Everything about this accident could have and should have been so much worse than it was! It’s been a little more than three days ago that I received a call from Jim’s phone which wasn’t really Jim. Instead of hearing Jim’s voice, I heard the voice of a stranger telling me he was with Jim and they were taking him to the hospital.
This is the update that I’m sure many of you who follow my blog are waiting for.
Jim FINALLY reached a level of relaxation, due to pain medication, that allowed him to sleep after about 4:00 on Friday morning. I was able to catch about an hour of sleep after that and before all the doctors/nurses began checking on him. The morning was spent re-taking x-rays, making sure he was able to move on his own and getting a little nourishment. As the day progressed, I was beginning to see more of the guy I knew only 24 hours before.
Once the nurse highly recommended he get up and see how things were on his feet, he wanted to go visit Andy (who was on the same floor). It was interesting to me listening to what each of them remembered. What one didn’t, the other seemed to. This was the first time I was able to begin putting together the picture of what had happened.
Jim remembers a TERRIBLE crash and a lot of noise and then thinking, “I wonder how bad this is going to hurt” and “am I going to survive?” The next thing he knew, he was on the ground. Both he and Andy were thrown from the pickup. Nope…they weren’t wearing their seat belts. Did they get chewed out from their family? Yes! Will they wear them now? I’m pretty sure both of them will be seen wearing their seat belts 100% of the time. Funny, both of them said they wore them the majority of the time. Jim even said he wears his 80% of the time. Guess the 20% is what gets ya! WEAR YOUR SEAT BELT!
Jim was able to get to his feet and realized he was in the middle of the intersection and could see Andy. He went to Andy to help him get up and out of the way of oncoming traffic. He remembers how bad everything hurt but knew he had to get the both of them out of the road. Once Andy got up, he (Andy) started to “chase” the pickup which was still rolling on its own and put it in park. While Andy was doing this, he said he remembered Jim saying he was going to check on the other driver. Jim doesn’t remember that. All he remembers after that point is heading for the edge of the highway. A witness was meeting him and helped him to a grassy area. Come to find out, the witness was a trained EMT and knew what to do next. Jim says he remembers Andy standing over him looking down at him. The next thing is the ride in the ambulance.
Andy hung around the hospital until he was cleared to go – which was about 2:00 on Friday afternoon. Jim was just a little slower getting the “all’s clear” sign. We left the hospital about 6:00 p.m.
Jim’s still in pain. Not nearly as much as he was Thursday night (or the pain meds are doing their job). He broke his right collar bone and suffered trauma to the right side of his body. We’re guessing he must have slammed up against the door hard enough to open it. Andy suffered a broken left collar bone and a severe bruise to his knee. Looking at both of these men, you would never know they had been involved in a wreck. There are no visible signs of injuries such as scratches or cuts. Jim’s chest is beginning to show multiple colors of bruising – ranging from light purple to black.
There are so many things that could have or should have happened and didn’t. I thank God for His love and mercy for these two guys! It is quite visible that He had the situation under control and had His loving arms wrapped around them and this situation from the beginning. It’s reassurance to me that God truly does have a plan and a purpose for each of us and that He’s taking care of all the details.
I’d like to thank each and every one of you for the thoughts and prayers for Jim and our family during this scary time! I honestly felt them. The outpouring of emails, texts and calls for the past couple of days have been unbelievable. We are extremely blessed to have some of the best people in our lives! It’s at times like this you realize just how many wonderful people are involved in your “world”.
What’s next? Healing! “Now I can watch TV and not feel guilty”, per Mr. Jim 🙂
Taylor, Callie and I were in Omaha yesterday. We went back to the intersection to see what we could see. Jim’s cap was lying on the ground in the corner along with other pieces of debris. Now…if you don’t think that was a weird feeling! It could have been even more of a horrible feeling if I had come across that and he wasn’t sitting at home recovering! And to think our lives could have changed in just a split second!
