He was running later than he had been for the end of the day but that’s not unusual when he starts his “real job” during the winter months. When I answered the phone, I expected him to tell me he was held up somewhere and then explain why he was later than usual.
What I didn’t expect was an unfamiliar voice on the other end trying to explain to me who he was and why this foreign voice was using my husband’s phone. I don’t remember his name or who he was with but my brain was able to retain the words, “personal injury accident”. I could hear Jim in the background telling him what to tell me. “Tell her I might be there a couple of days”, he says after I ask the EMT if I should just meet him at the hospital. I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess I really wasn’t. We’d never dealt with anything like this before. I didn’t know how bad the accident was. In the back of my mind I guess I was thinking no big deal. The EMT was just calling to tell me Jim was going to be even later getting home…silly me. It was 6:23 p.m.
I got off the phone and was still trying to process what had just happened. Now what? Taylor sensed that something was wrong and asked. “Dad was in a car accident”, I said. The tears began. I got up from the computer, grabbed my purse and headed out the door. Nothing felt quite so important at this point except getting to the hospital.
I stopped by Curt and Jamie’s house and picked up Jenna. Jamie was in class but she was leaving and would meet us on the way and we’d drive to the hospital together. Taylor and Callie would ride up with Curt when Callie got home from basketball practice.
It was about 7:15 when we arrived at the emergency room. The ambulance was still there. When I asked about Jim at the window, the gal told me two patients had just arrived but Jim wasn’t either one of them. This doesn’t make sense. The EMT said they were bringing him here. “Well”, the receptionist says, “maybe he just hasn’t arrived yet”. So I went outside to wait. The receptionist follows me out and tells me she thinks she may have found him. He was the one they had named “KK Doe” due to lack of identity – I guess. It doesn’t make sense to me because he had his wallet with him and he was able to tell them his name, etc.
Joyce, the receptionist, tells me he’s having a CT scan. “Please have a seat in the waiting room and someone will be with you soon. If 20 minutes pass and you haven’t heard from anyone, let me know and I’ll try to find out for you what’s going on”.
While I’m waiting, I thought I need to call Jim’s boss and see if he can tell me what’s going on. We have no idea what happened and absolutely no idea what condition he’s in. I find Andy’s phone number and call. No one answers. All we can do is wait – and pray. I know one thing…there were lots of prayers being said between all of us sitting there in that waiting room!
20+ minutes pass and I go ask Joyce if she could find something out for us. She got up and walked through the double doors. No sooner had I gone back over to where the kids were when two familiar faces walk through the ER entrance. Andy’s boss and his wife. It was so good to see them! AND he had information. Not much, but some. Jim and Andy were together in the pickup. The details are fuzzy. Now I know why Andy didn’t answer his phone. By now, it’s nearly 2 hours later than the initial phone call and I still haven’t a clue how Jim is.
Joyce returns with a room number and instructions on how to get to it. But first I’m able to check on Andy. Andy’s daughter was with him. When he saw me, tears began flowing and he says in a quiet voice, “I’m sorry. How’s my friend”? (referring to Jim) “I don’t know, Andy, I haven’t got to see him yet”. I leaned over and kissed his forehead before I left the room to gather the troops. Andy’s daughter was with him and I felt confident that he was in good hands. My heart hurt when I saw how much pain he was in.
We got to Jim’s room just as they were moving him from one bed to the other. All I wanted to do was see what shape he was in and be reassured that he was ok. As I headed in the door, the nurse looks up at me and tells me to leave the room and shut the door. “But I’m his wife”. That didn’t matter to her-they were trying to do their job. How dare she tell me to leave and shut the door! But I did.
I’m finally told I can go in and the nurse who sternly told me to leave is the same one telling me the extent of his injuries. He’s got a broken collar bone (which Taylor can relate to), a pocket of air between his lungs and chest cavity and fluid somewhere. All I see is he’s alive – and in A LOT of pain.
He begins to relive the accident (what he can remember). He remembers the collision and that he was laying on the ground. He remembers that Andy was on the ground too. He remembers getting up and helping Andy off the road and then he remembers being in the ambulance. Neither one of them were wearing their seat belts.
I don’t know the condition of the driver who hit them. I pray he’s no worse than Jim and Andy.
Sitting in a hospital chair trying to be helpful and out of the way is NOT what I intended to be doing tonight. This is clearly an example of just how fast a persons life can change – in a split second!
Jim’s trying to rest through the intense pain but it’s not working so well. I can’t imagine the trauma his body went through on impact. It certainly could have been a different outcome. I know the girls suffered just as much as I did with the unknown. I think this was a wake up call for all of us. Life is so very precious and shouldn’t be taken for granted! Our little family has been so blessed with good health. Who would have known that when we said our goodbyes in the morning that our evening would be so full of emotion and unknowns. Life is fragile. Tonight we experienced how fast it can take a different turn – in a split second.
One last detail to the story that’s worth sharing. Jenna was going to drop something off at a friend’s home after work. The route she would have taken would have taken her through the exact intersection at about the exact time of her dad’s wreck. At the last minute, she changed her mind. God is good!