We are glad to be alive!

August 26, 1999

I still can't remember the details from our accident this many years later, maybe because it is too painful and traumatic for my mind and body to deal with. Randy has recounted the accident so many times to so many people that I can write from his memory. The following is "THE accident according to Randy".

We were coming home from a wonderful vacation to Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park and Grandma Spendlove's in Hurricane, Utah. We decided to come home a little bit early so we could get some things done before Randy had to go back to work.

We were driving through a ravine on a 2-lane highway and were almost to Toquerville, Utah. A small white car was coming towards us in the other lane and suddenly veered into our lane coming straight at us! There was nowhere for us to go, so Randy took his foot off the gas and we hit head-on. We were going 50 mph and the other vehicle was going 15-20 mph faster than us, so you can imagine the damage.

We were in our 1978 Ford Bronco (heavy-duty hunk of metal) and that little car pushed us up onto the guardrail, with a hefty drop-off below. The driver of the small, white car had fallen asleep at the wheel on his way home from SUU. It was only 5:00 in the afternoon.

Randy was able to get out of the Bronco. The girls were crying so hard and Randy was bleeding, with a gaping wound on his forehead. He grabbed a clean diaper and put it on his head to stop the blood flow. He was able to get Taylor out and went back for Alyssa, but someone told him to sit down and they took care of the kids for us. I could not move! Randy asked if I was okay and I said, "I think I broke my back." (I still don't remember ANY of this).The EMT people got to the scene and were able to get me out of the Bronco and into an ambulance. Taylor and Alyssa rode with me and Randy went in another ambulance to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George.

The girls were okay with a couple of bumps and bruises. Randy had a cut which was about 6 inches in length on his forehead and down around his eyelid. He was sewn up by a plastic surgeon in St. George. He also had severe, deep bruising in his chest form the seatbelt and steering wheel. My injuries were the most severe and I ended up taking a really expensive trip on a life-flight jet to LDS Hospital. My only memory of that trip was a really nice life-flight nurse and small lights on the ceiling of the jet.I had a broken nose, an eye that was swollen shut, 2 black eyes, internal injuries on my right shin, and a fractured L4/L5 vertebrae. The L4 had been stretched out so far that it was completely destroyed. I was in the ICU overnight and then we had to make a decision on how we would fix my back. Dr. Orme was the surgeon and gave us two options:

1. Get 3 verts. of my back fused together - I would not have much mobility with this option.
   
2. Be in a body cast which would bend my back backwards in the hospital for 6 weeks and at home for 6 weeks. This would give my back more mobility, but it was not certain that it would work and they might still have to do the surgery.

It was a hard decision. I received a blessing and Randy and I talked about our options. We decided option #2 would be better because I need the mobility to raise our children, but we weren't thrilled about the amount of time I would be in the cast.

The next morning, the Dr. came in and said he had been thinking and came up with an option that he thought would work out the best. It was to fuse 2 of the verts. together and put a titanium rod in the 2 verts. above that. Then in 1 year, have surgery to remove the rod. He said it would give me the mobility I needed, but he wasn't sure it would work properly.

We were excited about this 3rd option and decided it would be the best.

I went in for surgery 8/29/99 at 11:00 am and came out of surgery about 5:00 pm. I was in the hospital a total of 11 days and had to re-learn basic movements after laying flat in bed for 8 days (my muscles had begun to atrophy).

We had a rough 3 months and lived at my mom's house so she could take care of Alyssa, who was then only 9 months old and Taylor, who was 3. Alyssa was a nursing baby at the time of the accident and had to be abruptly wiened. It was hard for me to hear her crying at night and know that I couldn't do anything to help her. I cried myself to sleep many nights listening to Alyssa cry.

It has been a rough road, but we have come so far! I know that Heavenly Father watches out for us and loves us very much.