The fifteen minute ambulance ride was a pitiful affair. I cried the whole way to the hospital while the driver tried his best to make small talk. A short x-ray later and we were moved to a different ambulance and sent to Hermann Memorial at Medical Center-Houston. A pediatric neurosurgeon was on standby awaiting our arrival.
I spent the next hour praying and looking back to check on my sweet eight year-old baby. He looked so small and so incredibly vulnerable. If a heart could burst, mine would have been in a million pieces. My mind could not and would not conceive of what the future might hold. My fervent prayer was that he would be spared and I would be strong enough to handle come what may.
Unsure of what to expect when the emergency room doors opened, we were a little unnerved to be met, first, by a camera crew with cameras rolling. Our story had come over the radio and had caught the attention of the crew filming TLC’s “Trauma: Life in the ER”. After an initial assessment, Wil was sent for a cat-scan and further x-rays.
A short time later the surgeon arrived with film in hand and asked me to step into the hallway. As we began to head toward the x-ray light box he said, “Can I just tell you how very lucky he is?” As he talked he shoved the film under the clip and immediately I was captured by the picture of my son’s skull. From the crown of his head to the bottom of the skull was a jagged crack forming a backward “J”. Although a portion of the bone had been crushed inward, the doctor hesitated to do surgery right away. Because the wound was closed, he had bled inside the skull. Even so, the doctor wanted to monitor him for a few days to see if the bleeding would stop naturally.
Several days later we were released to go home and convalesce. The best part of the ordeal according to Wil was that he got to miss the last three weeks of school. For me, the best part was bringing home an on- the- mend second grader. Shortly after returning home, we were surprised by a knock at the door. The EMT’s that had come to our house the day of the accident, returned to check on him. They talked to Wil and wished him well. I thanked them for helping not only a wounded child, but a scared, desperate mom. As they were leaving, the one that had driven, nodded toward Wil and said, “I honestly didn’t know if he was going to make it.”
He was home from college the other day. Having recently turned twenty, he has grown into a fine young man. A semi-horseshoe indention in his skull serves as a beautiful reminder of God’s awesome power and mercy. Although God always deals in second chances, we know, there is no such thing as luck.
Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come. Psalm 71:18
