what NOT to do...

This is what happens when you dive head first into a shallow pool.

On Saturday, July 11th, Kyle was swimming with friends at one of the neighborhood community pools here in Maricopa. We were at a birthday party in Mesa when we got the call that he smacked his head on the bottom of a pool. As you know, heads bleed A LOT! He got out of the pool on his own and his friends and a lady that was a nurse tried to stop the bleeding as it was pouring down his face. They took him to urgent care. They called an ambulance and took him to Chandler regional hospital. We met him there. Mark asked him how deep the water was. He said 5 feet. And how tall are you Kyle? ummm...5'9". Do you see the problem? :o) After spending several hours there, the CAT scan showed that he broke is neck in 2 places. #1 was a clean break and #7 was crushed. Kyle was devastated!
Poor boy was crying because he was on the back board so long. His head felt like mush! Kyle nver takes pain pills for even a headache so when he begged for medication I knew he was hurting bad.




He's left with a scar that looks like an X or a wiggly K on top of his head. The hair still isn't growing back there.

After they saw how serious it was, they transferred us in an ambulance to Scottsdale Osborn hospital. Before we left, Mark and my dad gave him a priesthood blessing.

Kyle's new room at Scottsdale Osborn. We had to wait a few hours before they let us up in his room in the ICU. The first thing he said when we saw him, was "This place is messed up! They put something in my tool and it's still there!" LOL! It was funny the way he said it. Apparently they put in a catheter, because he obviously couldn't go to the restroom on his own.

On Monday afternoon his neurosurgeon scheduled his surgery. Our best friend, Hal came down to the hospital and him and Mark gave him another prieshood blessing before they took him in. I do believe in the power of the priesthood.

The surgery went perfectly. They did nothing for the number 1, but the crushed number 7, they pulled out all the broken bits and fused them together in a thingy then put it back in and put a metal plate over it to hold it in place. We were in the hospital for a total of 5 days. He has to wear his collar for 3 months-24 hours a day. We were grateful that he didn't have to wear a halo brace that screws into your skull. My sister, Coleen had to years ago and it was horrible! My normally happy, joking boy didn't smile the whole time he was there. It's a hard thing to face that a stupid mistake can cause such huge damage.

He finally smiled when we got home.

Here is the scar from surgery. We took the front part of his collar off so Brek could shave his face. I have to log roll him over to change him in and out of his shower collar then back into his everyday collar. It's kind of scary.

A few weeks later Kyle's girlfriend discovered a bald spot on the back of his head. It wasn't there the day before. He was mad...I was mad! We couldn't figure out how it happened. So he asked Brek to shave his head bald...to the skin.

This picture is after it was shaved and his hair started growing back....everywhere but in the spot. So weird! We discovered it was from being on the backboard for all those hours. It damaged his hair follicles and they just fell out. He's finally starting to get a teeny bit hair growth in there, but not nearly as much as the rest.

Kyle was Mark's employee and he obviously can't work so Mark's been putting in crazy long hours to keep up with the business. So, my house is very full. Kyle is with me everyday, so is Cole because he's still doing online school. I have Brek, Brittany and the boys. Plus Kyle's girlfriend is here everyday as well as his other friends that stop by to visit all the time. Mark goes to work and Cody goes to school. I've forgotten what a quiet house is like.

We went to have a one month check up with the neurosurgeon. They went on and on about how lucky he was and were shocked that he wasn't paralysed. They showed his X-rays to all the other doctors and nurses in the office. These people deal with this kind of serious injury all the time and really couldn't believe it. I told them it has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with God. My boy obviously has important work still to do. We count our blessings everyday.