A Lesson in Bike Safety

During church I started seeing geometric shapes, they slowly got bigger & bigger until I lost vision in my left eye. Right after church I went to bed and slept for hours. Mike took the kids outside to play. They decided to go for a bike ride. Mike had just fixed Jake's flat tires and Gracie had her new bike. Luly was busy playing with 3 baby dolls on my bed while I was resting.

Around 7:30 Gracie came screaming into my room. I couldn't even process what she was saying. When she repeated that Jake had been hit by a car, I slipped on my dress and ran outside. They were just moving him out of the road & the cops were on their way. 2 cops came first, then an ambulance (maybe 2) with a big blue fire engine. I was standing over my crying boy and felt helpless. Mike was amazing. He kept his cool and was able to block out all the "extra" advice and make sound decisions.

I did tell Jake that his cousin Jack was visiting to distract him. He got so excited and proceeded to make plans for Jack to sleep over when we got home from the hospital.

The poor girl that hit him was standing there and asked what she should do. I felt so bad for her. I put my arm around her and she started to sob. She had just gotten the car 2 days before. I told her that it was okay. I also told her that I have often thought I would pay money to have someone "tap" (not hit) Jake off his bike so he would be more cautious and realize how dangerous it is to ride a bike across & down streets. I would however, not asked for all of the following.

I am not sure exactly what happened. I don't know if she crossed over the white line or if he did. When she hit him he went up on to the hood of her car and hit the windshield. Mike said that he came around the corner of the house just in time to see him fly off the front of her car.

We know it was a blessing that he was on his larger orange bike. Because he was up higher, he went up on to the hood. I believe that if he had been riding his little red bike he would have gone under the car.

He stayed conscious the entire time. He was moving and talking. We were confident that he would be okay/live. He had a lot of road-rash, but could move his arms and legs. The paramedics decided it would be best if he went in an ambulance to the emergency room so that they could keep his body stable until they had a chance to rule out breaks and internal bleeding. I rode to McKay Dee with him. Mike took the girls to Emilee's and then met us up at the hospital.

Jake was a little worried about his shirt when they cut it off him but settled down when I told him we could get him a new shirt. He was also very concerned about having his cousin Jack sleep-0ver. When Mike & I were talking about notifying people he insisted on calling Jack. We didn't have service in the ER, but if we had, I am sure he would have done just that.

He did not like the IV they put in, but understood the value of it when they could give him the medicine without giving him several shots. They did CAT scans with contrast and X-ray after X-ray. The doctors and nurses kept touching his arm and asking "Does that hurt?" the problem was every time they touched him they had at least one finger on a raw spot so of course it hurt. He had a hard time differentiating between the sting of raw skin and a broken bone hurt.

When they cleaned the abrasions Jake was AMAZING. It would have made sense if he had cried but he didn't. He did scream a little bit, but he let me cover his mouth to muffle the sound. They wiped them with alcohol. He said it stung so bad. I asked them to get some Dermoplast or something and they brought back something with Lidocaine. It was cold and still stung but it did numb it a little and he was able to let her clean him up. The last X-ray showed a small fracture near his wrist on his left arm. They wrapped him in a splint and let us go home around 1am.

The girls were very concerned about their brother. Gracie watched the whole thing happen. When I brought them home from Emilee's they just kept checking on him. They told him that he could play like he was at a hotel and they would take care of him. He was so cute with them too. He asked me to take down his blankets so they could see what had happened.

He has an appointment this Friday to get his orange cast. We are glad that this is the last week of school and he won't be missing much. Hopefully we can get him there on Friday so he can have his friends sign his cast. Grandpa Bruce said that Jake made the newspaper but they said he was 10.

Last night when I put Jake to bed, I knelt by his bed and thanked our Heavenly Father for saving our boy. I felt prompted to let him know that he was saved so that he could gain a strong testimony and serve a mission. When I looked up at my boy, I could see in his eyes that he too knew that he had been saved for a purpose. We are so very thankful that he is still with us.

I have been on the phone all morning. Jake looked up at me and said "Mom a lot of people care about me." We are so thankful for the kind words, prayers, visits and concern. We are very luck to be surrounded by so many that care.