Do you think it's broken?

Clark's summer fun came to a screaching hault after a motorcycle accident Saturday night. A quick evening ride before dinner turned into a living nightmare for Clark and his dad after a freak incident with a stalled bike and out of control throttle. The two guys went for a dirt bike ride around 6 pm, just up the canyon, minutes from our home. As they were climbing a steep, rocky, narrow goat trail, Clark's bike stalled. David came up slowing behind to the right, accelerating to come up over a rock. Clark lost balance and swung his leg out in front of dad's tire, not realizing the bike was approaching. As David was trying to stop, the bikes fell and his throttle jammed into the side of the trail. The out of control bike swung around and the rear tire hit Clark's left leg. With his bike on top of him and dad's bike trying to eat him alive, Clark was trying to get away and dad was trying to release the throttle. While seconds seemed like an eternity, David was able to get to Clark and set his "L" bent lower leg into place before Clark realized where the extreme PAIN was coming from.

"Do you think it's broken?", wailed Clark between gasps of pain and agony. His dad could only reassure him that it was indeed broken while tearing his pants and making a very cool mountain man splint out of sticks and bike gloves. Luckily the bones didn't tear through the skin and so there wasn't any bleeding, only tire burns that were dicovered later on. After Clark was settled down and dad felt safe to leave him,(about 30 min.) David went down and found a man with a 4 wheeler. He came up and they put Clark on the 4 wheeler and slowly made their way down while David rode home to get the van. We quickly gathered water, ice, pillows and blankets and drove up and found Clark and the man on the 4-wheeler making their way down the highway. We stopped and got him in the van, went back home to get a few more things before heading to the hospital. David and Uncle Casey (my brother who live across the street) gave Clark a priesthood blessing, gave him pain meds, and drove down to Univ. of Utah Hospital. He was soooo happy to finally get there, hoping for some relief the pain and agony. He said the van ride was much more comfy than the 4-wheeler ride down off the mountain however. He felt his bones rattling and clicking as they bumped over rocks and gravely roads.

The ER docs raved over the mountain man splint (displayed on our fireplace mantle for all to see)and told Clark he was very tough and brave and all those guy things. They gave him drugs, took x-rays, wrapped a splint cast and told us he needed surgery. He was admitted and went in for surgery on Sunday at 11:45 am. At 2:30 the Doc came out and said everything went well. Clark came out of recovery at 4:45pm and was doing well. We got him settled and later the nurse came in and asked if Clark has had anything to eat or drink? He told us the doc is thinking of going in for another surgery. Clark was so out of it that he didn't have a response so I was under the impression that he didn't understand what was going on. So we sat and waited for the doctor to come in and talk with us. I told Clark that he might have to have another go at surgery and he just looked at me and said he knew. He was so calm and didn't fret or complain, like I was feeling inside at the time. The doctor told us that after looking over the post surgery x-rays, he wasn't happy with the outcome and knew that Clark's leg was not straight, not perfect, like he had thought during the procedure. So we decided to go ahead with a second surgery. The docs plan was to go in put a plate on the fiblia and replace the rod in the tibia to do over. We scheduled the 2nd surgery for Monday at 3:30pm and he wasn't able to get in until 6:50pm. The doc came out at 10:45pm and reassured us that all is well and he was happy with the outcome. At 11:45 we saw Clark out of recovery, coming out of anethisia itchy and irritable and in pain. I think 2 consecutive days and 2 surgeries did him in. An hour later he was sleeping and we had a long night of crackers and sips of water inbetween sleep and nurses. The next morning he looked great, got up on crutches and Holly come to visit around 3pm making everything better. We had the go ahead to leave and left at 7pm Tuesday night. As Clark reached the couch, reality sunk in and knew he was in it for the long haul!

OUCH!! What a pain!

"I'm stuck here all summer, auggggh!"

Thanks for all of your phone calls, prayers, visits, meals, etc. and concern for Clark. Last night Granddad Ken and Grandma Judy brought over Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" DVD. Kids, if you think you have a "I'm Bored" moment this summer, think of Clark on the couch. Then you might think twice and go outside and run and play. Clark tells us that he keeps thinking of "leg things" that he can't do. I tell him to think of all the things he can do while he sits. He can play the guitar, read, draw, watch TV, movies, YouTube, etc. His appetite is poor and the only thing that tastes good is ice cream. So if you feel like watching a movie and eating ice cream come on over!

We are blessed and fortunate that Clark's injuries were not worse than they are. He's a tough and strong kid and will get through this. It is hard on parents to watch your child go through pain, surgery, etc. This being our first hand experience with trauma involving our kids, we now know how difficult it is. David was able to react fast and do all the right things to help Clark.