All of our kids are together attending different Universities in the same metro area. They are so lucky and they do so much together and they send me the pictures, like these from a hike they took together. And I love and cherish these pictures...even if Ben doesn't know how to pose normal and kind of looks like a porn star in one of them.
Who takes the pictures and leads the group? Jordan, he's the artistic one...and you can tell because the pictures are beautiful...and because he's not in them.
Sometimes, as the leader, Jordan has a lot of responsibility fall on his young shoulders...like what happened the day after these photos of the hike were taken, Sunday, October 13th. Jordan took his brothers, Riley and Ben, mountain biking and told them specifically about a drop at the end of the trail that they needed to scout before executing. Well, one of his brothers heard him (Ben) and the other may have heard him, but sent it without scouting the drop and all of the sudden Jordan was in charge of his brother who was lying, hurt on the ground after over rotating on his bike and landing on his head after a 20 foot drop. According to the reports, Riley was awake when Jordan and Ben got there but couldn't remember anything. Jordan and Ben tried to call Brad and I but we were out of service sculling at our local lake. So, Jordan had to make some tough decisions. He knew the injury wasn't good. Riley said he was struggling with breathing so perhaps a sternum injury, punctured lung, and definitely a concussion. Riley could get up so with Jordan and Ben's help they walked to the end of the trail, loaded him into a stranger's car and drove him to the closest ER and kept trying to call us.
Brad and I arrived at home after an hour or more of our children trying to reach us. Texts from Mckenzie, Ben and Jordan flooded my phone, "Mom and Dad where are you?" "Why aren't you answering your phones?" "I need someone to answer the phone now." As soon as we saw the texts we called Jordan who told us that Riley was at the ER and had broken his neck at C1 and back at T3-T6. The ER doc called us and told us that one of the fractures was unstable and that Riley would need more care and would need to be transferred via ambulance to the Intermountain Health Neurosurgery center to further diagnose whether or not Riley would need surgery. And there my little clan waited and waited and waited as Riley got CT scans, MRIs and all the necessary medical procedures to make an accurate diagnosis.
Finally, at 10 pm, the hospital determined Riley did not need surgery and that he could be sent home. They told him to walk as much as he could in the next few days and that he could attend the University. This seemed odd to Brad and I that they would release him so easily with really no one to watch after him. We literally had to argue with our children to get them to bring Riley to my sister's house, who luckily lives nearby their Universities, so that she could watch him over the next night in case something went severely wrong. Brad and I cancelled our Monday afternoon patients and traveled up to Utah to see what was going on with Riley and to bring him home. In the meantime we contacted our local spine doctor who told us he was concerned with Riley's MRI and wanted to discuss things further with us.
When we arrived at my sister's house, Riley was in an extreme amount of pain. Intermountain health had told Riley that he could take off the brace they had given him when he slept so that night he had decided to try it. It was a hellish night to say the least for Riley who had little to no relief from his pain. The following morning he still hurt quite a bit. Brad and I were about to load Riley up in our suburban when a phone call came from our local friend who had seen Riley's MRI. He said that one of Riley's fractures was unstable and that we probably shouldn't travel with him and that we should take him back to see his friend who is a neurosurgeon at the University of Utah hospital. We followed his advice and brought Riley back to the ER. While Intermountain health and their instructions and care were certainly found lacking, University of Utah ER and neurosurgery team were thorough, competent and caring. They too, debated whether or not Riley would need surgery but REALLY didn't want to do surgery....so they said they wanted to try a new brace to see if it would stabilize his T5 fracture. If the brace did, they would send him home and if it didn't they would plan surgery. After one full day in the hospital, Riley got the go ahead to leave the hospital and come home as they felt the brace stabilized his fracture. His instructions were to wear the brace 24/7, including when he showered. So, every time he showered, someone had to switch out the pads in the brace while Riley laid inert so as not to move his fractures and in order to prevent the pads from molding. Riley needed help so we told him he would need to stay at home in Durango until he was able to do these things himself...oh, and Kenzie came home with him because she had a break and soon Ben would join us because it was also Ben and Riley's fall break.
Riley was fortunate. While he had broken his back and neck, there was no paralysis and no surgery needed.
After a weekend at home, it was time for everyone to go back. It was Sunday when Ben and Kenzie were to return home and a persistent rain had set in and the moods of everyone seemed to be down, especially Riley's as he realized the road ahead of him and the time that he would need to be in the brace and inactive.
So we took Riley on a walk down the river and also, to see his brother, Jake, play guitar at a local restaurant and that seemed to help improve his mood.
So the kids returned to school, the University and their clubs:
And Brad and I returned to work and Riley worked on healing and school and doing things for himself so he could return to the University as soon as possible.
Halloween came:
(me at my office dressed as a domino for Halloween)
(my cool skeleton earrings that I love and wore on Halloween)
And Riley had his first check-up after the initial accident. The local surgeon said that the fracture remained stable and that, if Riley wanted, he could return to school. Riley was elated. So the first week of November, Riley and I loaded up the car and took him back to his family and school.
Yes, he is still in his brace 24/7 but he is loving having some distractions in being able to attend school and appreciates his family that he gets to spend time with on the weekends.
So, again, Riley was fortunate. We are glad to have him back at school and glad he is healing. I worry about him this winter as the snow makes him home bound and he can't enjoy skiing with his siblings. However, I know he'll make the best of it.
(The drop on the left that Riley went off of and where he landed. Ha, ha Jordan looks like he is photoshopped in this photo but he is not. It's to give perspective of how far Riley's drop was.)
(The beautiful sunset I arrived home to after dropping Riley off.)
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