A Not So Lazy River!

My computer has been enjoying an extended stay

at Geek Squad.

We finally got it back a few days ago

and I've been thinking of a way to pull the last week or so into

one interesting blog post.

We've been very busy with VBS this past week.

I was the photographer for VBS this year and I have about

500 photos to edit and host for all of the families to enjoy.

We took a family trip to Kayak Point last week and I have

some awesome shots from that day

that I want to share.

But sometimes life takes an unexpected turn

and all of your plans just fizzle out.

One of those "unexpected turns" happened to me yesterday.

My boys have been tubing down a local river all summer

and were very excited to take David and I along yesterday.

There is not a raft to be found in Snohomish county

because of our record breaking heat wave,

so we each got a twin air mattress to float down the river with.

We were enjoying ourselves so much.

It was like a giant lazy river with gentle rapids.

I was telling David how fun I thought it was and how great

these memories were for the boys.

We stopped at several spots so they could jump off of

large rocks, over hanging tree branches or well placed rope swings.

I was already making plans to do this a few more times over David's

two week leave period.

The boys were about 50 yards ahead of me as we headed

toward the waterfall.

David had pushed me ahead, so he was about 50 yards behind me.

The boys told us to go to the right side of the falls.

I could see them going down the falls and coming back up to do it again

and I tried to position myself to go over the falls

in the same spot where I had seen them do it.

I was off by about 4 feet.

As I approached the falls, I raised up on the mattress

just a bit to see where I was headed.

I heard my boys screams at the same time

that I saw the rusty steel wall rising up from the surface of the water by about 3 feet.

But by then it was too late and I was already being swept forward

by the waterfall.

In an instant I felt my mouth and cheek hit the wall

and then I was caught in the swirling water between the wall and the falls.

I was being pushed downward by all of the water falling on top of me.

I remember reaching my arms out to try to feel the wall and trying to find the side of

it so that I could swim out,

but the water was too heavy on top of me.

Part of me wanted to just give up and give in to the swirling dizziness

in my head,

but a stronger part of me kept my arms flailing an my feet kicking.

I remember thinking, "just a few more seconds and you'll break the surface."

and when those seconds passed,

I would tell myself again,

"You're almost there, just a few more seconds."

It was Jason's (my brother) birthday and I remember thinking

"You can't die on Jason's birthday!"

The instant I broke the surface I took a huge breath

and I heard Zachary and Michael shouting,

"We're here mom, we've got you."

I felt both of their strong arms around me.

I was so dizzy and disoriented.

I was so exhausted I could not kick anymore and I let my head fall back

on one of their shoulders and they guided me to the shore.

I heard them screaming back at their Dad who was approaching the falls my now.

They warned him away from where I had gone over and

he was soon on shore with me.

A stranger handed me a part of their t-shirt that they had ripped off and filled with ice.

Someone else told me to keep pressure on my bleeding lip

and I heard someone else telling David how far we still had to float down the river

to get to the next outlet where we could get to our car.

A lady looked at my lip and tried to describe for me

what damage she saw.

She said that I had scared them all to death because

I didn't resurface for so long.

I saw Zach standing across the beach with his hands on his head

his back to me.

He later told me that he and Michael both thought I was gone.

Michael put me into his raft which was a blow up boat.

He held onto the side and started kicking to get us to the next outlet.

He kicked for 45 minutes straight.

My back ached, my shoulders hurt, I could feel my chipped teeth with my tongue,

my lips were so swollen I could not talk and my body was shivering with shock.

We finally reached the outlet and made it home to drop the boys off

and then on to the ER.

I absolutely hate IV's because I am such a hard stick,

and true to form, it took three attempts before they could get one in.

They pumped pain meds and fluids into me and gave me a tetanus shot.

The cat scan revealed a slight fracture in my left cheek bone

that we'll follow up on next week with an ENT.

I have a sizeable cut where my upper lip meets my gums which should heal

on it's own pretty quickly.

My teeth will be fixed next week once the swelling goes down.

My back ache should also get better with time and if it doesn't,

I will go in for an MRI.

I am very, very lucky to be alive.

I hit just the right spot at just the right speed and fought with just

enough strength to still be here today.

I could have been knocked unconscious and tossed below that waterfall

for too long before the boys got to me.

I could have hit that wall with my throat or my skull and would

have far more life threatening issues to deal with.

I'm so thankful to be typing this right now.

I'm in very good hands.

David is so good at taking care of me and everything else that needs

to be done so I can rest.

I slept on the couch last night so that I could be elevated enough

in case my lip started bleeding again overnight.

Michael slept on an air mattress right beside me and got up at 3 am to change

my ice pack.

I am a very lucky girl who thankfully has alot more life to live!

Here are some photos from today.

This is an improvement in swelling from yesterday when it looked

like I had a lemon in my left cheek.

The bruising is much worse though but as expected.

My lifesavers!

This might be a different story had they not been right there

to bring me to shore.

Thank you everyone for your prayers!!

Let the healing begin!!!