Jeffery

We've been incredibly blessed with our children! My oldest one is turning 30 next month. I can't believe how fast it goes by. And out of those nine kids we've only had a few hospital runs and very little sickness. I look back and it amazes me how blessed we've been. Our guardian angel works over time for us. And she was there with Jeff just a few days ago. The kids were off from school for Presidents day so Jeff was hanging out with some friends. He had gone pig hunting earlier in the morning but they didn't see anything and decided to come home. Then early afternoon while Josh and I were in Overton, Jeff texted me and asked when I was going to be home. I replied in a few minutes. He texted back with "cool". Josh and I came in and sat our McDonald's on the table and I was telling Jeff sorry that we didn't get him any but I didn't know he was home. He said that was OK because he wasn't hungry anyway. He was sitting at the desk and Josh and I started eating when Jeff says “I fell outta the back of a truck“. Josh jumped up immediately and ran over to him, it took me a minute to let it register then I went over to him too. He was pretty scratched up and his forehead had a big scrape. We asked him if he was alright and he said not really. I don't know why but I always ask "did you cry?" And he said "like a baby". And my big manly guy started crying again. I haven't seen him cry for years. We looked to see if his eye's were dilated, they were OK. His stomach hurt a little and he knew his name. I couldn't decide for sure if we should take him to the hospital or not so I called the local doctor to ask him. They said we should take him to Mesquite to the hospital. And I asked if they could just look at him first. They agreed then gave us an appointment to be seen in an hour. Which was a little strange, they just told me to take him to the hospital now they're making us wait! Rude. So we took him and the doc said he should get a cat scan. So off to Mesquite we went. Josh drove us and we met up with Eric. I was glad we went to the Dr first because we had an order for the cat scan and we didn't have to go through the ER. The scan took maybe two minutes. And of course they can't say anything to us, you have to wait for the Dr. We decided to eat at Del Taco. Jeff was just having a milk shake, he got some nice meds for his headache from the doctor. We were finishing up when the Dr. called to say that Jeff needed to go into St. George to have a neurologist look at him. The scan showed a large hematoma. Oh! We weren't expecting that at all. So trying not to get too excited we headed into St. George. This time we have to go through the ER. They do all the ER things, run a ton of tests and take 5 vials of blood. Then tell us that he needs to be seen by a neurosurgeon and they don't have one there. They were going to fly him into Las Vegas. But I guess a plane wasn't available so they rounded up a crew to take him in an ambulance. When they were telling us that, Jeff asked if his mom could ride along with him. Yay! He still needs me!

But oh dear! I got so car sick! I thought I was going to throw up the whole ride. Jeff slept most of the way. I thought we'd never get there but really it took less than two hours. ( Usually it takes a good two hours).

They took him right into the trauma unit. Scary! They took more blood and the dr. came right away. He checked him over, asked a ton of questions and said they would take another cat scan in the morning. If the cat scan showed the hematoma had grown they would need to operate. Very scary! In the bed next to Jeff with a curtain separating them we met Charley Green. Charley was not happy to be there. Charley said very unpleasant words, but most of the time you couldn’t understand him so I guess it was ok. We were very relieved to go upstairs. They took Jeff into the trauma I.C.U. My Goodness they take head injuries very serious. There we waited for Eric to arrive. Jeff's nurse was Rick. He was so nice and caring. Jeff was his only patient.

Rick had to replace all the I.V tubes, (he had one in each arm) and do all the necessary procedures. Then every hour he had to wake Jeff up and ask him questions to make sure he was coherent. At 6 a.m. they kick all visitors out till 9 a.m. for transition. It was very hard to leave! They were going to do the cat scan at 7 and I wanted to know the results right away. They are very strict about it though so Eric and I went to the cafeteria for some breakfast. We had some eggs and bacon, milk and juice. It cost us almost $10.00. Dang! For cold cafeteria food! We were wishing we had gone out! We waited the rest of the time in the I.C.U waiting room till 8:55 and at 9 they let us in. The Dr. had already seen Jeff and gone over the cat scan results. The hematoma was stable and he could go home under the condition that he be careful and not hit it again or do anything that would cause it to leak more blood.. What a relief!! He was ok. It took the rest of the morning to

get him released. They have to make sure you can eat, walk and sign your name. Then they have to unhook all the I.V's and go over everything for going home.(at least 10 times!).But it's ok because they told us many times how fortunate he was to even be going home. And we felt very blessed!

But now that we're home Jeff won't stay down! He was suppose to stay home from school for a week and not do anything for at least 6 weeks. He has to put up with me constantly asking how he feels, looking in his eye's and ear's and examining his wounds and measuring his head. He's so strong and hates staying down!

We pray that he'll be ok and the hematoma will heal. We love you Jeff!