2 am. He slept great. Sam and I were able to get 4-5 hours of sleep and then we finished packing up and brought him home.
We have an appt tomorrow with the orthopedic doc where hopefully they will put permanent casts on. He is doing amazing, even with all the pain!! What an amazing boy he is. Makes me so grateful for him, for this gospel, for amazing family, wonderful friends, and our lives!!
There were so many things that factored into this story and we things we could of/should of done differently but what many, many lessons we have learned. Mostly love your family and be strong in the Gospel. Heavenly Father is real and He will always be near you!!
