...And what an emotional roller coaster it’s been….Last Friday night we got a 1am call no parent wants to receive Our son who lives in San Diego was in the UCSD Medical center …ICU Trauma Unit. They were on his motorcycle (with helmets) merging onto the freeway and hit a mattress left in the road. With traffic, there was no avoiding it and down they went. His girlfriend Bri, we think rolled off the bike, she had a quite a bit of road rash on her lower back where the riding jacket slid up and quite a few bruises.
When we spoke to those in the trauma unit checking on his condition I let them know I would be flying in Saturday the first flight I could get & they said no….you have to wait. Ummmm what? WAIT? WHY!! Because as next of kin I had to be available to authorize any possible emergency surgery needed..and I couldn’t do that if I was in flight. I flew in Sunday expecting all the nasty “road rash” & broken bones which come with bike wrecks, I had the attitude if I visualized the worst any thing less would be wonderful.
Boy was I shocked when I saw him. He had 2 black/purple eyes Johnny Depp would be proud of, the backs of his hands were pretty raw but looking at him, that was it. Best they can figure he flipped over the handle bars and landed on the back of his head and left shoulder breaking his collar bone. On his back he has a touch of road rash which a week later is nearly healed.
What you can’t see is, both temporal bones are broken, the bones above and below his left eye (I believe are the orbital bones), a fracture at the base of his scull and significant hearing loss in his left ear.
Because of the frontal lobe trauma, Initially we were give a pretty scary recovery….as in long term care rehab facility…we were looking at all the options, he couldn’t fly because of the head trauma so bringing him home was not an option…and his recovery would be best in an area he was last familiar with….living here for a while? I was scared to say the least…
Less than a week later he was discharged from the hospital,(with constant massive headache’s) on his own 2 feet, grumbling talking, reading and resuming modified activities . We have our son back…a more determined and stubborn stronger version. He knows how blessed he is, and we all are so very thankful for all the prayers, good wishes and positive energy sent his way. Healing will be a long rough & rocky road & he's on his way one step at a time
Believe it or not, he started back in classes today….
17 credit hours.
Thank you is just not enough.
I’m sure he had better plans for his spring break!
Give those you love a big
Katie
