Fishyfanatic
Aquarium Advice Addict
Last night when I was at my parents house we got a call that my brother had been involved in an accident. He was driving the farms Semi tractor trailer full of corn and it turned over. He said he was driving and he felt the load shift. It was like it was in slow motion. Next thing he remembers is laying in the ditch. Apparently he was thrown through the windshield. He wasn't speeding beacuse it was at the top of a hill. And I'm sure you all know that when you are driving a semi with a full load, you don't pick up speed going up a steep hill.
The paramedics came to the scene and took him to the Bandage Shop (also known as the local ER). They bandaged him up and put a neck brace on him and did some tests. I forget which ones since it was a frantic couple of hours but CAT scan and EKG fit in there somewhere. They found that he had a fractured vertabrae but they weren't sure which one. So they transfered him to St. Louis University Hospital around 9:45.
He was in the ER until about 7:00 this morning. He had to have plastic surgery to close the cuts on his face since they were so deep and jagged. The doctor at the local hospital said that he could do it, but he'd have big scars on his face so they opted for the surgeon.
He had two deep cuts, one on the side of his head and another that is below his right eye and runs the side of his nose up to his forehead and above his left eye. Thats where the sunglasses broke and shoved into his face (they are assuming). The surgeon thought that the cut on the side of his head may have chipped his skull so they did some more x-rays and found out that it didn't. So they got him taken care of in regards to the cuts. He has many cuts and scrapes down his back and sides but those weren't an issue.
His vertabrae that connects his head and spine is fractured. He's in alot of pain and they gave him pain medication and something else to keep him sort of asleep. That way he didn't feel the pain. They are not sure when he's coming home but are thinking as early as tomorrow. They have to run some more tests and decide what they want to do about his vertabrae. But chances are he is going to be in a neck brace for a while. He can't really move that much.
My mom and Mandi (his girlfriend) stayed the night in the hospital last night. My dad got home around 3:30 this morning and headed out to work at 5:30. He's going to go back up there this afternoon. So everyone is pretty much tired. They say that he looks alot better than he did last night at the local hospital so that's a plus. At about 8 this morning is when they started to clean him up. He had corn residue in his ears and all over. Blood was all over his neck and chest and back.
My other brother and his wife came over and took my nephew and said that they would keep him for a couple days so I could get the house ready for when Dustin comes home.
The semi was totalled. This is what is great about living in a small town. Last night my mom called a neighbor who is close friends of the family. She told him what happened and then she hung up and left. About an hour later the guy shows up at the house with 10 other farmers. They were heading over to the accident to clean up the corn and were putting it in their tandums and were going to park them over at the shop. That way my dad didn't lose a whole semi full of crops. So they worked all through the night at the scene using shovels and shoveling corn into the back of a tandum truck. They salvaged what they could but the gas tanks had leaked and gas was everywhere. It's nice when a community comes through and helps out in this situation without even being asked.
Please pray for my brother. He has a rough few months ahead of him. His son doesn't know whats going on since he's only 19 months old. So it's definately going to be hard on him not being able to play with his own child.
Thanks everyone for listening. I've been pretty much alone since it all happened except when I went to the ER. I baby sat my nephew while everyone went to the hospital and now today I am at work trying to handle everything while my mom is at the hospital (she is my boss). Plus fielding calls and explaining what happened over and over again. But at least I did get to see him in the ER last night. Me and him are very close. That's what makes it so hard.
The paramedics came to the scene and took him to the Bandage Shop (also known as the local ER). They bandaged him up and put a neck brace on him and did some tests. I forget which ones since it was a frantic couple of hours but CAT scan and EKG fit in there somewhere. They found that he had a fractured vertabrae but they weren't sure which one. So they transfered him to St. Louis University Hospital around 9:45.
He was in the ER until about 7:00 this morning. He had to have plastic surgery to close the cuts on his face since they were so deep and jagged. The doctor at the local hospital said that he could do it, but he'd have big scars on his face so they opted for the surgeon.
He had two deep cuts, one on the side of his head and another that is below his right eye and runs the side of his nose up to his forehead and above his left eye. Thats where the sunglasses broke and shoved into his face (they are assuming). The surgeon thought that the cut on the side of his head may have chipped his skull so they did some more x-rays and found out that it didn't. So they got him taken care of in regards to the cuts. He has many cuts and scrapes down his back and sides but those weren't an issue.
His vertabrae that connects his head and spine is fractured. He's in alot of pain and they gave him pain medication and something else to keep him sort of asleep. That way he didn't feel the pain. They are not sure when he's coming home but are thinking as early as tomorrow. They have to run some more tests and decide what they want to do about his vertabrae. But chances are he is going to be in a neck brace for a while. He can't really move that much.
My mom and Mandi (his girlfriend) stayed the night in the hospital last night. My dad got home around 3:30 this morning and headed out to work at 5:30. He's going to go back up there this afternoon. So everyone is pretty much tired. They say that he looks alot better than he did last night at the local hospital so that's a plus. At about 8 this morning is when they started to clean him up. He had corn residue in his ears and all over. Blood was all over his neck and chest and back.
My other brother and his wife came over and took my nephew and said that they would keep him for a couple days so I could get the house ready for when Dustin comes home.
The semi was totalled. This is what is great about living in a small town. Last night my mom called a neighbor who is close friends of the family. She told him what happened and then she hung up and left. About an hour later the guy shows up at the house with 10 other farmers. They were heading over to the accident to clean up the corn and were putting it in their tandums and were going to park them over at the shop. That way my dad didn't lose a whole semi full of crops. So they worked all through the night at the scene using shovels and shoveling corn into the back of a tandum truck. They salvaged what they could but the gas tanks had leaked and gas was everywhere. It's nice when a community comes through and helps out in this situation without even being asked.
Please pray for my brother. He has a rough few months ahead of him. His son doesn't know whats going on since he's only 19 months old. So it's definately going to be hard on him not being able to play with his own child.
Thanks everyone for listening. I've been pretty much alone since it all happened except when I went to the ER. I baby sat my nephew while everyone went to the hospital and now today I am at work trying to handle everything while my mom is at the hospital (she is my boss). Plus fielding calls and explaining what happened over and over again. But at least I did get to see him in the ER last night. Me and him are very close. That's what makes it so hard.
