The WRECK - update

I was trying to think of some poetic blog title, but couldn't come up with one!

Top 5 things I've learned this week ...
1. God is amazing
2. My husband is an awesome man of strength
3. Kids MUST be in boosters until they are at LEAST 4'9"
4. Never decline short term disability coverage at work (oops, we did!)
5. doggies need seat belts too!

Remember as you are reading I am a horrible writer and I am all over the place ... !  Oh and keep in mind this is going to be from my perspective.  Wayne might have something to add later on ...

We were all so excited on Friday September 30th!  We were packed and heading to Winnie for the Texas Rice Festival.  The kids were excited about riding rides, I was excited about eating the yummy food!  This would be the first time in we had been to the festival since Ike.  After we dropped Emily off at school, Wayne drove Elliot and I to Cornerstone MDO.   Then he picked Emily up early, loaded Lily and our bags into the van and headed to pick up me and Elliot.  We were hoping to get an early start to miss Houston traffic.  Elliot was so excited because Daddy was going to meet his teacher and his friends!

By 1:40 most of my kids had been picked up, so I went back to my classroom to start cleaning up.  I was watching down the hall for Wayne, Emily and Elliot wondering where there were.  Finally I grabbed my cell phone (which was on vibrate the entire time) and noticed 15 missed calls.   I was concerned, but not overly.  I figured Trina was trying to call me and she often calls me at least 10 times when I don't answer - HA!  I walked to the front desk with my last child and took a closer look at the missed calls and realized they were from Wayne AND Trina.  I told the assistant director that I had a bunch of missed calls and needed to call Wayne.   When he picked up, my world shifted.

Let me back up a minute.  From what I know now, the accident happened around 1:20, less than 3 miles from our house.    When I didn't answer, Wayne called Trina and asked for her help.  This put everything in motion.  Wayne was absolutely amazing during the entire ordeal.  Amazing.  When something horrible happens, you want him in your corner.  I am still amazed by him!

OK, fast forward again ... When Wayne answered, I think I must have first said "where in the world are you", because he is never late.  If I'm 20 minutes late it's pretty normal, but if I am not with Wayne he is always on time!   He said to me "Rachel, Trina is coming to get you, Emily and I have been in an accident and they are taking us to the hospital." ... at this point my brain hasn't kicked in and he continues "the van flipped over and they are bringing Emily to Dell and taking me to Round Rock" my brain still hasn't kicked in completely ... I think I asked if they were OK and he told me "Emily has a bump on her head and cuts on her hand, but she seems OK" my next question is "what about you?" and I am thinking he must be fine because I am talking to him right?  He said "my neck, back, chest and shoulder really hurt" ... then my brain kicks in a bit and I ask "how is Lily?" ... when Wayne answered she had jumped through the broken windows of the van everything came into focus and I realized this was serious.

While Trina was heading my way she was putting everyone in motion.  She called Chris to go sit with Wayne while he was in Round Rock.  I am not sure if she called Christy or Stephen, but somehow Stephen was alerted and headed to the hosptial also.  Then she called Sara to get Elliot situated for the day.   Oh AND she had to drive past the accident and watch Emily get loaded into the ambulance.  Hmm, not her best day, but she was AMAZING and handled all the details.  Without her I would probably still be standing at Cornerstone like a deer in the headlights. 

Backing up again, here is what happened ... Wayne, Emily and Lily were heading South on Parmer to pick me and Elliot up.  They were going at least 60mph (speed limit) when they approached the intersection at Neenah.  The other driver was heading North on Parmer and was turning left.  He had a "yield on green" light and from his account did not see Wayne coming.  He was driving a black RX7 and Wayne was driving our green Dodge Caravan.  When he finally noticed Wayne coming, he stopped blocking Wayne's lane and the other lane as well.  Wayne tried to go around him.  The RX7 was very close to the ground so when Wayne clipped the front end, the van went over.  The off duty paramedic who stopped to help said the van flipped 3 or 4 times.  Going 60mph.   Wayne said at this moment his first thought was to make sure Emily and Lily were OK.  He checked Emily who's first question was "Daddy, is this a dream?" and told her to try to grab Lily who was struggling to get out of the broken windows.  Emily grabbed for her tail, but couldn't hold on.  Lily was in a panic (and probably horribly wounded) and ran.

God is amazing, he put an off duty paramedic at the scene who talked to Emily while they were waiting for the police and EMS to arrive.  Wayne could not get out of the van, so we are blessed someone was there who knew what to do.   He left Emily in place while talking to her constantly.  He also put a couple at the scene who would go after Lily until they found her.  Without them, we would not have closure. They followed Lily and finally found her.  They loaded her into their car, drove her back to Wayne and asked what they could do.  Wayne asked them to take her to our wonderful vet and called Debbie to let her know what happened.  Lily either ran until she collapsed or she ran until someone hit her.  We will never know, but we know God placed those people at the scene so we wouldn't be worrying she was still out there running scared.    

Here is where things get even harder for Wayne.  Paramedics arrived and told him they needed to take Emily to Dell and would be taking him to Brackenridge or Round Rock.  Watching Emily get loaded into the ambulance on her own was heart breaking.   BUT again, I'll remind you of his wonderful strength.  This is where I would have LOST MY MIND but he remained calm and Emily was not scared.  Well, I am sure she was terrified, but she went into the abulance without arguing.  The EMT said she was amazing the entire trip.  Answered all his questions and talked most of the way to the hospital.   When I finally was able to see Emily, she was surrounded by the Dell trauma team.  Talk about a scary sight.  The EMT stopped me and asked me some questions and told me to pull it together - HA!  I tried my best and finally was able to get to Emily.  The trauma team was amazing and walked me and Emily through everything that was going on.  This is where I also met an amazing chaplain.  My first reaction was "um, get away, my daughter is fine" but I am so glad she was there for me.  She held my hand, checked on Wayne by phone and prayed for us.  She helped me hold it together. 

Dell took amazing care of Emily, but I am not sure if Wayne got the best care at Round Rock.  Reading the ER report, it seems there was a lot of comflicting information ... but hey, he's walking and talking and here, so they must have done something right!

Fast forward to today ...
Emily is healed physically and has been released for normal activity.  We have an appointment for her with a counselor to help her heal mentally.
The trauma nurse has made it clear that she is OK because she was in her booster seat.  Before you think we are smart parents to have kept her in her booster after her 8th birthday, you should know we didn't.  The only time we MADE her ride in it was when we were going on long trips.  Remember the accident happened less than 3 miles from home.  If we wouldn't not have been heading to Winnie she would not have been in her seat and the outcome would have been much much worse.  What I learned from the trauma doctor ... Dell Children's Hospital has a car seat inspection team.  If you call and make an appointment they will evaluate your carseat, booster and let you know if your child is big enough to be out of their seat.   I am betting other hospitals offer the same services.  Emily has become a booster seat advocate and talks to all her friends about the importance of booster seats!

Wayne has a fracture in his T2/T3 vertebrae and will go back to the doctor to be reevaluated in early November.  He will be off work until the doctor clears him.  After his follow up we'll know if he'll need PT/OT, if he'll go back to work full time or half time and what restrictions he'll have.  Unfortunately we did not opt in for short term disablity when Wayne started at Randall's.  We couldn't "afford it" at the time.  So, when he's out of sick/vacation hours his paychecks will stop.  I think we'll get a full check next week and a half check the following week.  The other drivers insurance will cover his missed work when we finally settle, but until then we are hoping the PIP coverage from our insurance will cover our expenses until then.   But, I know God will work it out.  There is no way He brought us to this point to abandon us now.

Talk about a whirlwind ... and even with my rambling I know I've missed so much.  The most important thing is they are OK.  It could have been so much worse.  Seeing the van in person took my breath away and made me realize without a doubt that God was with them that day.  Wayne's side took most of the impact and by God's grace he is still with us.  I am am in constant awe.

Pictures - I didn't want to put pictures in the blog because I know there are people who will not want to see them.  Click if you want to see them. 

We are incredibly blessed by the wonderful support of our family (including our church family)  They have all been amazing and we don't know what we would do without them!  We are so thankful to have such great support!  Thank you to everyone, Friends, Family, Strangers who helped us and prayed for us during this time.  We will never be able to say THANK YOU enough.

Please continue praying as we navigate through the fog of the accident and get back to the new normal.

Rachel