One Crazy Summer

What a crazy summer this has been for me and my family. We started off the summer with plans to spend a weekend at Lake Powell with my family. We had a great time...but, like most of our other trips to Lake Powell, we always return home with an injury. This time (like most times) it was Steve's turn to be hurt. So if you want the real story keep on reading. If you want Steve's version, you will have to give him a call. We had decided to explore one of the many canyons found at Lake Powell. We got out of the boat and climbed a rock wall to get up on to a plateau area. Up on top there was a little pond of water. The kids were loving our new water spot when Steve decided to scale another rock wall (that was much steeper) to see what was up there. He went exploring for a while and then came back to realize he needed to somehow get down.

We all could see how tempted he was to jump into this small body of water, but like the cautious wife I am, I encouraged him to climb back down. Well, without another thought he had jumped off the 15 foot wall and into the water. When he came up out of the water he was in a lot of pain. I immediately accused him of teasing us... Until he lifted his right foot out of the water and I could see it was severly injured. (For your sake I will not get graphic).

Now we had all the kids and an injured man up this canyon and we knew he would not be able to walk back to the boat. Luckily we had two of my Brother-in-laws with us that were a big help to Steve. After finally getting everyone back into the boat we had a 3 hour boat ride back to shore where Steve could get help. On the way back into the dock the wind began blowing really hard, making huge waves in the lake. Needless to say, it was probably one of the worst rides back into shore for everyone on that boat, especially Steve.

Finally we get to the urgent care in bullfrog only to find out that they don't have an ex-ray machine. The doctor looks at Steve's foot and determines that he has only dislocated his ankle bone. They plan to sedate him and pop the bone back into place. It takes 3 doctors to pop his ankle back into place... and a lot of pain for Steve (which luckily he can't remember).

Afterwards, the doctors put Steve in a boot and tell him that he will be walking on it the next day. So Steve and I go back to our campground, put him in bed and decide to finish out our vacation. The next day, Steve still can't walk and is in just as much pain as he was the day before, but Steve is determined to let us stay the rest of the weekend on our trip.

Poor Steve spent the next two days being dragged around on a bumpy boat and sleeping in a tent... What a trooper!

We finally get Steve to a doctor on Monday (the injury happed on Thursday). And the ex-rays show 3 broken bones and several dislocated bones, torn ligaments and tendants along with the severe bruising and fracture blisters all over his foot and up his leg. It was one huge mess.

Due to all of the swelling, he was not able to go into surgery for another week. So again he sits with a damaged foot for another long week and weekend.

The outcome of the surgery was 3 internal screws and 2 external pins, no driving for 8 weeks, no walking for 8 weeks. After 8 weeks he can drive and walk as long as he is wearing a specific boot for driving and walking.

It is now August 27th. As of last week, he can drive (yippeee!). All I can say is, it is easy to take for granted your health until you are faced with something like this. It has been a huge struggle for us all, but we have come out of this just fine. The kids have all stepped up to help out, especially our little Brook. We are so thankful that it was ONLY his foot, he could have easily been paralized. We are so thankful that he is ok and that in a couple of months will hopefully be feeling better.

We still have until the middle of October to wait for the internal screws to come out. Then he should be able to walk and drive again without a boot. Until then, I am threatening Steve to do everything that the Dr tells him to do. And no more acting like he is 19 again.