The Moto Accident

I’ve mentioned this book before in other blog posts, and today my daily devotional from “Jesus Calling” was this:

“I am leading you along the high road, but there are descents as well as ascents.  Your assignment is to follow Me, allowing Me to direct your paths.  Learn to trust me when things go “wrong.” Disruptions to your routine highlight your dependence on me.  Trusting acceptance of trials brings blessings that far outweigh them.  Walk hand in hand with Me through this day.  I have lovingly planned every inch of it. Breathe deep breaths of My Presence and hold tightly to My hand.”

Wow.  I so needed to hear that today. So here’s what happened over the last 48 hours:

On Wednesday, our Togo Team Meetings started. It was two days of meetings with both the North team (that we’re on) and the South team (the missionaries from Tsiko and surrounding area) and it only happens once a year.   After a fun afternoon of Ultimate Frisbee and a swim, we planned a prayer meeting at our place at 5 pm.  Nate and Ethan took off for a quick moto ride up the mountain shortly after 4 pm, promising to be back by the time prayer meeting started.

I didn’t think too much of it when they weren’t there right at 5 pm.  People started arriving and then we started praying.  A few minutes into it, I saw Dr. Kelly come in quietly.  A few seconds later I felt her tap me on the shoulder and motion me to come with her.  We walked into the dining room and she put both her hands on my shoulders, looked me in the eye and said, “I have something to tell you.  Nate and Ethan were in a motorcycle accident on the mountain.  They are both okay.  Nate has some scrapes and bumps, but Ethan has broken his femur.”  She said a lot more than that too but I just remember starting to shake my head no as soon as she started talking.  She gave me a huge hug and after a few minutes, we got some stuff together, and walked down to the hospital.

Yep, it's broken.  

Here’s what had happened:  Nate and Eth had gone for a little rip up the mountain and turned around to come down.  They were on their way down when Nate hit a soft patch on a hair-pin turn and felt the bike starting to go.  He had to pick to go down in a ditch or on the edge of the mountain, so he tried to slow it down and ease the bike into the ditch, which he did.  Ethan told me that as soon as he landed, he just knew he had broken his leg.  Nate got up and ran to him and made sure he was alright just as four guys stopped to help.  They wanted to strap Ethan on the back of one of their bikes but Nate said no.  Just then a truck came down the mountain.  Nate waved him down and turns out the driver was a doctor in Lome.  They loaded Eth into the back of the truck and came to the hospital.  Nate said Ethan was amazing, and very brave. Ethan told me that his first thought was this:  “What would Uncle Deeker  (my brother) do?  Well, he wouldn’t cry so I’m not going to cry.  Now, what would Jesus do?  He would pray.  So I’m going to pray.”

Ethan was already in x-ray by the time Kelly and I got there, so I walked into the room and there’s Dr. Keuhler (the lovely surgeon who has helped treat Kylie, changed her dressings daily, stitched Jack up and was now treating Eth!) working away.  I went right over and spoke to Eth and it was so surreal – just like in the movies, “It’s gonna be okay buddy, Mom’s here now.”  And then there was Nate, standing in the corner, looking scraped and bloody and devastated.  We hugged and cried and hugged and cried.  I made sure he was in one piece but he didn’t want anyone to even pay attention to him.  I knew it was killing him to see Ethan suffering.  As they moved Eth from the gurney to the x-ray table, he was just screaming in pain, so I had to leave the room.  I couldn’t take it.  Just before we stepped out, in walked Dr. Todd and Peter (our team leader) and John (the guy who puts Kylie out for her procedures). They had all heard and wanted to help.  We stepped outside the room and there was Adam coming down the path.  He and Nate just hugged and cried together.  Then came Anna, Cindy and Judy, then Jim and John  Everybody just loving, praying and supporting us.  It was awful and wonderful at the same time. 

A few minutes later, Todd called us in to let us know that they wanted to take Ethan to surgery right away.  He explained that the procedure was called a SIGN Nail, and the hospital had only gotten this system in the summer.  Miracle!  It would allow for Todd to put a rod up into Ethan’s femur and have him walking within a couple of days.  If they didn’t have this system, Ethan would have been in hospital, in traction for 6 weeks.  The other amazing thing was that Ethan was tall enough to have the rod put in, if he had been shorter, they wouldn’t have had a rod small enough for him.  So we signed some waivers, we kissed him goodbye and they rolled him in the OR.  The amazing thing was that all the docs (except for Kelly, who stayed with me) were in there:  Todd, who was the only one who could do the SIGN Nail thing, Dr. Keuhler, Dr. Briggs, and Dr. Miller who all needed to learn the new system, Dr. Stott who is a visiting anesthesiologist and John who works in the OR.  Ethan was in  such good hands.

Here he is just after surgery.

Nate and Dr. Dave and Dr. Eric, right after surgery

After we gathered up Ethan’s clothes and shoes, we headed home with a bunch of people who just wanted to be there to help us.  We were told that the hospital would call us at home throughout the procedure to let us know how it was going.  So we sat in our house and just prayed and sang and talked.  After an hour or so, they phoned to let us know that they were done and that the procedure had gone better than anticipated.  (Long story of why that is, but know that it’s just another miracle of God!) and that Eth would be out in about 30 minutes.  We went back to the hospital and they wheeled him out – he looked so pale and so big on that gurney.  They showed us his four incisions where they went in through the knee to drill out the femur and slide the rod in.  Dr. Briggs took video and photos of the surgery and it’s pretty freaky stuff!

Here's his incisions where they put the rod and screws in.

Around 10 pm, Nate went home with the kids and the docs left.  John helped me get settled to stay the night with Eth.  When they moved him and changed his dressing, I had to leave – I just couldn’t stand to hear him in such pain.  But they got him into a room and set up a little bed on the floor for me.   Around 11 pm, he really came around and wanted to talk.  I was surprised how much detail he remembered of the accident, of coming into the hospital etc.  When he first arrived at the hospital they gave him meds right away to help with pain and he was saying all sorts of crazy stuff, but he remembered that too.  He had decided to sing “Away in a Manger” to Dr. Kelly at one point, and when I asked him if he remembered, he totally did!

Here he is, up on crutches less than 24 hours after the accident.

He was on morphine every two hours throughout the night, so we got a little sleep but not too much.  Overall though, the first night was okay.

Thursday morning around 6 am, Nate came down to trade off jobs with me.  He brought a banana for Ethan to try eating and by 8 am, they had him up and walking with crutches.  The morphine was a bit too much for him, so he vomited a few times.  We got him settled in one of the two private rooms at the hospital and he slept most of the day.

People came in to see him all day.  The staff members of the hospital were so kind.  Yowvi came in to see us and had written us notes of encouragement, telling us to stand firm and be encouraged.  I could tell they all felt so bad that another one of our kids was hurt. 

Todd told us that we’d be here for another two weeks or so with Ethan.  We would also have to return to Tsiko in June for Todd to remove the rod from Eth’s leg.

Nothing says Family Fun like getting IV meds together!

Nate stayed Thursday night with Ethan and I think it was a better night.  Today (Friday) was pretty decent.  They changed the dressings on his leg and had him up and walking on crutches around the hospital.  Kylie had her IV meds given to her in the same room as Ethan, so after she was finished Dr. Kelly discharged Eth and we got to bring him home.  He’s on some different pain meds now and we’re hoping that tonight is a decent one for him.

Changing the dressings.

I can’t tell you how crazy this all was.  It did NOT seem real, even though we were living it.  It almost seemed ridiculous – how could this have happened and really, what lesson is God trying to teach us that we’re not learning??

But the truth is, we don’t know.  There are no answers, but one.  And that is this:

God is good.  Even when things are tough, He is faithful, true and good. And so we trust Him.  Even in all of this, there is so much to be thankful for.  SO MUCH. The fact that our kid is here in our home, alive and in his bed, is just plain amazing.

And I want you to know that truly, truly God’s grace is sustaining us.  You must all be praying so hard for us, because we’re doing okay.  So keep ‘em coming – we need all the prayers we can get!

Me and Dr. Kelly, true friend and excellent paediatrician!

And here's the boy.  Still smiling.  He's a tough kid and we
are grateful parents.