Parker's Story

I'm trying to write this quickly, so please forgive typos, mispellings or grammar.

Yesterday morning at 9:30 a.m. we went to meet our friends Jenny and Caleb at the park. I decided to be goofy and see how high I could climb on the jungle gym set. Of course, Parker followed me. At the same time that I was thinking that this is really dangerous and if we fell it could be bad, Parker fell on his belly and face from about 7-9 feet. We scooped him up and were scared when we saw all of the blood and couldn't figure out where it was coming from. John carried him to our friend's house from school, Dr. Kevin, who is a trauma E.R. dr. in inner city Denver. Of course, he wasn't home. We brought Parker home and he was not doing well. He was swollen, not eating, talking, etc....He went to sleep at 10:30 a.m. in the morning, but he kept saying he was fine when we would ask him how he was doing. He didn't look fine and he wasn't acting fine. Turns out, he was scared that he would need stitches if he told us he was really hurt. After I convinced him there was nothing to stitch up, he finally let me know how bad the situation was at about 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon. I called a nurse from school to see if she could look at him. Once I described everything to her, she said we would take him in right away and that I should call Dr. L - the Dr. that works at our school 2 days a week. I paged the Dr. and he did not call me back so we just went to see a doctor at the hospital. The Dr. we ended up seeing there is a neonatologist, but she was very helpful. She took 5 x-rays and then said his jaw was dislocated. She sent us home with advil and said to return on Monday.

We came home and I called Dr. Kevin from school to see if he could check out the x-ray and Parker tomorrow. Once he heard the story, he came over immediately. After he examined Parker he said that if it was his patient and we were in the hospital that he would sedate him and relocate the jaw - an extremely painful procedure when a person is awake. But, he has no jurisdiction here. Well, Dr. L from school actually called me back when Kevin was here (what a blessing). They talked for awhile and decided it shouldn't wait until Monday because of the risks that are involved with that (arthritis, pain, etc...) So Dr. L conferred with the Dr. we saw earlier in the day and then he proceeded to call 10 different doctors to see who could come in to relocate the jaw. No one was available. NO ONE! Except Dr. Kevin who is not licensed to practice in C.R. It was agreed that Dr. Kevin would do the procedure with Dr. L as the attending Physician.

God worked it all out and at 11:30 p.m. last night we went to the hospital. There was a team of people (including Dr. Kevin and Dr. L). I was with Parker for every second except for the moment when they unhinged his jaw and then reset it. It's awful. I just couldn't see that - even though he was sleeping. The whole time they were getting ready to put him under, Parker was so calm and brave. Everyone kept saying how valiente he is.

When he woke up from the procedure he had a strange reaction that like 2-5% of kids have. He was convulsing his body, ripping at everything, eyes rolling back and just out of control. His mind was out of it. It was extremely scary to see this. The Doctors wanted me to take care of him while he was like this. I was singing and praying and talking to him, but it was as if his brain was shut down. It took about 10 minutes and then he finally could focus and sit up and stop convulsing.

He sat up and said, "Mom, am I talking clearly?" He hadn't said much all day long. He already looked less swollen within 15 minutes of the procedure.

So I said, "Yes, Bubba, you are talking clearly. Is there something you want to say?"

"I love you, mommy," he said.

Oh, I just held him and started crying softly. It was such a beautiful moment. After not seeing him smile or really talk all day and to hear his first words were that he loved me was just priceless.

We said our thanks and hugs and more thanks and arrived home at 1 a.m. this morning.

As we were laying down to go to sleep this morning I said to Parker, "So what was the lesson for the day?"

And I'm thinking...."No more monkey bars."

And he said, "The lesson of the days is to always trust God and remember that He is with me in every situation."

And God was with us EVERY step of the way. His hand and presence were in every detail and we just give Him all the glory.

"Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth." Proverbs 27:1

P.S. Please keep praying that he will continue to heal. He still can't solids or open his mouth very much. There is still a chance he could have a fracture. If so, then that is a whole other ball of wax.