For years (more than 15 years) I have been celebrating July 4th with my best friend Lindsey and her family every year at Possum Kingdom Lake. I always have spectacular pictures from the amazing fireworks at Hell's Gate and very fun memories from every year I'm fairly certain.
This year, Lindsey invited us up, cautiously, since I'm in my 9th month of pregancy. Going with her though ensured me I could have my car close and my family since both Bruce and Taylor could be there this year. I told Taylor how exicted I was she could share in this tradition and how much fun it was going to be with all the boats and swimming in the best lake in Texas!
Little did I know just how exciting and memorable this year would turn out to be!
Lindsey's uncle has a house at Hell's Gate so we drove up there and walked down to his house boat. From there we could float all around the lake on our floaties. The water was the perfect temperature - good music all around - lots of family and friends!
About 3 or 4 hours after we'd been floating Taylor decides she need to go to the bathroom so Bruce gets out to help her. Next thing I know, Bruce has collapsed on the house boat and Taylor has turned screaming for me. I get up the ladder as fast as a big pregnant lady can. Bruce was out cold and non-responsive. Taylor did such a great job yelling for me while getting his phone out to call 9-1-1. Apparently, he had sat on the 2nd step heading to the top deck of the houseboat and started to convulse. He slid down the stairs and hit his head. Thank God Jeff Casey was there, one of Bruce's best friends and Lindsey's boyfriend, who is now a Fort Worth Firefighter. He was on the scene and got Bruce to come to and into a chair in the shade. I could tell that he was alert but not completely coherent. He couldn't focus very well and wasn't making much sense. Next thing we knew, he was convulsing again and he became non-responsive again. His eyes were glassed over and not focusing, Jeff was having a hard time finding his pulse, as was I when I had ahold of his wrist. He came back and started throwing up and sweating. After that spell he seemed to be better. Someone had called 911 by then and the Brazos River Authority got there quickly and called the EMT who got careflight on the way.
During his 2nd spell, Lindsey had taken Taylor up to the house, but they'd gotten back down there by the time they were loading him on the spinal board. As I told Taylor, I was sure sorry she had to see all of that and she was shaken up, however I super glad she was there. She helped me keep it together. I did what I could to keep her from being exposed to more and as they loaded Bruce on the EMT boat I told him I'd meet him at the hospital right away.
Taylor and I hiked back up to the house as quickly as we could. Taylor decided she'd had enough "fun" for one day so we met her mother in Millsap and I made it to JPS in 1 hour and 38 min! Not too bad for driving better than normal if truth be told! I called his Dad so he could get a head start and hopefully be there when Bruce landed. I called and left his mom a message, as she was out of town and most other people I could think of were not close either since it was about time for getting to where you needed to be for fireworks.
Bruce had only been at the hospital long enough to have a c/t scan and get down to the ER for just a little bit when I arrived. The nurses said his C/T came back clear and we were free to go. Still unsure as to why he originally fell out in the first place. I'm leaning towards Heat Stroke and Dehydration. However, we'll be getting a dr's appointment to be sure it's nothing more serious. I did ask the nurses about concussion since he'd fallen since they hadn't mentioned that yet either.
They released Bruce and I didn't have his shoes or a shirt for him --he was still in his swim shorts. They gave him a nice pair of tourqoise socks to wear out. He was starving and not very happy that we made him take careflight since he was "fine." He is having a hard time remembering things during this time and I don't think he fully understood how scary and touch and go it seemed there for a while. We stopped by McDonald's on the way home and it was there I realized that Taylor and I had been in such a hurry that my shorts were on inside out!
Bruce's other best friend Jim Britt (also a Fort Worth Firefighter) called and he and his wife cut their 4th of July festivities short when hearing about Bruce's incident. They came back to town and Jim decided he'd come stay the night with us incase something happened. I can't imagine how the day would have been without these great and caring friends! I know it's hard to remain professional when it's your best friend you're having to 'work' on. I woke Bruce up every hour on the hour all night.
It was truly scary and all kinds of thoughts have time to go through your head for an hour and a half drive...being within weeks of delivery didn't help either I don't think. Or when you're waiting for the next hour to come around to wake him up to check on him. This was one night when snoring was a great sound! It's times like these, I guess that you realize more than ever that you not only need someone in your life but more than that, you want them there and you don't want to imagine any other way.
Bruce was also upset that I had dropped Taylor off or really that things happened to where I had to. He was very anxious to see her this morning and let her know he was ok. Taylor had an idea to surprise him so she and her mom and I all worked together so I could pick her up and bring her home before he expected to surprise him. She'd made him a great little book called "A story of I Love You" along with a get well card.
Lindsey called to check in this morning and told me the fun didn't stop there. She said there was some other excitement too. Her granny's houseboat, which has been the venue for family fun gatherings for years sunk last night. The 4th of July is tradition for her family. This is the 1st year in the history of that houseboat being in their family that there wasn't someone staying on it.
All in all -- as bad as things were yesterday, things could have been soo much worse. Even though I will have no pictures of fireworks this year..it will definetly be one of the MOST memorable! I feel very fortunate that Bruce seems to be feeling 100% today and that no one was staying on Granny's boat this 4th of July.
I also heard the fireworks were just as good as any other year but they weren't the headlines of this year's 'festivities"!!
Taylor and I have packed our bags for the hospital and Kaitlyn's is packed too! We also have been working on a very important project for all of our visitors at the hospital and those that come over afterwards. Some people hand out cigars and some hand out candy-bars with special labels. Taylor and I have been doing bottle duty! Not baby bottles, but bottles for celebration! We'll be handing out little wine bottles with Kaitlyn's Grandpa's homemade wine. He bottled all the wine for us and Taylor and I have been labeling, tying ribbons and putting the shrinks on.
