Blog Address thebipolardiva.blogspot.com: Life Flight

Facebook status copied, because it's been a freaking long-assed, horrible day.

I may be away for a bit, I'll try to sit for while and explain it all soon. Maybe while I'm sitting in the hospital waiting for my husband to awake.

But here it is:

Since so many of you already know some of what has happened today, I'll fill you in on what we know so far. Jeff was in a severe motorcycle accident this morning. He was life flighted to OHSU and is in ICU. He has a fractured shoulder blade, multiple broken ribs, a partially collapsed lung and a fractured pelvis, that's what we know so far. He's heavily sedated now and probably will be for a few days. Right now it looks as if they decide he needs surgery to repair his pelvis, it will be Monday or Tuesday. He doesn't have access to a phone, his phone is at the police station in McMinnville and I can't pick it up until Monday. You can always contact me if you wish. I may not be able to get right back to you, but I will eventually. My phone number is in my about section and feel free to text if you want to. If you are a believer, we'd like to ask you to pray for his recovery, and how we're going to handle his recovery and work. Oh, and for my friends that are asking, "but what about the bike?" haha, it's in remarkable condition I'm told, just a little fender damage, and he has no road rash. He's a little pissed they had to cut his leather jacket though! And he was so funny, he asked me if I could sneak Martini, our yorkie, in to see him. I guess we can facetime him so he can see his baby! If anyone feels left out, or upset because I didn't call you, you have to understand that I thought others would make calls, I was swamped, and truthfully I can't remember who I talked to today or not, I couldn't think about much at all. But I apologize, there was so much going on, I just couldn't do it all. I delegated a lot of it to others. I had to focus on my husband.

Joshua, if you're reading this, please, please call me.

Ok, now sleep.

When that ever dreaded phone call came in at 5AM the last morning of October I was consumed with fear. "Dad, I'm in the hospital. They tell me it's Emanuel. The doctors said I have brain damage, spine damage and a severely deformed leg."

Well my son was speaking, although somewhat incoherently, so the brain damage had to be minimal. The drive to the hospital was one of the longest of my life.

We'd been to Emanuel too many times before. One of my newborn grandsons was diagnosed with a fatal condition there and died at home three months later. My daughter had two babies 18 months apart that were each born 3 months early and weren't expected to live. They were both in the NICU for three months. All of these recent traumas were filling my mind on that seemingly endless 20 minute drive. Would this be one more death, or would Emanuel pull off another miracle?

We found my son listed as "Neon Doe", a code name for unknown victims of car accidents. We made the walk to his room not knowing what to expect. Would we still have our son? Would he be permanently disabled? What would his cognitive ability be?

We cautiously entered his room. My baby was in a back and neck brace. Half of his face was gone, his leg was completely wrapped and was being propped above his heart.

I wasn't sure how the staff would treat us, or what information they would release to us, since my son was 24 years old. They were wonderful. They brought us extra chairs; they worked around us although we made sure to stay out of their way.

The first nurse answered all of our questions and told us as much as they knew. Cole was walking home from a pub and was on the side of the road when he was hit. The driver never stopped. Cole was unconscious when the EMT's reached him. His injuries were so serious that he was flown by Life Flight to Emanuel.

He was hit so hard that he was knocked out of his boots and his wallet flew out of his pocket, When he woke up he only knew his first name so he still had the "Neon Doe" tag on. The nurse walked us through all of this several times so that we could take it all in.

The man accused of hitting him is a high school football coach from one of the nearby districts. We were told that he called in about an hour after he hit Cole telling police that he "may have hit something". (A trooper later told us that this man said he thought he hit a scarecrow. Give me a break! A six foot four walking scarecrow? I'm sure that it was blood left on the hood of his car and not straw.)

After the nursing staff told us all that they knew the trauma team came in and thoroughly explained the trauma he had suffered. They, too, explained things several times. We were numb and not retaining information very well. They cleared him of any back and skull fractures and explained every step of the way what they were doing.

The nurses came and went, but they might as well have been the same nurse with the same demeanor, they were wonderful. They put up with our large family and Cole's large network of friends for a week before he was released. They never complained even though Cole's friends stayed every night and rarely showered. The boys were ripe! The nurses were nothing but pleasant, informative and took amazing care of our son.

The orthopedic surgeon was another wonderful member of the hospital. Once again he included us in everything and had us all at ease before he went in to re-build my son's leg. He drew pictures of what he was going to do and sat for us to ask any questions we had.

The day Cole was released a social worker came in and told him that we could fill his prescriptions at no charge. They wanted to be sure that he was taken care of.

We feel that our son, as well as our three grandchildren received the best care possible from some of the most compassionate members of the medical community.

This is one hospital that seems, as least to me, to be there for the patients and not for the bottom line.

For our family that hospital brings up terrible memories of lost children, very fragile preemies and now a severely injured 24 yr old. Somehow the memories of the staff and the care that we received each and every time are enough to pull us through and realize how lucky we really are.

On Wednesday, April 7th 2010 the high school football coach was arrested on a felony hit-and-run charge. The maximum penalty in Oregon is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.