Motorcycle Wreck – My Husbands Journey 7

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How We Got Through My Husbands Motorcycle Wreck

I was with my best friend at Belk trying on $20 boots when I got the call.

My heart dropped to the floor.

A woman on the other end of the phone told me my husband was just in a motorcycle accident. I was in shock and in disbelief. I asked her how he was and if I could speak with him. I heard the pain in his voice. I knew something was wrong.

I sped to the accident. Praying more than I could breathe. The only thing I knew was where the road was. I didn’t know exactly where on this road. I was about 15 minutes away, which I got there in under 10. I didn’t know what to expect. I was in disbelief that my husband was in a motorcycle wreck.

I got to the accident and he was in the ambulance. I saw the hurt on his face. He was screaming out in pain, in shock. I was horrified.

The ambulance transported him to the closest hospital, which was not my favorite. I left ahead of them to the hospital. I was crying so hard I could barely see the road in front of me and almost wrecked myself. I was in disbelief we were in this situation. We didn’t know of any internal injuries or any major damage at this point. The whole time I was praying to God. Pleading.

Once we were at the hospital, he sat in the room in pain for an hour before they would give him any medication; they said the Georgia State Patrol had to release them to do so. This was the first chance I was able to see his foot. It was mangled up. I knew his foot was in bad shape. Almost all of his toenails had been ripped off, there were gashes all over his foot, and his Tony Lama cowboy boots were ripped right through the leather. Now if you’re familiar with Tony Lama boots, they make a dang good cowboy boot. For the leather to rip in half you know that was a heavy impact.

Once the pain medication started kicking in I finally heard the story – how the motorcycle wreck happened. He was coming down the road, just out for a joy ride, and when he came around the corner there was a white truck that was over in his lane and clipped his highway bar. Highway bars are basically floor boards that protrude out the side of the bike for you to rest your feet on when you’ve got a long trip. When the truck hit his highway bars it caused him to lose control. He tried to regain control of the motorcycle, but he couldn’t and went down an embankment.

His left side hit an oak tree and the impact was rough. He was a good bit off of the road where he landed and he was well out of sight from the road. He tried to stand up to get help, but he immediately fell back down. He had to crawl up the bank on his right side. He couldn’t stand or use his left wrist. He blacked in and out of consciousness there for a while so he only remembers bits and pieces. Once he was next to the road he threw his helmet up so a passerby would see him lying there. They, thankfully, saw him and stopped. This ended up being the lady who called me. The white truck that ran him off the road was not there that he can remember. The lady who stopped to help remembered there were some young boys on the scene when she got there. My husband doesn’t remember them being there. We’re still not sure if they were the boys who ran him off the road. I was horrified at the thought of my sweet Joshua having to crawl up the bank in that kind of pain. Not knowing what his injuries were. Whoever had hit him left, and never came forward.

My heart hurt to hear this story.

The local hospital determined there were no internal injuries; however, he had sufficient damage to his left ankle and left wrist. He had at least 8 breaks and dislocations in his ankle & foot. They could not treat the injuries he had, and they wouldn’t touch his foot afraid of doing more damage than good. He would have to go to an orthopedic surgeon, so they transferred him to the local trauma hospital. They transferred him via ambulance to the local trauma hospital in the area. The accident happened on a Saturday night; by the time we arrived at the trauma hospital it was already 1:00 in the morning.

We had an exhausting day.

An on-call orthopedic emergency doctor saw Joshua that night. She stitched up his foot and clipped off the toenails that were hanging. The toenails you see in the picture are not attached. He had so much tissue damage to his foot that eventually all the toenails came off that the doctor didn’t remove and 3 of his toes turned completely black. His left arm had become completely numb from the impact. The emergency nurse said they were giving him maximum doses of pain control, most people would be knocked out at the dosages they were giving him. He was just in immense pain. Even though he was maxed out, he still felt some pain. It was overbearing.

By the time she was finished stitching his foot, it was 6:00 in the morning. We were exhausted.

We stayed several more nights; and unfortunately due to the swelling of the foot, Josh had to have a procedure for an “external fixator” to keep his ankle stable until swelling was reduced and he could have his surgery. An external fixator is an external device that pins are drilled through the bones to prevent any further shifting of the bones.

This is when we learned that Joshua would be non weight bearing for at least 12 weeks. We were crushed. He is the bread winner in our home. We really didn’t know what we were going to do. He did get short term disability, but this was barely half of what he brings home a week. Which we were blessed to get anything. We prayed about it and God answered. We received several donations from people. Just sweet, sweet people. We never asked and we never expected. God was working.  The donations we received were used to pay off medical bills. The medical bills were astounding. We still have not received them all and we’re at over $4,000. This is with his medical insurance. However, we are blessed for everything. We are blessed that they’re only $4,000 and no higher. I was able to plan our sons birthday party for well under $100 by having it at home and saving up little by little every week. This was a blessing. You can see more about it here. We had been talking about his party for months and we didn’t want to disappoint him.This was another blessing.

We knew everything was going to be okay financial wise.

I was so overwhelmed with emotion. At times I would cry, at times I would be strong, but most importantly – I prayed. God was able to see me through this difficult time. Through Him I was able to be strong for Joshua.

We were so blessed. We were thankful that God had his angels with Joshua that night. There watching him and shielding him from a deadly impact. If he would have wrecked a few inches over, he would have hit major organs. We are blessed.

After the external fixator surgery, the surgeon sent Joshua home. This was a challenge. No more help from the amazing nurses, no more laying in a hospital bed. He had to get up. This was an obstacle. Because he couldn’t use his left hand, he couldn’t do much of anything. He had to have to have help with essentially everything; from going to the bathroom to eating to getting around.

The hospital provided him with a walker that had a platform to rest his arm in. Even with this piece of equipment it was difficult for him to get around because the external fixator was about 4-6 inches protruding from his leg. It was big, heavy, and cumbersome; not to mention it hurt to touch it.

When we left the hospital we went to the wreck sight and to see his bike.

This was heart-wrenching for me. The insurance agency declared Josh’s bike totaled from the motorcycle wreck. There was major damage to the front end; however, it seemed from the gas tank back the motorcycle wasn’t in that bad of condition.

The wreck site was hard to sink in. On the tree you could see where his foot and highway bars went into the side of the tree. You could see where his bike landed. The thought of Josh laying down in the ditch on the side of the road was gut-wrenching.

We waited a week and the official surgery was scheduled. It seemed like an eternity. It had been an extremely hard week. Thankfully the foot surgeon scheduled it out to where the hand surgeon could do the surgery at the same time. This was a blessing; otherwise another surgery would have to be performed. Unfortunately, the surgery was originally scheduled at noon and was not preformed until 9:00 that night due to an orthopedic emergency. It was a very long wait, but much worth it.

The surgery went well, it was around 3-1/2 hours long. He had pins, a plate, and screws placed in his foot. The plate was about 12” long and it was to help keep that ankle steady. The surgeon was concerned about his fourth toe. It was nearly completely black due to poor blood flow to that area. The doctor said he nearly cut the toe off in the impact. The doctor elected to wait and re-evaluate the toe in two weeks.

Joshua had a two week follow up with the doctor. We went back for good news and bad news. Good news was the foot was looking great. Good healing processes and good tissue growth was an excellent sign; however, the fourth toe was dead. At this point there was no saving it. We had to schedule another surgery for a toe amputation. We elected to wait after Christmas to get the surgery.

Getting around was a challenge. He had a wheelchair & a walker. He couldn’t use the walker much because he would tire out quickly & it was difficult to lug around the heavy wheelchair. Thankfully he received a temporary handicap sign so we could park closer up at stores, etc.

Each day came with more and more progress. Things were turning around. During the entire length of this endurance God gave us the strength to pull through. He was there. Walking with us, carrying us at times.

Joshua had the toe amputation the Tuesday after Christmas and did very well. He finally had all surgeries behind him and on to the healing process.

There were many obstacles Joshua and I both had to face during this journey due to his motorcycle wreck. But there were many lessons we both learned. God was with us the entire time. Guiding us. He never left our side. We looked to Him for strength & hope and He gave it to us. We knew everything was going to be okay, and it was.

After two more weeks Joshua went back to the doctor and had his pins removed. His foot was looking GREAT!

He had to wear a boot for the next 6 weeks. He still got out and provided for our family:

Recently, Joshua had a follow up appointment and he received great news! He doesn’t have to have physical therapy on his foot and he is healing up great!

What a blessing!

Just when you feel like you can’t go another step, you can’t move, God is there. Lean on Him, trust your Heavenly Father. I promise, He will see you through it!

For more encouragement read my Inspirational section here..

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