Accidents and hospitals...part 1

I have thought many times about what I would put on my blog about this past week. I even debated just not writing about it at all...yet that's not me... this is our life, the good, the bad and the oh so ugly. What you see is what you get. You get what you get. I don't put on a show here or anywhere and since this is a record of life in our home, the good and the bad goes here!

So here it is... Jace got shot in the leg! The reason I hate saying it is because there are people out there that have problems with guns. As if a gun is the cause of the great tragedies out there. Or people that believe that the government has a right to limit our right to bear arms. I am not one of those people. What happened to Jace was an accident and nothing more and my idea of gun ownership has not changed at all. I am constantly amazed at rumors... at people who are out there that seem to relish others suffering, or who judge or assume that they know something that they actually know nothing about! And then there are people out there who cry when we cry, laugh when we laugh, and carry the burdens that we bear and make them lighter because they are so wonderful. That is what I am going to concentrate on and this is the story....

A week ago today was the beginning of yet another nightmare. Life is never boring. We have had so much to do at the house and we planned on spending the day ripping up carpet, painting and cleaning. I had just put in the last load of laundry to wash! I was finished for a few minutes and that was a good feeling. Garrett, Tiffany, Jace and Caitlyn had taken off to Utah to a Jazz game that Jace had spent a small fortune on... one that he had jokingly told us that NOTHING would make him miss that game! Well... almost nothing! Dang kid just isn't bullet proof! I had had a nervous feeling all week about them going. But hey, they are adults and if nothing else in life, I have learned that I have to let them live their lives, and trust that they will be watched over, protected and kept safe, and make right choices.

At about 9:30am or so I had gone downstairs to put in the last load and take down some folded clothes. That is when I hear Thayne yelling. He told me to come to the bedroom NOW! I knew by his voice that there was something seriously wrong! I kept telling him to just TELL me what was wrong... what happened, did the boys get in a wreck??? WHAT was wrong??? He then says, "A gun went off in the car and Jace was shot!" There are experiences like these that I have been close enough to know about to know that they don't usually turn out very well. And for future reference to every man out there... do not EVER start a sentence out that way, and worse yet... do NOT, under any circumstance pause for effect!!! The effect is something close to a nightmare, where the world starts spinning and staying in control becomes a very real problem!!! Seconds before I blacked out he finishes the story. Garrett and Jace were talking about their guns. Garrett took his out and was talking about the way it breaks down compared to how Jace's breaks down. There are 4 different safety features on Garrett's gun. One of which his hand has to be on the butt of the gun. His finger was not on the trigger, the clip was not in, but apparently a bullet was lodged in the chamber and the gun somehow discharged. Interestingly enough, all of the bullets were accounted for in the clips and the bullet is nowhere to be found. Everyone looked, it didn't exit the car as far as anyone could see (it was checked out) and x-rays showed it had entered and exited Jace's leg. The police said this was a true accident. Not that I doubted it. To me, it's just a fact of life that no matter how careful we are, bad things can and sometimes do happen. It was pointed at the ground, just at too much of an angle that it entered the upper calf on the outside of his right leg, traveled down and exited on the inside of the leg above the ankle.

I jumped in the shower, scared, and just ranting because I couldn't do anything else to ease the stress and worry! Jace was actually the one that called his dad to tell us what happened. He somehow managed to stop the car, pull over to the side of the road and they were able to slow the bleeding. While Garrett was on with 911, Jace called Thayne. While I was in the shower he called back, afraid of how I would react. He told Thayne that he had to talk to me. I told him that I was in the shower, but he insisted so Thayne handed me the phone. My first thought was one of relief. My son was talking to me, that means he was alive, so as long as I kept him talking he would stay that way... right? So with a shaky voice I asked him what happened, what WAS happening and was he alright. He starts yelling, "You HAVE to calm down mom... you canNOT freak out... CALM DOWN MOM, THIS HURTS SO BAD!" I told him I was okay, really! I told him I was showering and that I was in control. The problem was that HE wasn't so much in control but was starting to panic and that if he could convince himself that I was freaked out, he would have a reason to keep himself under control to help me!

We finally got on the road, leaving the house in chaos and everything up in the air, not knowing what we were going to be facing. Thankfully we have fantastic friends that jump right in and take over. Not to mention the kids being amazing and able to handle things. Though Saturday was a very rough day and everyone really struggled!

To add more drama to an already dramatic story, Jace was on the life flight helicopter 4 minutes from the U of U hospital in Utah when they hit two seagulls. The first one just hit the window, but the second hit the propellers and the helicopter started shaking, spinning and dropped quickly. They told him that they almost went down but they were okay and would be at the hospital in just a couple of minutes. He said he was thinking, "Seriously, I lived through a gun shot and you kill me in the helicopter on the way to the hospital!"

Those were the worst 3 hours I have ever had to travel! Not knowing what was going on... knowing that both of my boys were hurting beyond belief, in 2 very different ways. Knowing that I left chaos and was walking into who knows what. We were lucky because our best friends were closer to them than we were and my brother also headed to the hospital. Caitlyn's mom and sister happened to be over there shopping so they were there when Jace got to the hospital. I was so glad that he didn't have to be there alone!