Ambulance, sirens, near broken neck, ALL boy!

So we are at what was supposed to be an all day wrestling tournament this past Saturday when we received an early exit invitation. Now of course I would have rather not gotten home an hour or so before we thought we would be doing so that night with a near broken neck and spinal injury scare, but I at least did get out of sitting on bleachers for almost 12 hours.

Dutch had already wrestled twice and we were nearing the lunch break and awaiting for a few more matches to conclude on his mat. Because D wasn't up anytime soon, i was reading, talking with other parents and what not when I hear crackling over the intercom, "Chris Freeman, please come to the front of the stage". Now mind you they had only used said intercom to pray at the beginning of the day and announce lunch was being served, so needless to say it was a shock to hear my name come screaming over the loudness of the gym. I look over toward the stage and mat area where I last saw D and the other boys hanging around their mat to see a circle of folks huddled over a lump on the floor, oh great!

Once I get over there several other team coaches have him on his back, holding his head still, and asking him if he can feel anything in his hands and feet. Someone is chirping at me that he flipped on his face/head and hasn't moved since crashing over someone while goofing off. Well, you never want to see your child motionless on the ground with others asking him if he can feel his feet and hands and can he move them, yikes! Eventually he does begin to move his extremities but has nearly no strength in his grip and is in excruciating pain, so here come the paramedics. We get to do the whole board and neck brace thing and get him wheeled out of the gym to a round of applause. We've all watched this scene play out at various sporting events, but I can honestly say I've never been the one walking along side the person on the stretcher. We careen through traffic at about 80 miles/hour to get to the hospital where we spent the remainder of the day getting X-rays, CT scans, and eventually an MRI. Thank the Lord nothing turned up on any of them, and as much as a boy as D is, he was about to bounce off the walls by the time we got out of there.

We finally got cleared by the neurosurgeon to go home and have a follow up this next week so he can get his neck brace off. I'm pretty sure we'll be cleared as I'm already having to keep him from jumping off stuff, running, jumping up and down, etc... all to his consternation and cries of, "but Daaaaaaad!" He didn't even complain of a soar neck in the days following. If I roll off the couch, my side aches for a week to come! I can't fathom flipping over my neck with every bone cracking like your knuckles and not having any soreness. Oh to be 9 again! Even D is tired of the attention and telling his story and can't wait until Monday to be cleared for recess, Amen to that!