A Surreal Fog

This past weekend was one for the record book. My nephew was married on Saturday just like we planned but I wasn’t there. We left here on Thursday @ 4 pm and spent the night in Pigeon Forge Tennessee as planned. We arrived in Florida Friday afternoon about 3 pm and after refreshing our selves we headed for the wedding rehearsal arriving there at 5 pm. We were about halfway through the rehearsal when our friends that traveled with us received a phone call that said their youngest son was involved in a motorcycle accident and it wasn’t good. We returned to my mom’s house about 8 pm and at 9 pm a phone call came to get home as soon as possible but that it probably wouldn’t be soon enough as they were giving him only eight hours and the drive was 15.5 hours. After a quick check of the airlines and a brewing pot of coffee, we left Florida at 10 pm for the all night drive.

At 2 pm on Saturday (1 hour before the scheduled wedding) we arrived at home and headed straight to the hospital. If I thought the car ride was interesting coming home, I was shocked at the emotional rollercoaster we rode till 8 pm Sunday night.

Paul had suffered massive head trauma (yes, he wore a helmet) after being t-boned by an accelerating car trying to race between the line of cars sitting in a traffic jam. Sadly, Paul was on his bike in that opening. Not sure how much she accelerated too but it was enough to throw him across the road and destroy his Harley. She claimed she never saw him but the other 5 eye-witnesses saw him (all his lights were turned on). One of the witnesses was a police officer. So far she has been charged with failure to yield and time will tell if she is charged with more.

Over that time, 2 pm Saturday to 8 pm Sunday, we went through the gamut of emotions as the doctors worked on him. We discussed removing the respirator and letting Paul’s body decide his fate. Another time, we faced given he most likely would be a vegetable so allowing him to die might be the best. Then we faced the thought his brain would kill him because of the pressure was getting too high. This was the last issue that forced a decision in which they removed the top of his skull to allow the brain to expand all it wanted. So now we know he will live and celebrate his 25th birthday on November 21 but what we don’t know is what that life will be like. But I do have faith that he will have a meaningful life and will get to raise his child who will be born in about 27 weeks.

As for me, I am exhausted both physically and emotionally. I have gotten a full night’s sleep last night but the emotional drain will take a while longer. Driving for 16 hours with Paul’s parents sometimes seemed like a nightmare. Not that they were bad company but the fog of what seemed so unreal combined with wanting the time to pass faster, the fact we were tired of driving and the not knowing of how Paul was doing. The full extent of his criticalness wasn’t known until after his parents got there.

I guess this whole episode has given me a different slant on many issues. My prayer life has gotten a hard workout these past few days. But that is another blog for another time.