David`s Horrible Accident

On Friday, February 6, 2015, it was super windy out. David was working for a roofing company in Lethbridge. We found out later that this was his last day of work. He had quit the night before, but finished off the week.

Megan and Chris were planning on taking our kids for the night so Richard and I could go on a night out for our 14th Wedding Anniversary. The kids were so excited for that. Our Anniversary was on Tuesday, but I was so sick and not feeling good, that we decided to celebrate on Friday.

I got home from the bus and picked the girls up from Steffeson`s. We got home and had some lunch and then I was playing cars with DJ on the floor. I heard my phone vibrate and jumped up to answer. It was Richard. He told me that we couldn`t go out, because Megan is in the ambulance with David on the way to Calgary. My heart dropped. Richard didn`t have any details, just that David fell off a roof at work and is now being transported to Calgary. It was too windy for the STARS helicopter, so they had to drive him up to Calgary. Megan went with him.

I was a little frantic and trying to figure out what I should do. I finally called Brent, who was at the Lethbridge hospital with David, before they took him to Calgary. He told me to get ready and meet him at his house and we could go up to Calgary together. So that was the plan. He also told me that David fell off a roof at the Heritage Park (so it was tall) and he broke his neck, lower back, both legs (femurs), shattered his left knee cap, broke his left elbow, arm and wrist. That`s all we knew at the time. It was so scary. I was so scared and upset. I was crying when Brent finished telling me, and then he told me he loved me and I started crying even harder. By this time all my kids were standing there staring at me, not sure what was going on. I got off the phone and explained that Uncle David was in a really bad work accident and that I was going to go see him in Calgary. I rushed around and got Richard to come back home so I could take off. I should of packed some clothes but I didn`t, I just took off for Lethbridge.

Brent, Tiff and I drove up to Calgary together. We got to the hospital around 7pm. We had stopped to grab some food for everyone there. Jill had gone up with her parents, and Cody was there and Megan and Chris. Mom and Dad got there after us. We were all waiting in the waiting room just outside of the ICU. We waited for about an hour and then they let us all in. We all went back to the room and filed in. We were all in shock, seeing David laying there. It didn`t even look like him. He wasn`t even all cleaned up yet, so he still had blood on his face, and head. It was so hard to stand there and hear what the doctor had to say. He went through all the broken bones and then said that he has a severe brain injury as well. He said that they wouldn`t be able to know exactly what kind of injury his brain had until later. They kept warning us that it would start to swell in a couple of days. After the doctor talked David was able to receive a priesthood blessing. The spirit was so strong in the room. I don`t think there was a dry eye in the room.

Jill was really upset and didn`t want David to be alone. So we all figured out a schedule that we would take turns sitting beside him through the night. He was also in a medical induced coma. So we went to a hotel close to the hospital. Chris, Megan and I went back up to the hospital at 12:30am to switch off mom and dad. We sat there until 4am. The nurse was super nice and always explained everything that she was doing. Jill and her parents came at 3:30am. We sat with them and left at 4am.

We got back to the hotel and I tried really hard to go to sleep. I finally fell asleep and slept till just after 7am. So I got 3hrs of sleep. I think everyone was exhausted and still in shock. Family kept calling or texting to find out what was going on. Stacey was having a really hard time being so far away. I talked to her on Saturday and we were both crying. They decided to drive to Calgary.

Well I should explain more about the accident that we learned from David`s co-worker, Darrel. He was there with David. They were working on the Heritage Building in the Exhibition Grounds in Lethbridge. Darrell was working up on the peak, but David was working on the eves troughs. So he was still on the ground. Darrel was having a hard time chalking a line and David volunteered to come up and help for a second. So they were on the peak and started walking away from each other. Darrell doesn`t know how David fell (cause his back was facing David) but he heard a noise and turned and David was gone. He ran over and saw David on the ground about 40 feet down. He screamed for someone to call 911 as he was coming down the ladder. There was a car show going on so there were people around and someone called 911 right away. Darrell got to David`s side and was able to clear his air way and did CPR and then put him into a recovery position and held his neck still as he waited for the ambulance. We found out that Darrell is a certified medic, which was such a blessing.

Saturday was such a emotional and scary day. Things weren`t going very good and the doctors weren`t giving us very good news. They still didn`t know if David was going to make it or not. They took David in for surgery to fix all his breaks. He got rods in his legs and they repaired his knee and his elbow and the breaks in his arm. After the surgery they were really worried about his brain, it was starting to swell. So they wanted to put in a drain in his head. They told us that procedure wouldn`t take very long but it took hours. Not sure what was going on, but it was scaring us all.

Richard and Cody came in at about 9pm Saturday night. I was so happy to see my husband. I had been calling him and updating and crying with him on the phone. I got a text from Stacey and they were going to get there around midnight. So we went back to the hotel to wait for them. I was so tired by this point. I was going to lay down and then my phone went off and Stacey was 20 mins away. So we out and met them in the lobby. Then we took them over to the hospital but we still weren`t able to see David. But Jill was so happy to see them. Then we came back to the hospital to get some sleep.

On Sunday, we were finally able to go in and see David. Things weren`t looking very good. He was becoming very sensitive to noise and touch. So we had to go into the room in smaller groups and not talk or touch him. But his pressure levels were still too high. The doctors had to do a few things to get the fluid to drain from his head. They were then being very strict with how many people were in the room. But Jill asked if David could get another priesthood blessing and the doctor gave them special permission to do that. But they were not allowed to actually touch David. So the men stood around the bed and had their hands on the bed railing. We weren`t able to see this blessing but Richard told me all about it. It was very powerful and the Spirit was so strong. Then they all turned and gave Jill a blessing of comfort.

By Sunday afternoon everyone from our family was there. Including Steve, Stacey and all their kids and Shelley and Travis, Brent and Tiff, Richard and I, Cody and Emily and their kids, Megan and Chris and mom and Dad. Cam and Kim had come by earlier with their kids. It was amazing to be surrounded by family all the people that we love during this hard time. Richard and I left that evening with dad. We took dad home on our way.

We didn`t get home till late that night. So the kids were still with their grandma and grandpa Spencer. When I got home from the bus run in the morning they were at the house getting ready for school. They all gave me big hugs and then Cadence started crying. I felt bad, the way I left them on Friday. I was very frantic and crying and they were upset too. I gave her a big hug and tried taking them to school. Everyone else went but Cadence stayed with me. So I had a cute little shadow with me that whole day. It was good for her and me!

Then Tuesday came around and around 3pm I started getting a whole bunch of texts (we had a sibling group text going for updates on David). I kind of skimmed the first one and my heart dropped. It wasn't good news about David. I immediately put my phone away so I could drive the bus. Then when I got home I read the texts and called Richard. I couldn't talk because I was bawling. He came right home. As he was driving home he phoned Brent to see what was going on. It didn't sound good at all. I was in a panic again and didn't know what we should do. Richard calmly talked to me (we were locked in the room, so the kids couldn't hear what was going on) and said he thought we should both go back up. That felt right to me so I agreed. I quickly got on the phone and got someone to drive bus for me. Richard talked to his parents and we took them to Cardston on the way to Calgary. Before we left I went out to my parents house to get some things for my mom and I picked up something of David's that Jill wanted. I'm not sure how I got out to Raymond because I was bawling the whole way.

The news on David was the doctors were concerned because they were intervening every hour (meaning opening up the drain that was in his brain). That was the most they could do. And even with that it wasn't bringing the pressure numbers down. They said if it didn't get better over the night that they were going to have to remove the back of his skull. They didn't give us much hope on that either. If David survived that, they didn't give him much chance of living a high functioning life. It was crushing to hear all that.

So we drove to Calgary. Megan and Chris were just ahead of us. We got to Cody and Emily's around 10pm. Mom and dad and Joey (my cousin) came from the hospital around 10:30pm. We all sat down and mom and dad explained again what was going on. Mom kept telling us that it was in the Lord's hands, which I agreed with her. It's still hard to accept that. Then dad suggested we have a family prayer together, so that's what we did. It brought the Spirit in very strong and made it so I could sleep that night.

We got up and headed straight to the hospital in the morning. Jill and her whole family were there. They took turns through out the night staying with David. The others slept in the family room. We got there and they excitedly told us that his pressure numbers were way down. It was a huge blessing to hear that. His numbers stayed down that day too (Wednesday). And we took the night shift. We all stayed with David for a couple of hours through out the night. Then we slept on the couches in the family room (the one in the ICU). He stayed level the whole night.

Oh during the time period (can't remember exactly what day), they put David into a deeper sedation and gave him a heavier dose of pain meds. The doctors were happy with the results and happy that his pressure levels went back down to normal. So that gave us hope. Richard and I headed for home Thursday afternoon.

So that's basically the first week after David's accident. It's basically a reader's digest version. There was so much that happened in that week.....it felt like a month. So a rollercoaster ride. We love David so much and it was so hard to see him like that. I will update more in another post. Keep on fighting David......YOU ARE SO LOVED!