the incident of 0-10, AKA the "tree" incident

Hello All!
OK…just so you don’t hear bits and pieces or wonder what happened to Craig…here goes-
Yesterday he was climbing a tree to take a stand down. He had his harness on, but not “attached” (or something like that) because the stand was in the way…and being a man and all, was just going to move the stand real quick and then connect the harness. Anyway, the stand feel and so did Craig…20’ down. His face stopped the fall.

He called me at work and told me he had called 911-in which I knew he was hurt because he just doesn’t ask for help with injuries-he would rather super glue all lacerations and go on about life. However, when he hit the ground and couldn’t feel his body and the blood was dripping down his face he wanted to call them before he passed out (just in case he did). Alas, he didn’t pass out and actually walked to the street, out of the woods to meet the ambulance. I was on the phone with him telling him to stop walking around, blah blah blah. He asked the ambulance if he could wait for me to get there and take him myself to the ER but when they saw his head it was a no go and off they went.

I ended up meeting them at Anderson Hospital. I must say, that is some place! Really, they were so nice and informative and after being there over 5 hours I wanted to go back and shadow the nurses. It was so amazing! I was asking a million questions-loving the entire medical aspect….I digress….this is about Craig. OK, so he looked pretty bad when I first saw him, but I wasn’t too stressed because I knew he had walked out of the woods. After CTs, chest and back scans, much to the doctors dismay (we really think that the young Doogie Howser was disappointed) there was absolutely NOTHING wrong besides the gash from impact on his forehead. Not one single broken bone. Now mind you, his body is very sore from the impact itself and the jarring effect.

The gash. Oh my! If you get queasy this part is not for you. It was awesome (and I say that with huge eyes)! It had started dripping again (I am guessing this is hour 3 or so), so I grabbed some gauze and started wiping the drip and that is when I noticed it. I was like, Craig, move your eyes….no way! I could see his muscles move across his skull! So of course I made him do it for a video. WOW! I took some pics on the phones and the nurses let me get as close as I could while cleaning him up and then when the doctor came in to saw him up, yep, they let me right there. It was so cool. They even offered me supplies when I left-not just gauze and stuff, but things like the scissors and the guard thingy over the syringe they used while cleaning it out so that stuff won’t splash out. I just left with scissors and gauze .

As we sat there for over 5 hours we definitely thought about what could have happened. Craig said as he was falling and he could see the ground quickly approaching that he really thought this was it. I told him that apparently God wants him here on Earth for a reason…let’s get to finding it  He said he thought about that. We (and he) are very lucky that nothing else has happened to him beyond the injuries he did sustain!

As the evening went on his body got more sore and after taking some major meds, I spent every two hours waking him and asking “who are you and where are you”. You could imagine the smart aleck answers I received throughout the evening. Just incase you are wondering Hope (you have to love her) asked a million questions and Hunter saw it and said “round and round” pointing to his eye and then 2 hours later notice that Craig had a boo-boo “daddy has a boo-boo?”. We think he might have thought the first time he thought it was camo face paint. Yeah…he looks great. It has not deterred him from hunting, in fact he said that he still has another stand to get down-climbing right back on that horse-I think he will wait a bit before doing that!

So…anyway, this is what happened in our family yesterday, Wednesday. All is well now, I am staying home to take care of him…he is really enjoying this part and keeps asking something about a red headed nurse and a sponge bath (I chalk it up to the meds ). Thanks for any concerns or prayers….