It's been a week

Last Thursday was my last post. Although I want to write every day, I have some good excuses for my absence. The morning after my last post I got a call from my Mother at 6:45 a.m. that my 77 year old Grandfather, Forrest, had been injured and was flown via the Careflight Helicopter to MVH (where I work). My Dad was already en route to the hospital and I was asked by Mom to pick her up and get her to the ER. We arrived just before 8 a.m. at the hospital and was met there by Dad, Uncle Junior and my cousin Brian. Junior and Brian had just returned from seeing Grandpa and said he was doing ok. When you hear that someone you love has been flown into the ER - you know immediately something serious was going on - but we didn't know anything else. Dad filled Mom and I in on some partial details of the accident.

Dad and Grandpa had been to the Riverboat Casino in Indiana for a business gathering for one of my Dad's Kitchen remodeling vendors. The event ended at 9:30 p.m. but they stayed and gambled and it was 2:30 a.m. when they arrived back in Dayton. Grandpa, of course, refused to stay the night and sleep at my parents home, so he got in his 1989 Ford Bronco and started the 1.5 hour drive up to his trailer on Grand Lake St. Mary's. As the story goes, he was low on fuel and stopped at the nearest exit to his place that had a gas station, it was in Sidney, Ohio off of I-75. He went in and pre-paid $20 in gas because he said the credit card reader wasn't working. After refueling, he said he hung up the hose and remembered he needed a gallon of milk. He turned around to start heading back into the store and didn't realize his feet were tangled in the hose. He said he remembers consciously turning his head to his left to avoid falling flat on his face. He hit the ground hard with the right side of his head near his eye socket. This left him with a 3 inch gash that most have bled tremendously. It gets a little fogging as to what happened next. He says he got in the Bronco and started to drive off, entering the main road and then realizing he was too injured and near unconsciousness so he turned around and went back in the stations lot. He then motioned to the lone attendant on duty, a young man, who came out to assist him.

An ambulance took him to a hospital in Sidney, they appear to have performed a CT scan which they thought showed blood forming on his brain. They called for the emergency flight to MVH where it's advanced trauma team would examine him more closely.

Mom and I went back and visited him, room 36 in the ER. I was expecting a small exam room - I was wrong, it was the main trauma bay in the ER. A huge room with flat screen monitors, imaging readers, and arms with every known gadget protruding from the ceiling. I have worked in these many times at GSH, and seen many patients in the rooms, but it's not the same when it's your Grandfather on the table. It was quite surreal. He was awake and recognized us immediately. I first noticed his blood stained hair, now red instead of silver - and the cart with the recently used scissors and tweezers for sewing up his wound. He told us the version of the story above as we examined his injuries. His hands were dirty and scraped and his face was black, blue and swollen. He mentioned the helicopter ride and how it made him vomit while in flight.

I have also worked at the various Careflight hangars where we keep and maintain the craft, as well as met with many mechanics, pilots and nurses. I have always respected their jobs and am proud of them. This has cemented that notion. I even brought my digital camera along to some of my support calls to take pictures of the jet-powered copters. They are much bigger than one would suspect if you only ever witness them while their flying. At ground level they are quite massive. They fly over my house a few times a day for shift changes between the MVH pad and the Warren Co. Airport hangar just south of my house. They can be heard several miles before and after they speed over the house. I've always thought they were cool, now that I know he's OK, I'm jealous Grandpa hitched a ride with them.

The Trauma doc told Mom and I he would be sent to a room for overnight observation. He was transferred to the Neurology Care unit and remains there now. I have much more to write and explain about this week. But I'm going to post this for now and collect my thoughts. MJ.