Another Near Miss

Jeremy is feeling alright today. Pain is being managed with Ibuprofen for the most part. We met with an Orthopedic surgeon today and found out that - once again - Jeremy is lucky. He has a medial clavicle break most likely. The doctor only sees this severe collarbone break every 10 years or so. It dislocated to the front of his chest which is really good, since if it would have gone the other way - Jeremy would not have made it. Usually (50% of the time) the heart or artery is punctured. I don't know about all of you, but hearing that my husband was so close to dying yet again is not getting any easier.

You can see the helmet damage from the first picture - the major scrapes, the clip is pretty much gone (my finger is pointing to it) and the protected chin flap has a good sized gash. He can be the poster child for wearing a helmet when skiing. That Natasha actress wasn't wearing hers and only took a minor fall. Jeremy would have been a goner...

Noah captured the next 2 pictures of the ski patrol loading him up. Jeremy has no memory of this part. Noah says he was pretty ashen and didn't open his eyes.

I have to confess I get a little bit angry when I look at these pictures. Not to make this about me, but I have been looking at major scars over my daughters body and then to see Jeremy in pain and his chest all malformed - I feel like puking. Jeremy is quite a stud - he handles all this with ease. He wasn't being reckless - this was just a freak accident. His odds are actually pretty good - he has been skiing 33 years and this is the worse thing that has happened. That actress was on the bunny hill and it turned out much worse for her.

I guess when you lead an active lifestyle things like this will happen. Thank God for good drugs and insurance. I believe I have now met our out of pocket for both Samantha and Jeremy now - probably even the family amount. LOL

The doctor tried to get an idea of what his condition was exactly, but the x-rays didn't help. His shoulder is pushed down near the ribs and there is too much confusion looking at all the bones overlapping in the x-ray. Tomorrow we go back to the hospital to have a CAT Scan done which will give the doctor a better idea of what is going on. We will then meet with the doc again on Monday afternoon to find out the exact plan of attack. He will definitely need surgery and the doctor said is it pretty neat (his exact words) repairing this type of injury. Once the bone is put back together you can see the chest go back to it original shape.

I tried to capture the extent of the injury - You can see from the profile picture how is pec is flat and his shoulder bone is pushed back and down. We joke that he is the hunchback of Westminster... The front picture shows the bruise and how much lower his left nipple is than his right. What you can't see is how that whole muscle is kind of slumped down. Picture a landslide - everything gathered in a pile at the bottom of the hill. That is sort of what it is like. His jaw is still pretty swollen and a bit black and blue on the left side. He has been eating soup all day today...

All in all - he is doing great. He feels ok and is taking it easy. I think the toughest part of this whole thing is the fact that he will be sitting on the couch for another weekend (at least). I suspect the surgery will be on Wednesday but I will post again when we have all the details on Monday.

This could have turned out so much worse - we are blessed. I hope my Papa is feeling better (he is battling pneumonia). Love to everyone!