At 10:15 p.m. Friday night I got a call from a Colorado area code. It was Jenna. I could not understand her. I did understand that Tyler was hurt and that they were at some building and that the paramedics had been called. (Since they went to eat at Costa and bowling I thought they were at some building on BYU campus...so I was trying to picture in my mind what building matched with what she was saying and since I had never heard of Tahitian Noni building, it did not occur to me that that's where they were) Someone in the background could tell that she had to keep repeating herself and he told me where they were. I kept asking her if she was joking...I couldn't tell if she was laughing or crying.
We jumped in the car and just tried to head in the direction north. We didn't know if we should go to the scene or meet them at the hospital. We left everything at home...everything...we didn't have our id, insurance cards, or anything or even the camera. We did have our phones. We got several calls from people who were on their way to the accident or already there. Bennett's dad suggested we just meet them at the hospital because they were already loading him on the ambulance and that we would prolly miss them if we were to come all the way to the scene. It turns out though that we waited at the hospital for quite awhile before they showed up.
While at the hospital, we just waited outside on a bench. It was quite comfortable weather with a jacket on. And it was nice to have a distraction of not seeing people. When the ambulance arrived we met them, looked very briefly at Ty on the stretcher and he looked a lot worse than I had imagined. We had been told that he broke his wrist and lost consciousness but was ok. He had blood all over his face and I saw that he had a gash above his right eye, the same eye/eye brow that had been damaged during his "Y" fall. They had cut off his shirt and was covered by sheets. We followed them through the double doors at uvrmc. They asked us to stay in a room and a social worker would come talk to us (away from Ty...so not cool). That's when I kinda freaked out inside. "Why do I need a social worker to come talk to us? That's just silly." My mind and heart raced ...maybe Ty was the driver after all..which we knew he wasn't before. I thought...maybe dcfs was going to come and look at our house, investigate how we are as parents. Why do we need to talk to a social worker before we can see our child... But as it turned out...all the social worker was there for was to say..."you can wait here...and you can see your son now" Also while we waited in the "social worker" room a police officer came to talk to us to gather more information. She was actually helpful...(unlike the sw) She asked us if we'd seen the scene and that the car was completely totalled and that no one should have survived. She was surprised that the kids had the injuries they did have and nothing more. She said "someone was watching over them" She then asked us our bdays etc. and some other information that I can't remember now. Then we were allowed to see Tyler.
The er called a specialist for Ty's wrist. They started cleaning Ty up, making sure that there wasn't a ton of blood on his face. Dr. Schow came in and it was determined that they would give Ty some amnesia medicine...a different anethestic that makes him fall asleep so he could "work" on his wrist. They had another portable xray machine that would take a picture live and see how the bones were moving. Even though Ty was supposed to be asleep he was still awake enough to feel the pain. Everytime he pulled his wrist apart Ty screamed. That was the hardest part for me. Seeing your child in so much pain (pain inflicted by someone else) and you can do nothing to help him. You are helpless, knowing, hoping that what the dr. is doing is going to help. At the very same time.... a nurse was adding some meds through his veins...(which she said "your veins blow!") through his other/good arm... and at the same time.... a PA was suturing his eye up. They were fully taking advantage of that medicine. All these goings on were a flurry...busyness in his room...tons of people doing their jobs...and we were sitting on the sideline watching. This kind of medicine is the good/funny kind that makes you super loopy. He was quite comical for the rest of his stay. Here are some comments he said to his nurse who attended to him the whole time (kelly).
"Now, are you a nurse or a dr.?"
"What?, you're all done? You're awesome! I'd give you a high five if I could, but I can't (with his broken arm) so I'll just give you an air five."
Also to Shawn who was also with him the whole time.
"Now, who are you? I don't think I know your name." If you ask Ty now who he was..he'd say.."oh, he's the one that helped me pee and get dressed."
And to Julia who was videoing him...she said when she had to go... "love you ty" and in a high pitched voice (normal to him) he said "love you too". It was so funny. He does not remember anything happening during that time. Even the next day when we were talking to Jenna's surgeon after her surgery (same dr. as ty's) Ty didn't recognize him. I had to tell him that that was the same dr. that worked on you. So interesting how medicine and the body works!!!
Part of being able to be discharged was being able to get up and walk around. He tried that about 2:30 a.m. and got to the side of the bed with his legs dangling off and turned green, had to puke and laid back down. So we were told we had to wait awhile until he could get up on his own. The hospital found some clothes that would fit Ty so he could go home. He walked with the assitance of a nurse around the floor and visited his friend Jenna in another room where she was getting her feet wrapped and splinted.
Q-tips anyone?
Jenna was able to be seen and operated on the following day so that her healing could begin sooner. We waited for awhile in the surgery waiting room for her to be done. It was fun to be with all the family there. Jenna came out after a 2 1/2 hour surgery and wheeled up to her room. For the first little while all she could eat were ice chips. Here is Ty feeding her some.
Driving around for fun and seeing what it was like to "drift".
Drifting:
Drifting refers to a driving technique and to a motorsport where the driver intentionally oversteers, causing loss of traction in the rear wheels, while maintaining control from entry to exit of a corner. A car is drifting when the rear slip angle is greater than the front slip angle, to such an extent that the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn (e.g. car is turning left, wheels are pointed right or vice versa).
A little like doing donuts in the church parking lot in the snow except not going in circles... and not on snow. Go really fast down a long stretch...pull on the emergency break and skid around the corner. The driver lost control and ran into the curb, into a large pine tree and then turned to finish on a pole. The pine tree looks pretty sad and there are still pieces of car everywhere under the tree. And from what I understand there was debris 100 ft from the car in all directions. Ty was behind the driver and lost consciousness from the time the car hit the curb, popping the tire, and doesn't remember any part of the crash until the paramedics are putting a neck brace on him. He bounced around and landed on Jenna (probably breaking her feet). She could not get him off her. Bennett and the driver helped get Ty and Jenna out of the car.
All the airbags were deployed in the front and sides...Neither Tyler nor Jenna were wearing their seatbelts. I don't know how much it would have saved them if they were...I just know that Heavenly Father saved them. They all had angels helping them. Our obedient missionary angels helped them. It really was a blessing that everyone is ok.
