No More Bike Riding

Well, this time last night we were all in the E.R. waiting on Chad's shoulder to be taken care of. Most of you know that he bikes to work a couple of days a week. Yesterday afternoon he was headed home, about 4 miles from home when a series of events resulted in an unfortunate trip over the handlebars. The outcome was a dislocated shoulder and several cuts and bruises.

The Lord sent two young teenage boys along. They stopped and helped him up then gave him a ride home. They were so sweet and were gone before we could get their names. I wanted so bad to call their mom's and tell them what great young men they have on their hands.

The girls had to sit in the waiting room for 5 and 1/2 hours. Yes, you read that right. It was a hectic, crazy and LONG night. We got home around 12:00 a.m. and I finally got them tucked in around 12:30 it didn't take long for them to drift off to sleepy land. Chad on the other hand.....

While the hospital staff was wonderful and took excellent care of Chad and the girls and I, they didn't clean up all the little scrapes and cuts and bruises. So we spent quite a bit of time just trying to clean him up. Once he got into bed, it took another 30 minutes to try to make him comfortable. He was "chatty" so I gave him an advil pm. That finally mellowed him out and he went to sleep. Neither one of us really rested and that has made for a very long day. Plus the phone has rung non-stop and then there was an issue with my cell-phone. (Apparently our last payment was posted to the wrong account and they can't find it. All I can say is it's a good thing my husband keeps all the "proof". So after printing cancelled checks faxing them......hopefully they will get all this straightened out Friday.)

I have to say, the girls were very well behaved last night. They were patient and respectful. I was overwhelmed at their willingness to just sit and wait. The staff commented several times on their behavior. We left long enough to get them dinner. (Chad got home as I was putting dinner on the table, they had snacked on veggies and dip while I cooked, but hadn't eaten yet.) While we were on the way back to the hospital we were praying and we asked God to help them be patient and to not get to antsy. Well, He gave them patience and endurance!! The front desk staff brought them crayons and paper around 10:00 and made them a desk in one of the admittance cubicles. One clerk volunteered to stay with them so I could go back to check on Chad. While I was back, Chloe wrote a thank you note to the doctors and nurses who worked on Chad.

That just iced the cake for this group of health care providers. Apparently this hospital caters to a very rural, poor area. We saw things last night that broke our hearts. We saw dirty, sick babies whose mommas didn't look old enough to drive. We watched as a teenage girl and her boyfriend found out that the reason she had been throwing up all day was because she was pregnant, not food poisoning. Then we watched as her younger sister and mother came in and heard the news for the first time. These people were quick to share their stories. We saw people who need Jesus. Chloe and Emma would look at me and say "mom, we need to help them." I teared up at their compassion. My admiration for that staff just grew leaps and bounds. The clerk who sat with the girls while I got to go back to Chad took the note Chloe wrote back to Doctor and Nurses who worked on Chad. They said it was the first time anyone had said thank you all night, much less drawn a picture and written a note. I was so proud that this wasn't prompted. We of course laughed a lot, Chad was pretty loopy and asked the Doctor if he could ride his bike this afternoon. That Doctor looked at me and said, "buddy, I don't think you'll be riding that bike for quite some time." He was great. The nurses were great and God was with us ever little minute of the evening.

So, on the agenda for Friday is a trip to an orthopedic doctor and naps for everyone.
I hope this post makes sense, I'm so tired and I've read it once and don't have the energy to read it again!!