The Little Ponderosa: Cody & Peonies

*there is a graphic picture in this post.

It's been quite the eventful week (as usual, it seems like).

Monday night was a normal night at the house. Then Tuesday I met with my sweet friends Jennifer and Amber at our local Mexican restaurant to go over notes for our mission trip coming up, when I got a phone call from my mother.

She was hysterical and crying. She told me that Cody my 16 year old brother had been in a fight and when the 19 year old boy body slammed him on the ground Cody's head hit the concrete sidewalk. She didn't know any details except that he was knocked unconscious and that he was bleeding very badly from his ear.

I am still shocked at how calm I was. I didn't even really get upset until I was on the interstate on the way to the ER.

Saturday night before all of that happened I was going to go see him at his dads house and take him a pizza. He has been on house arrest and was feeling pretty down in dumps. But I ran out of time that evening and wasn't able to go.

While I was driving I couldn't help but think, maybe I wanted to go see him so badly because it was going to be the last time I saw him the way he was or maybe even alive at all, I just didn't know it. That's when I started getting really emotional and panic filled me. I just kept praying that the Lord would give me another chance with Cody and that he wouldn't take him now. We honestly didn't know anything at that point.

After the guy beat him up an older lady just happened to be driving by and saw the whole thing happen. When she pulled over they boys took off running and jumped in their truck. She got out of the car and pulled Cody into the the house and called 911.

We don't know who she was but what a brave woman. Most women (especially when they are alone) wouldn't stop and put themselves in harms way the way she did. I am so grateful for her, if she hadn't done what she did there is no telling how long Cody would have layed in the front yard alone and bleeding.

That all happened at about 6:30pm. I got to the hospital about 7:30 and waited for his CT results to come back. The Dr. came in and told us that he had a large skull fracture on the left side of his head. With Cody being a right handed that is the most important side of his brain for speech and mobility.

The neuro-surgeon came in (Dr. Alvarian) and did his exam and then sent us to ICU. He said that they did not see any swelling or hematomas at that time but he would need to be monitored for about 24-48 hours. I went home at about 12am after mom got settled down in the room with him. The next morning I got dressed for work and headed to the hospital for his second round of scans. Before I got to the hospital mom called me and told me that a large hematoma had formed over the fracture during the night and they were going to have to take him surgery immediately.

I made all the phone calls to the rest of the family and they all joined us in the surgery waiting room for the duration of the 4-6 hour procedure.

We had so many people contact us that they were praying for Cody. It was amazing to see how many people showed their love and support in that short amount of time. I know my mom really needed it and so did I.

(from left to right)

Me and Errica waiting to see Cody after a successful surgery.

The procedure lasted less than half the time they thought it would and the Dr. said he did very well during the operation. Half of the hematoma was liquid and half was solid so they had a better time extracting it than they thought.

As of today he is doing well and is being transferred to a regular room for the next week or more.

The guy that did it was arrested on Wednesday and the other boys that (we later found) video taped the fight are being charged with a misdemeanor for not reporting a crime.

I don't mean to sound harsh but I hope that Cody has learned something from all of this and that maybe he has realized just how much favor the Lord has shown him and how truly precious life is. We are never promised tomorrow.

I love him so much, no matter how much I want to pull his ears off sometimes. I hope that he knows that.

On a lighter note....It's the season for Peonies!

Suzie has a flower bed FULL of them right now. I always look forward to the bouquets of them she brings me when they are in bloom.