On May 6th Nate and Noah went out to Duthie Hill mountain biking park for their first mountain bike ride since Fall. Around 8pm I got a call from Noah saying that Nate had fallen and he couldn't get up and that he thought he was really hurt. I could hear Nate moaning in pain in the background. He was riding up on a ramp and his tire slipped and he went down straight onto his right elbow. I had never been to this park before and it would have been impossible for me find them out on these mtn biking trails. I asked Noah if there was anyone there who could help. He immediately started yelling for help while I stayed on the phone (smart boy!) and thankfully after a couple of minutes a woman and her son came to his calls. It turns out she was an EMT and so she was able to look the situation over and decide what needed to be done. She said Nates response time was a little slow but otherwise he was still able to respond well but it looked as though he had a broken elbow. After chatting with her we decided to call 911. I then headed over to the mtn bike park. (and got lost in the process)The ambulance came and stabilized Nates arms and Noah and the friendly people who were helping rode the bikes out to me and so we could load them up. The EMT loaded Nate into the ambulance and took him over to Swedish ER (which thankfully is in our neighborhood). I was so proud of Noah for being so brave and strong and knowing how to take charge. I'm sure that was so traumatic for him but he did an awesome job getting help!
I took the kiddos home (Sky was home too) and then headed back to the hospital. After many hours and x-rays and cat scans they determined that Nate had shattered and broken his elbow and also dislocated it. He had also broken a piece of bone off of his shoulder blade. They determined that he will need surgery but they needed to put elbow back into place first. This was interesting for me to watch. They gave Nate propofol and after a few doses he stopped moaning. He was just staring at them blankley while they pulled and pushed on his arm and put it back in place. A little freaky but thank goodness for modern medicine!
Broken shattered and dislocated :( Ouch!
After they got in back into place....
Once they got the elbow back into place they told us they were going to keep him overnight and perform surgery the next day. We got Nate situated into his room and I left for home around 1:30am.
The kids were both really worried, especially Aubrie. She does not like to go to sleep without me being home and so she was trying to stay awake as long as possible. Thankfully she eventually fell asleep.
The next day we came back to the hospital with the kids around 9am. Noah hung out with dad and watched a movie and me and Aubrie had to walk to halls because seeing dad hurt was too much for Aubrie. She spent a lot of time crying and worried about Nate and did not want to go near the hospital at all. It was pretty sad to see her so upset. After a bit I took the kids and got them some lunch and dropped them at home and went back to the hospital as dad would be going into surgery soon. We had so many people willing to take the kids but they just wanted to go home. Nate went into surgery around 1:30pm after lots of prep and was in surgery for around 4 hours! Thankfully the hospital was right by our house so I was able to go home and tend to the kids for the time he was in surgery. We went back to the hospital at 5:20pm and he was out at 5:30pm but they told me that I couldn't see him until he was up in his room in about an hour.
I went and fed the kiddos dinner, Sky and I picked up Nate's car at Duthie Hill and then I dropped the kids back home and went to the hospital. Nate was awake but was not a happy camper. His eye was very irritated, and watering like crazy. He had a hard time even opening it. He was also mad because I wasn't there right out of surgery :P (Even though it wasn't possible) He had a block put into his arm before surgery so thankfully he would not feel pain for about 12 hours. He was ready to go home. After meeting all the requirements ( eating, peeing, walking) they released him around 10pm.
This is what home looked like for about a week, lots of pain and pain meds :(
Aubrie wrote Nate the sweetest of notes while waiting for him to come home <3 p="">
caught a smile
Nate's first appointment was 4 days after his surgery. They took x-rays, took the hard cast off and gave him a brace. Check out all that hardware in his elbow! :(
This brace only allows him to move his arm to a certain degree to prevent it from dislocating again. And here he starts to road to healing and hoping the pain subsides sooner then later.
Check out the swelling about a week after injury..
Mothers day and still in a lot of pain, not a happy camper to not be able to work or use his right hand
Nate returned to work today May 15th. He is still in a lot of pain but trying to make it work. We will see what tomorrow brings. He starts PT this Thursday. Me, Ive been having fun playing nurse and taking care of him. ;) I'm thankful that I'm able to stay home to help him. Hoping for a quick recovery!
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