Thursday, May 8, 2008

Bad week, part 1

It's been kind of a hard week.

On Sunday night I got a phone call from my sister. "Guess which one of your siblings is in the hospital," she said.

My brother rides motorcross, and on Sunday afternoon, while riding his motorcycle in a somewhat remote area, he had a terrible accident. I don't know all the details, since I haven't been able to talk to my brother yet, but basically the bulleted highlights are:

-thrown from the bike
-landed in a deep ditch feet first, jamming his legs and blowing out both knees
-lay alone screaming for some time till he was found by a father and son on their bikes
-airlifted to a nearby hospital
-no pulse below the knees, 7 hours of surgery to save his legs
-he's thankfully doing well now and they won't need to amputate, but he'll require some additional surgery and a lot of physical therapy before he'll be able to walk again

It's been a really scary week for our family, and I am just so thankful to the doctors and nurses who have been there for my brother and who worked hard to save his legs. Being so far away from my family is tearing me apart, and I wish so much I could be there to visit my brother in person. However, we're really lucky that all the rest of my siblings, as well as my parents, live very close to my brother, so he's getting lots of support from them.

10 comments:

ScienceWoman said...

Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry to hear this. Many hugs to you and your family.

hgg said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
hgg said...

Oh, that must be horrible for you. Lots of hugs sent over the Atlantic!

Jane said...

oh no! hugs to you and good thoughts to your family.

Amanda said...

That sounds horrible for you. Lots of hugs to you and your family. I'll be keeping you all in my thoughts.

ScienceGirl said...

Oh no! This sounds very scary; sending good thoughts your way.

mama of the valley said...

oh my! how horrible!

Anonymous said...

Oh my! Hugs and well wishes to you and your family.

Unknown said...

OMG! That's so scary! Sending lots of hugs and hope for a speedy recovery

EcoGeoFemme said...

How terrible! More positive thoughts coming your way.