That mean old telephone pole that broke my kids to pieces. Ok, I realize it didn't actually walk out into the road to attack them, but it was standing at attention in a not very safe place. It was 3 " from the edge of the street on a curve. It took a very slight driving distraction, then there was a smooth driveway ramp right next to it so there wasn't even the slightest jolt to the tires bumping the curb before the car slammed into the pole.It only took 4 1/2 years for it to be moved!
The car looked like this.
And the kids looked like this. 
Three kids, one broken femur, one broken thumb, one broken collarbone, a crushed vertebrae, torn intestines, two surgeries, one back brace, $140,000 in medical bills (so thankful for medical insurance), six weeks of lost wages for me, and $14,000 of car replacement costs.
It was a horrible month but then the kids all snapped back to normal quickly and are as healthy and as beautiful as ever.
Rachel didn't have major injuries and was able to leave the hospital that night. The unfortunate part is that her broken collarbone got knocked out of whack during the healing process and although the other kids' injuries were more serious, they had adequate pain meds. She ended up with more uncontrolled and unmedicated pain.
Brady broke the largest bone in his body, his femur, but he had no immediate pain. He was trapped in the car while the emergency workers tended to him. A policeman peeked in the window and saw that it was obviously broken. He said to Brady, "well, looks like you have a fracture there." In the shocked state he was in, he didn't catch the meaning of the word "fracture". He thought to himself, 'whew, at least it's not broken. I've got a football game tomorrow!' He was in surgery three hours later and didn't walk for 4 weeks.
Roxanne and I picked up some furniture the night before and had the seats out of the van. As we were putting the seats back in, Roxanne asked if we could leave the middle seat out for a couple of days so she could have more leg room. What a blessing that was. She was thrown forward from the waist so forcefully, I'm sure she would have been dealing with some head and neck injuries had that seat been there. Two weeks in the hospital was plenty long enough for her.
Anyway, I hope we never have to deal with anything like that again. We are complete believers in insurance. We are avid believers in seat belts. And we are firm believers that bodies are made to heal in remarkable ways.
It was a horrible month but then the kids all snapped back to normal quickly and are as healthy and as beautiful as ever.
Rachel didn't have major injuries and was able to leave the hospital that night. The unfortunate part is that her broken collarbone got knocked out of whack during the healing process and although the other kids' injuries were more serious, they had adequate pain meds. She ended up with more uncontrolled and unmedicated pain.
Brady broke the largest bone in his body, his femur, but he had no immediate pain. He was trapped in the car while the emergency workers tended to him. A policeman peeked in the window and saw that it was obviously broken. He said to Brady, "well, looks like you have a fracture there." In the shocked state he was in, he didn't catch the meaning of the word "fracture". He thought to himself, 'whew, at least it's not broken. I've got a football game tomorrow!' He was in surgery three hours later and didn't walk for 4 weeks.
Roxanne and I picked up some furniture the night before and had the seats out of the van. As we were putting the seats back in, Roxanne asked if we could leave the middle seat out for a couple of days so she could have more leg room. What a blessing that was. She was thrown forward from the waist so forcefully, I'm sure she would have been dealing with some head and neck injuries had that seat been there. Two weeks in the hospital was plenty long enough for her.
Anyway, I hope we never have to deal with anything like that again. We are complete believers in insurance. We are avid believers in seat belts. And we are firm believers that bodies are made to heal in remarkable ways.
6 comments:
I remember when this happened, but it never really set in quite how bad it was. I can't believe they were all walking in a month. The human body really is amazing. Especially young ones.
Thank goodness everyone turned out ok. I bet it was a comfort to see the phone pole gone!
Hello Cynthia, this is Rick check out your blog. I just read thru this post. WOW! is about all I can say. As a parent it must have been a nightmare.
Stay tooned!
http://organizeddoodles.blogspot.com/
So did you go to work campaigning to have the telephone pole removed?
I remember you (and on occasion me) running back and forth between 2 hospitals and home trying to orchestrate all the things that needed to be attended to. You are THE woman!!!
Just seeing the photos of the car and the kids makes my stomach hurt all over again.
You really were an amazing Mom during all that! I just remember Brady being so brave and Zannie just laying in the dark for what seemed like forever. Was I on the night shift with her or did they never turn the lights on in her hospital room. Thats kind of strange that I just remember alot of dark....I guess it was a bit of a dark time but a testiment to the power of prayer.
There's nothing worse than watching a child suffer...unless it is post-op, which offers a whole new level of agony.
Did you drive by that telephone pole like I notice bus stops? I think it was very sorry . . .
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