~The Music of My Life~

Friday, September 16, 2005

Luck is Saving My Dad

*sigh* It all started when I came downstairs after school and turned on the pc and logged into EQ. My dad said he was going to set up his tree stand but I had a bad feeling so I logged out and shut the pc off and went with him. Well we got there and we ended up walking about 1,000 yds. to the tree he had chosen. It was a sturdy pine tree with a lot of branches. I stayed about 7 feet away from the base in case a branch came down but I definitely wasn't expecting my father, who is an avid hunter and has been since he was a boy to fall. It still feels like it didn't happen but as I heard a crack I watched my father fall 20 feet to the ground.

I thought I was just going to go into shock but I went into immediate first aid and checked him over for life threatening conditions like if he was unconscious, not breathing, bleeding severely, and didn't have a pulse and he was fine for all of those because I could only find minor scratches on his forearms and then I checked his vitals and then his appearance and he wasn't having abnormal breathing patterns, nauseous, pale, or sweating but I could tell he was in shock as he lay, crumpled on the ground, eyes wide open. I asked him to wiggle his feet and did the whole body check and asked where the pain was and he said his legs were fine and nothing was numb so I knew, where he was, that he hadn't severed his backbone and his major appendages were fine.

He was already in the recovery position so that was good and I just continued to talk to him while I tried to think of how I could possibly drag him up a steep hill and through 1,000 yds. of forest. He talked back coherently and I asked about his pain and he said his back felt like he was being stabbed and his stomach hurt. I checked it out and I couldn't see any appearance of abnormality but unless there's a severe break or bleeding you can't really tell if you aren't an ems or doctor.

I took care of the tree stand and chained it to a nearby tree as I monitored him from only a few feet away. I then gathered everything up and called the dog so she knew to stay close. My dad said he could get up and then I slowly helped him into a standing position and I'm so glad I could walk him out even if it was only at a limping pace of 1 or 2 miles an hour. I think it took us a half an hour if not more to just get back to the car.

When we got home nobody was here but he insisted he was fine and I continued to monitor him and set him back in the recliner with two icepacks on his back and the heating pad he requested for his neck, and I got him a codeine pill and a glass of water. I just watched him until Sarah came home with Kate and then my mom came back with my car that had been taken in for bad tires. I told my mom and sisters what happened with clarity and didn't cry.

I didn't even cry when I saw him get a lot worse and he didn't even fight when I got the walker to help him into the car and to the ER, and then my mom took over. It wasn't until at least half an hour later when my mom called that I cried. She said that my daddy was being taken to Marshfield because he'd broken a vertebra and she was crying and she said she couldn't ride in the ambulance but Sarah (who was on the upstairs phone) told her to take the car and go with them so she could be with daddy. I don't know what to do but I'm thankful I got him out of there without paralysis.

I want my daddy.

Mandy ~ 6:34 PM