Pete's Accident

After a great Saturday at the track meet celebrating Coach Weaver's upcoming retirement, our Sunday was not that great!

Pete had gone to bed early Saturday night.  I had waited up on Andrew and gone to bed late.  I did not know he had left extremely early to go and clean an office and listen to some commentary and sermons and finish getting ready for Sunday at church.  He often goes early, just not that early.

A little after 2:00 am, my phone rang.  It's eerie when the phone rings in the still of the night.  I was really really tired, so the first miracle is that I heard it and picked up.  It's not unusual for his phone to randomly call me, so I was not even sure he was really calling!  I heard his voice and his heavy breathing.  There was a sort of panic or urgency in his voice, and it did not sound like him at all.  He said he'd been in an automobile accident and needed me to call 911.  Of course I was hopping out of bed and about to panic all at once.  I told myself, quickly, to calm down and asked where he was.  He told me he was at Deerfield and Wilson's Ridge.  Then I realized I had to hang up to call 911.  I told him I would call and get there ASAP.

I yelled at Andrew and Will.  I envisioned him at the intersection of Wilson's Ridge and Bamboo and thought maybe he'd gone over the bank.  I had NO details, except he was breathing heavily and told me he was hurt.

I called 911 and told the woman what he had said.  She started telling me they had another call coming in regarding the same accident.  I told her I would go - that I needed to get to him.  She told me many times not to go to the accident scene.  I told her I had to but that I would not get in the way.

By that time, I had put my contacts in (new glasses are on my short list) and brushed my teeth, pulled on some clothes, and gotten Will and Andrew up.  I called Pete who said he was okay, but I could tell he was not.  Will drove us quickly...the wrong way.  I told him to go to Bamboo.  When we drove past the fire department, I noticed the trucks were both there.  I did not see any lights...or anything.  I said, "Only I would go the wrong way to an emergency!"  He cut over Wilson's Ridge, and we saw the firetruck in the middle of the intersection.  He stopped at the stop sign and let me out, while he parked the van down past the used car lot.  I ran up to Pete who was propped up on the front bumper of the firetruck with a fireman checking him over.  It was dark, and the lights were all flashing.  The whole right side of his face was covered with blood.  His shirt had blood all over it.  So did his shorts.  And his shoes.  He was clutching his Bible that had blood on it.  I wondered where all of the emergency personnel were.  One of the worst intersections in Boone, a horrible wreck, two firemen, and no one else in sight.

I asked Will to take pictures for me.  I was afraid Pete would pass out from shock or something.  Will put his knee in the truck to get Pete's ironed Sunday clothes, and his pant leg was saturated with blood.  Finally, the ambulance came.  I checked on the other driver, and he was fine.  They put Pete in the ambulance and put a collar on him.  They were assessing him, and I wondered where anyone else was.  I wondered who would write up the accident.

Finally, a state trooper came.  Pete was in the ambulance, so he just asked me what Pete had said.  The only things he asked Pete were his name and birth date.  I wondered where he would get his information.

Pete just wanted us to take him to the hospital, so he got out of the ambulance.  Will waited with him in the car until the trooper gave me the other driver information.  The report is not online yet, and the page address he gave me did not work.  We went on to the ER and just asked that Hampton's be called to get the truck.

Pete told me that he was heading down Deerfield and saw the other truck coming down Wilson's Ridge.  Right before impact, he remembered thinking that that truck did not look like it was going to stop at its stop sign.  Next thing he knew, the lights were in his eyes, and he was hit.  He knew he was bleeding and could feel it immediately.  It was hard for him to see his phone with the blood in his eyes, so he called me, thinking he was going to pass out.  He asked me to call 911 and told me where he was.  Then he got out after pushing really hard to get his door open, and he walked over to the other bigger, newer truck to check on the other driver.  He asked if he was okay, and the young man said he was.  Pete asked him if he was a believer, and he said he was.  So Pete asked him to pray, because he thought he was going to pass out.  I am not sure when that driver called 911 - before or after the prayer, but he was on the phone when I was.

The fire truck got there a few minutes before I did.  Even though I called 911 right after Pete called me.  I saw on my phone that I talked to Pete less than a minute, called 911, hurried and got ready to leave, and called Pete while we were leaving, about 5-6 minutes after he first called.  We went the wrong way, which took a few more minutes.  I was confused later about the timing and why the ambulance was not there.  We were less than a mile from the fire station and less than two from the medics.

When I called for information today, I learned that the information relayed was that it was only property damage.  911 did not dispatch the ambulance.  The firemen called for it AFTER they got there and saw Pete's injuries.  I am very frustrated that I told the operator he was breathing heavily and did not sound good.  I thought I told her he said he was hurt.  Maybe I did not.  But I know I told her he was breathing heavily and let her know I was worried.

The 911 operator called me back, but I did not hear my phone and did not listen to her message until today.  I just forgot, but I listened to it when I remembered.  I have the time she called, and it was a while after I had first called her - 16 minutes.  She said they had just dispatched an ambulance.  And once again, I felt like a failure for my family in the 911 calling.  I tried to be clear and as calm as I could.  And it did Pete no good.  But Will and I were there to help him, so God worked it out for me to know to go.

Besides all of that, God still worked in the situation.  We went to Hampton's to get things from the truck today.  I cried a little when I saw it.  Our cross country coach at John Battle bought the truck new.  Dwayne bought it from him, and Laura drove it as her first vehicle.  Then Andrew bought it from Dwayne when he was 16.  Andrew always let us use it, and it came in very handy.  Andrew has not been able to drive it, since last year; so Pete has used it off and on.  Even Will and Peter have had to borrow it in the past months.  And it needed to be driven.

Pete's Toyota Camry died a couple of months ago.  It was a 1999 model, and he had gotten a good several years out of it.  We got a Subaru for him in March, but it needed a new window motor.  So it was in the shop all last week.  And he was driving Andrew's truck.  If he had been in the Camry or the Subaru, I am not sure they could have stopped the big Ford truck the other driver had before it got him.  So we are so very thankful that the truck took the hit for him, and that God had him in that truck.

He locked up before we got to the ER.  They were not busy and got him on back.  They found a small fracture in his C6.  He had that huge gash on his head that needed stitches.  Will went on back home to check on Andrew and Sam.  When the doctor finally came in to stitch up Pete, he started feeling clammy.  The doctor did not seem concerned.  Then he told me that he felt hot.  The doctor said the light was hot.  Then his eyes rolled back, his hand drew up, and he started to shake a little bit.  I thought he was having a stroke or a seizure.  The doctor called for fluids.  His blood pressure had dropped.  They were pretty efficient, but I did not know them; and I had to text for some reinforcements.  Will came and went to help me.  And I appreciated him so much.  Andrew was okay and was checking Sam for me at home.  It was hard to leave them alone.  But I had no choice and just asked God to take over.  I know He is in control, but I know that I am the one who watches them the most, especially at night.

After Pete's episode, the doctor did more scans and finally got an x-ray of his leg that he kept saying hurt.  They stopped us right before we went out the doors to tell us his knee cap had a small fracture, so he got a brace and crutches for that!

He goes next Monday to ortho for his neck and knee.  Tomorrow, he goes to Dr. Murrey for the final results of his scan, to have his forehead looked at, and just to let me know that everything has been checked over.

After Friday, I was tired.  I feel like I am on "high alert" for a while, and then we settle back in to our normal routine.  So Sunday really shook me up.  I was not back yet, and then I was back up there again in panic mode  I don't mean to be there, but this accident scared me.  I am so thankful he is sleeping peacefully right now at home.  To see the truck was scary.  To see that the other truck could have kept on going scares me.  But bottom line is that I know God was there with him.

As for Pete, he is very thankful and sees God's provision.  He was also scared, but he is not scared of dying and going to see Jesus.  He has been thinking of the things he feels God has for him to do while he is still here.  He has certain people on his mind and heart - even people he has not yet met.

And I know that God can be glorified even in this.  I am the best example of "I cannot do it" and hope that anything that goes right points to God.  Because it's certainly not me.  I cannot even call 911 right!

We do thank the firemen and the medics.  They are always great. 

We thank everyone who has prayed for Pete and Andrew - and the rest of us.  We appreciate the visits, calls, texts, food, and everything else.  But most of all the prayers.

I know people will start running faster and further in the other direction when they see me in Walmart - either because they don't want my life to "rub" off on them or they are afraid I might start telling them about all of this stuff and their ice cream would melt!  Sam told me if I put something on Facebook that it would reach more people, and I would not have to tell the story so many times.  Smart boy.  I told him I wrote a blog too.

So I will end with this verse that I hold on to this year already...a lot...

"Be joyful in hope
Patient in affliction,
faithful in prayer..."  Romans 12:12

The circumstances of my day may not make me "happy", but the JOY of the Lord is my strength and my song.  And I pray that Jesus will shine when I am at my weakest.  I pray someone will see that He can live in and help them too.

Thanks for praying!

P.S.  Andrew ran his 5000 at ASU - at the last outdoor meet at the stadium facility (long story with no definite ending yet) and was only about 20 seconds off his goal time - after the seizure, that was really great!