A Terror-Filled Tuesday and God's Timing and Protection in the Midst of It

If you've never felt the terror that accompanies watching your child being removed from the ski mountain via ski patrol on a backboard and in a cervical collar, I pray you never do.  I experienced this terror yesterday.

Let me start from the beginning.  Our family is on a ski trip to Utah and yesterday was a beautiful day spent at Brighton.  Gavin was in ski school all day, Ethan took a lesson in the morning and Lindy and Jac spent the day on the slopes together.  I spent the day in the lodge reading a particular book.  I don't really believe in coincidence as a Christian and I know now that it was part of God's plan that I read that book on that day.  After Ethan, Lindy, Jac, and I ate lunch together the four of them set out to ski the greens together.  (If you aren't familiar with ski lingo the "greens" are the easiest runs.  There are also blues and blacks that are much more difficult than the greens).  I had just finished my book about 30 minutes before this incident occurred.  It was a book my Dad gave to me at the end of January and he has asked me repeatedly if I have read the book.  It's unusual for him to be so persistent about something but he was, nonetheless.  I brought it on my ski trip and read it yesterday.  The title is "Heaven is for Real" and it is a recounting of a 4-year-old boy's trip to heaven and back.  (He was seriously ill and in surgery and during the surgery he "went to heaven.")  This may sound farfetched to you but he was able to describe things in his 4-year-old way that are in the Bible but he would have no way of knowing existed at that age.  He was also able to tell his parents what they were individually doing during his surgery that he would have no way of knowing.  I am telling you, you have to read this book whether you are a person of faith or not.  I texted my Mom after I finished it to tell her to let Dad know I had finally read it.  I told her that I had to choke back tears through most of the book.  Get the book and read it.  I promise you won't be sorry.  It will give you a peace that you might not have ever felt.  I heard not too long ago that the only difference between yourself now and the person you will be in five years are the people you meet and interact with and the books you read that change your life.  Find the book.

Anyway, I was in the lodge starting another book yet still reflecting on a recurring theme in "Heaven is for Real."  The little boy is very insistent in telling his parents that Jesus wanted them to know that he loves children, He really loves children.  About that time Jac ran in the lodge and told me that Ethan was hurt and they were bringing him off the mountain.  I found out later that they had been near the top of the lift when it happened and Jac had skied the blues to get down to me as quickly as possible.  He even caught some air and tumbled himself but he made it down quickly.  When he told me Ethan was being brought down the mountain I knew it couldn't be good.  Most of the time when you fall on the mountain you can get up and shake it off and keep going.  If ski patrol has to rescue you, it's bad.  I took off at a sprint to the bottom of the lift to wait for Ethan and Lindy.  It was about the longest five minutes of my life, yet I still felt a sense of peace.  Obviously, I was talking to God the whole time but the thought that kept resounding in my mind is that Jesus loves the children.  I had a deep peace even though I didn't know what condition Ethan was going to be in when I saw him.  As he came into view I saw him strapped to the backboard but completely covered up.  He was attached to the ski patrol and Lindy was skiing close behind.  Before they stopped I could hear Ethan screaming and crying and panic tried to set in.  When I pulled the tarp and blankets back and saw that he was immobilized with his neck in a cervical collar panic really tried to set in.  Then, Lindy told me that he and Ethan had collided and both of them had fallen and that Ethan was complaining of severe neck pain.  Severe neck pain was not what I wanted to hear but Lindy said he was moving his arms and legs.  Thank the Lord, our first answer to prayer.  They got him into the clinic and as Lindy and I were walking in he told me that I couldn't fall apart or Ethan would fall apart.  If you know my usual response to any injury to my kids you know that it would have been expected for me to be somewhere else lying down or with my head between my knees.  I do not do well seeing anyone suffer, but especially my kids.  Instead, I went in to nurse mode and started having him move his arms and legs for me so I could see for myself that he could really move.  As I was whispering to him and comforting him I was also looking at his pupils.  As I held his hands I was checking his grips.  He continued to cry and couldn't remember what happened.  His neck was in terrible pain, but I had hope that he was going to be OK.  The doctor recommended that due to the neck injury he be taken via ambulance to the children's hospital in Salt Lake City.  We absolutely agreed because a neck injury is nothing to be taken lightly.  While Lindy went to gather up the other boys and all of their gear I stayed with Ethan.  At one point I noticed that his left ear was folded forward against the immobilization device and I was able to put it back.  This also caused him tremendous pain.

It felt like an ETERNITY for the ambulance to arrive but I had to keep reminding myself that we were about 18 miles up the mountain and the ambulance was coming up from the bottom.  Finally, it arrived.  Now, if you are prone to motion sickness I do not recommend that you ride in the back of a hot ambulance through the switchbacks with your son strapped to a backboard and not knowing how things would turn out when you got to the bottom.  I held it together but, trust me, Lindy would have tossed his cookies.  He was right behind the ambulance the whole way in our rental vehicle.

Upon arriving at Primary Children's Hospital the first thing I noticed stenciled on the doors at the ER bay was the saying "Healing Happens in This Place."  I latched on to that and continued to thank God for touching Ethan.  I still had a peace and I was still holding it together.  Once we were all inside I saw that Lindy and Jac were in bad shape.  Even Gavin was quiet.  They hadn't had the advantage of spending the last hour with Ethan and seeing firsthand how he was doing.  Jac was really upset about seeing his brother in this condition and Lindy had to excuse himself for a little bit.  I won't try to tell this story from Lindy's viewpoint because I know the experience was different for him in a lot of ways.  He was with Ethan when it happened and kept him immobilized until ski patrol arrived.  He skied down the mountain behind his little boy on a backboard.  I can't imagine what that feels like, but it needs to be said that I don't blame Lindy for any of this.  I told Jac in the ER that accidents happen.  Our job is to trust God to protect us and know that He knows all things and He loves us.  Jesus loves children more than we will ever comprehend.  I was reminded of that just minutes before this accident happened.

The doctor came in to assess Ethan accompanied by nurses that were prepared to cut his ski bibs off if necessary.  Thank the Lord his Spyder ski bibs zipped all the way up both legs so they didn't have to be cut off.  The expense of that would have been minor compared to the ambulance ride down the mountain, an ER bill, and a neck x-ray; but it was a small blessing nonetheless.  The staff rolled him off the backboard and the doctor checked all of his vertebrae.  No pain, Praise the Lord.  Then, they removed the collar and told Ethan he would not be able to nod or shake his head.  He would need to answer yes or no to the doctor's questions.  He checked out the vertebrae in his neck and no pain.  Praise the Lord. The source of the pain was a very swollen and sore left sternocleidomastoid muscle.  That's the big muscle on each side of your neck that you can see when you turn your head.  He also had an abrasion and a bruise behind his ear.  Somehow he lost a little hair on the side of his head in the process.  The doctor was pretty confident that Ethan just had a sore neck but he did an x-ray to confirm it.  The x-ray showed that he did not have any damage to his vertebrae.  Praise the Lord big time!!

Throughout this process Ethan had repeatedly been asked questions by the clinic doctor, the paramedics, and the hospital staff to check his orientation.  Questions like, "What's your full name?"  "Where are you?"  "What day is it?"  "What's your birthdate?"  Near the end of this heart-wrenching ordeal the doctor had just the five of us in the room and he was going over the questions again.  He asks Ethan all of the above questions and then he says, "Ethan, who are these two people" and he points to Lindy and me.  He replied, "My Mom and Dad."  Then the doctor points to Jac and Gavin and he asks, "And who are these people?"  Ethan answers, "My brother and sister."  The doctor glances at me with a look of concern but all the rest of us could do was laugh.  Our Ethan was back!  I explained to the doctor that Ethan is the wise guy in the family and this is very normal for him.  Lindy told the doctor that Ethan doesn't have any sisters, only brothers, and he was just being Ethan.  The doctor seemed satisfied with that.  Personally, I felt a huge release when Ethan gave that response.  Our boy was getting back to his old self.  Recently, I bought Ethan days of the week underwear which he loves and he makes sure to wear them all on the right days.  We brought all of them with us, of course, and I told Ethan if he had had his head on straight when the doctor asked him what day of the week it was he would have told him to check his underwear.  That would be classic Ethan.

So, after four hours in the ER we were released to go home and as I walked behind Ethan out of the hospital the only words that came to mind were, "Thank you, Jesus."  The night wasn't quite over because as we got out of the SUV on a downtown Salt Lake City street corner to eat dinner Ethan left a deposit of DNA right there in the middle of the sidewalk.  Not unexpected for him to toss his cookies after that kind of ordeal and they told us that vomiting would only be a concern if he did it more than once.  So far so good.

This recounting of a traumatic event in the lives of the Carnetts may seem to be just that, telling a story we will never forget from our vacation to Utah.  It's more than that though.  It's really a story of God's timing and protection.  I know it was in His timing for me to read the book I mentioned right before this happened.  He's so good to us in that way.  It's also a story of His protection and His abiding love for all of us.  We couldn't be more thankful for God's hand being upon Ethan and protecting Him from serious injury.  Accidents happen, as I told Jac, but the Carnett boys won't stop being boys.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  God gave us boys and I don't want them to live their lives in fear of what may happen.  Every day we take calculated risks.  Even getting in a car is a calculated risk.  I love my boys just the way they are and their father for having a huge hand in the men they will grow up to be--if we can keep them alive in the process.  :)

That's basically the end of my story, but Ethan is here with me today.  His Dad and brothers are back on the slopes today and Ethan will be too tomorrow or Friday.  I told Ethan as part of this blog post I would interview him about his experience so here goes.  We're in a little Park City cafe right now and he's wearing his hooded sweat jacket that Mimi got him for Christmas.  He won't put the hood down today because he doesn't want people looking at his neck or his ear that isn't quite back in place yet.

Mom:  "What do you remember about your accident?"

Ethan:  "I don't really remember any of it."  (He's basically blocked out the accident itself and the doctor said this isn't uncommon).

Mom:  "What were you thinking about when you were strapped down and couldn't move?"

Ethan:  "I was wondering where I was because I didn't know what had happened."

Mom:  "What did you think about the ambulance ride down the mountain?"

Ethan:  "There was an ambulance that took me down the mountain?"  (I guess he's blocked out that part too).

Mom:  "What part do you remember?"

Ethan:  "I remember wanting to get out of the big thing that I was strapped in."

Mom:  "What do you want people to know about your accident?"

Ethan:  "I was hurt but I'm almost better."

Mom:  "Are you ready to go skiing again?"

Ethan:  "Kind of, as long as Dad doesn't trip over me."  (I'm pretty sure that won't happen again and we don't really know exactly what happened.  It was pretty fast, skis got tangled, and both went down.  Lindy went down head over heels.  Ethan did a massive face plant).



That's all for now.  If you're reading this, and you're looking for a "take away"  the message is that God cares about us more than we know and, more than anything, His timing is perfect and He protects us and hears our prayers.  I hope you'll let Him be real to you in your life.  We trust Him implicitly and hope you will too.