No, She Just Fell on Her Crockpot

We had an international dinner at church last night in honor of a missionary family that was back visiting.  This missionary family has spent most of the last 10 years in countries in Central Asia that end in "stan."  There was a tragic event involving them last November and they have been back in the US since.  They have a contagious love for Jesus and a passion to spread the gospel.  We love having them visit.

 Pic of the kids eating mangos, injera bread, and wat (Ethiopian staples!)

After the dinner and a brief update from the missionary family, we were getting ready to leave.  Suddenly, one of the kids came in the church and said that Heather had fallen outside and was bleeding.  Not sure of the seriousness of the situation, I headed outside.  I immediately saw Heather laying on the ground in the parking lot with Scott, our missionary friend, leaning over her.  As I ran up to her, I saw that Scott was holding her wrists tightly and could see there was blood.  She had been carrying the crock pot back out to the car, slipped and fell right on top of the crock pot.  It had shattered and she had landed on the broken glass.  She was in pain and very scared.

As a side note:  Scott and his family had stayed with us a year and a half ago and one of our kids threw up all over the kitchen floor.  Before we knew it Scott was cleaning it up.  He always seems to be near when a biohazard event surfaces in our family.  I'm sure he was thinking, "what's wrong with these people?"

There was a sudden hurried rush as people began to come outside to see what was happening.  Sunshine ran to get towels just as Layner was coming out with some.  We carefully looked at the wounds to determine the severity and realized we needed to get her to the hospital - not a 911, call the ambulance type of emergency, but we still needed to get moving.  We applied pressure again to the cuts and headed for the suburban.

Trying to figure out how I was going to keep pressure on the cuts and also drive, I started to look for someone who could help.  My mind was racing.  I looked at Tanya three times and thought she could come, but realized three separate times, "oh yeah, she's pregnant."  Sherri came running out - I thought she'd be good because she's basically like a large-animal  veterinarian.  If any foaming of the mouth occurred, she'd know what to do - she can handle anything.  Besides, if I started to buckle under the pressure, she we just tell me to get a hold of myself and deal with it.  Sherri took one wrist and before I knew it Pat had grabbed the other wrist and off we went.

We headed for Mercy Hospital and went straight to the ER.  It was quite a sight as we walked into the ER.  I went in first and right behind me was Heather walking in with two bloody wrists and two people holding the wrists tightly.  The eyes of the ER folks opened widely to what appeared to them to be a botched suicide attempt.  We explained that, no, she didn't try and cut her wrists, she just tripped and fell on top of her crock pot in our church parking lot.  We could see a combined sense of relief and disbelief at our story.  The thought of how things must look and how our story must sound lightened the mood of everyone.

The ER crew at Mercy was wonderful.  We were in and out in no time.  The ER doctor and ER nurse that worked with us were very kind.  Heather ended up getting 13 (she thinks it's 14) stitches in three different locations - two on her left wrist and one on her right wrist.  We were exhausted as we headed back to church to get the kids and head home.

As we got home, we were thankful on many levels.  We were thankful that the cuts were not deeper and that the bleeding was not more severe.  We were thankful that there were people there immediately to help her after she fell.  We were thankful that there were people willing to come with us to the ER.  We were thankful that there were people willing to stay at the church with our kids (Thanks Sandy!) while we headed off to the ER.  We were thankful the ER was not busy.  We were thankful the doctor and nurse were so kind.  We were thankful that God holds us in His hand - that nothing escapes His notice - that everything is in His control.  He mercifully and lovingly watched over us last night just as He does every moment of every day.  His our Healer and our Protector.

Heather's doing well today.  She was able to sing in our worship group this morning.  She's very tired and resting now.  I'm thankful that my girl is OK.