Head On Crash

Friday night was a very scary night for our bunch.   My husband and five girls had just left the house heading for McD's for a quick supper and then to Taekwondo for Sparring practice.   Less than 5 minutes later the unthinkable happened.   As they were crossing 93rd street a woman turned in front of them and they crashed almost head on.    The accident sent her vehicle spinning around once in the middle of the road.   It tore the drivers side wheel off our 2009 Ford Expedition and the force of gravity sent our SUV down the street north with my husband trying to get it to stop and working hard to keep it going straight as possible and not let it turn abruptly and start rolling.    He did keep it upright and eventually he drifted off the left side of the road and slammed into the culvert.   The force of hitting the dirt ditch tore our DVD player off the roof and sent it flying up into the drivers area hitting my husband.   Fortunately the airbags all deployed and kept Daddy and RaeAnne from hitting into the windshield.  

Dad was on the phone immediately calling 911 and then me to let me know what had happened.   I grabbed my head cover and keys and was up there in no time.   I parked as close as I could, but there was already a lot of cars that were kind of trapped with the accident blocking the road.  I walked/run up and helped get the girls out of the car and was checking them over for wounds.   Jordis was already out of the car and sitting on something that someone had put down so she wouldn't have to sit in the dirt. Her neck was hurting and she had bitten through her tongue.   Tessa was still sitting in the vehicle and had blood all over!   It was from a cut on her right great toe.   I thought the toe might be broken and you could see her bone or tendon through the cut.  Someone had given her hankies to hold on the toe.   EMS wrapped it up with guaze later on and we sent her and Jordis to the hospital to be checked out.   The Fire Department and EMS had to cut Mark from the vehicle.   He was complaining of his neck and back hurting.   After arriving at the hospital and having CT scans they found he has a fracture in his cervical spine which they are not sure is old or new.   And he has one in his lower spine that occurs frequently from the sudden bending forward and then back from the force of the accident.   They have measured him for a brace that he will have to wear all waking hours for 3 months.   They are going to CT scan his cervical spine again once the brace gets here to look at the fracture up there again and decide if it is new or old.

Our family is grateful that they were driving our big, heavy SUV.   If they had been driving our smaller minivan we feel that their injuries would/could have been much more severe.   Even though it totalled our prime traveling vehicle, it is only a car and cars can be replaced our family can not.

We are so grateful for the EMS staff.   They were absolutely wonderful!!  Not only did they do a great job on site, but after they had taken them to the hospital they came back and checked on them again when they had another accident victim they brought in later.  They truly love their jobs!  

Jordis was quickly checked over and released.   She joined Zora and I in Mark's room.   Tessa was in another room around the hallway.   They CT scanned her abdomen and neck as she was complaining of her tummy hurting and we were hoping that she did not have internal injuries from the seat belt.   Fortunately she did not!!   They also xrayed her toe which was not broken but terribly torn up.   The PA put 5 stitches in it just to try and keep it somewhat closed so it would heal.   It will take longer to heal as it was deep and you could see her bone and some tendon in there but we will keep a close eye on it so if I see any infection starting I can take her to the doctor or back to the hospital for antibiotics.  I am changing the bandage once a day and putting antibiotic ointment on it.   We have found a slipper she can wear on that foot to walk in and she is doing pretty good.

The odd thing.   ZoraLin had a fortune cookie.   It said "God looks after you especially."   Okay I have never received a fortune cookie that mentions God personally before.   Zora was pretty much uninjured except for a scratch on her hip where the seatbelt rubbed her skin off.