can't sum up in a title
Posted
Sunday, May 20, 2007 1:03 PM
I'm sort of in a daze right now. Last night, my closest cousin and one of my best friends had to go through the hardest night of her life. Last night, she and her husband planned a cookout as a friend's going away party. I couldn't make it because we were helping my sister move into a new house all day. Before the party even got started, when some of the first guests arrived, two of their friends came over with their motorcycles. My cousin loves motorcycles and took a ride on the back of one, just around the block. She came back raving about how much fun it was, how her husband should totally take the bike out for a spin. He's driven many bikes before, but never a Harley. He sat on the bike, excited to take it out, but then my cousin saw a quick look cross his face, and she could tell he was nervous. The bike was a lot bigger than what he was used to, and she thought for just a second that she should tell him to get off the bike. But she didn't. He took the bike out, riding along with another couple on their bike in front of him. He was only going 25 miles per hour. The couple in front of him didn't even know anything happened. They turned around every few seconds to check on him, and the last time, he wasn't there behind him. They turned around to find him, and they saw him laying in a ditch. Luckily, the woman who owned the house where he landed ran outside and stopped the devastating bleeding from his neck. Their two friends rushed over to him, and called 911. One person from the other bike stayed behind, the other drove back to the house to get my cousin. She made it there to the scene before the ambulance came and held her husband while he bleed all over her. Then he was rushed to the hospital.
He almost died. He shattered his clavical bone and severed a major vein that runs from his neck through his right arm. He had nearly bled to death and needed emergency surgery to close off the vein. The surgeon told my cousin, right before her husband went into surgery, that it could go either way, that he could live or die. The surgery went well, although they will need to do another in order to reattach the vein and restore his shattered bones. His arm may be permanently damaged, and he owns a business working construction and remodeling. It's his livelihood, that arm. I was at the hospital with a bunch of other people who care immensely for him and for my cousin. I stayed until 4 am, until we got the results of the CAT scan and angio test. Seems he's incredibly lucky. While he's still listed in critical condition because of his loss of blood and surgery, the tests show his organs and brain function are fine. He didn't even have road burns on the rest of his body. But just because of the impact, he sliced open his neck and shoulder in the worst possible spot. But for now, he is alive, and it seems he will be okay. My cousin however, I don't know how long it will take her to recover. She's really scared. I'm going to be at the hospital today, so I hope to learn more about his condition, and hopefully he drops down to a serious level rather than critical.
Please be safe. Love your spouse and family and treat them well, because you just never know. And if someone in your life is having a hard time, do whatever you can for that person. You never know when you may need all the help you can get from other people.