GRANDPA MICHAEL’S PERSPECTIVE - Today was the big day that Uncle Adam was to get to meet Rolf & Poppy for the first time. After a long week at Especially For Youth in Logan, Adam was looking forward to seeing the two babies that he had long been waiting to meet. I wish that I would have been there when he first walked into the room, but I did not see them together for about 5 hours after their meeting.

Walking into the room along with Grandma Shelly, it was a great sight to behold. Dave had Rolf, Jessica had Poppy, Adam was in between them, while Dave’s sister Angie stood by the window watching the ongoings. It was feeding time and all the pressure was on to ensure that Rolf would not have to go back to the NICU and break up the complete family departure from the hospital later the same day.

Visibly present was the stress of Mom and Dad as they were stuck in a small cubicle and at the mercy of the Doctors as to whether the family could be discharged to leave the nest of the hospital and fly. There had been too many visitors and gone was the desire to let others hold and marvel over their new children. It was obvious that out of respect, today would be a short and sweet visit.

I could only imagine the pressure both parents were feeling. Jessica was running a low fever again and this was going to determine her ability to leave. Dave seemed emotionally ready to go, and I understood just a bit of what he was feeling. I flashed back to Shelly and I as we sat with newborn Jessica in the similar Pomona Valley Hospital room. I wanted out of the hospital and was ready to flee the moment the Doctors said we could be discharged. I saw similar feelings emerge from Dave, as he was now the new father. He did not express anything, so I could only observe how he was dealing with all of these events of the day.

We posed Adam with Poppy for photos and he was amazed at how her neck was not able to hold her head up proud. What Poppy did not know was that she was the first baby that Adam has really ever been around and she was the one he was using as a guinea pig for his fatherhood skills. They were very cute together and we quickly flashed a couple pictures in the very dimly lit room. Then we posed the new family with Adam and said our goodbye’s.

Walking out of the room was odd. No heartfelt hugs. No expressions of deep felt love. It was more of an “until we meet again in the next 24 to 48 hours to better get through this new wonderful ordeal.” We were not sad in the least to be leaving this hospital for the last time. All of us were ready for Dave and Jessica to take their little ones and head for home to start real family life.

Adam, Shelly and I left for home and we decided to take a detour and partake of our favorite carne asada chimichanga in Utah at a little 24-hour dive in Draper named Gualberto’s. The food was wonderful, but as we walked out the door Shelly looked back to comment to Adam at the same time that she went to step off the curb, with me about 15 feet behind. The next couple of minutes slowed down in my mind to an awful crawl.

I watched as Shelly stumbled off the edge of the curb. Her left shoe twisted her foot over as her right foot came down on an angle trying to correct her balance and it twisted. Her left foot went over the front where the top of her foot was scraping the ground. I then watched both her knees buckle and hit the ground next. Just like an imploding building, Shelly was standing and now falling down face first. After her knees hit, next came her hands going out forward to prevent her chest and face from full ground impact.

The next conscious memory was the blood curdling non-stop screams of pain and agony. In the fall, Shelly’s freshly topped off 32 ounce drink hit the asphalt and exploded. Adam, following Shelly dashed forward and his 32 ounce milky white horchata also went flying and exploded onto the ground. He dropped down by her head as I came from behind and thought (for some strange reason) that I should try to keep her light cream pants from getting overly soiled by the dark and light drinks now flowing to her fall location. In a brain-dead move, I grabbed both of her feet from behind and raised them up attempting to turn her to a safer upriver location. Let’s rehearse why this was such a dumb “in-shock” moment as I grabbed both injured body components attempting to yank and reposition... All I can say is “I’m sorry!”

We rolled Shelly over and realized that the injuries were not just her typical internal breaks and sprains. The top of her left foot, just at the shoe termination line, was gapingly ripped open and the top layers of skin were stretched downward about ¾”. It was just like gutting a trout in that all the layers of her skin were ripped through and we could see inside her foot. This was not something that would heal on its own. Medical attention was needed.

I ran inside to get some ice and some water to flush the wound. This left Adam to console. Coming back with the crew from the restaurant, we flushed the wound, and determined quickly to load her in the car and head for a doctor somewhere. I made my second major blunder and recommended that we lift Shelly up and carry her to the car, while the much clearer thinking Adam said, “Dad, why don’t you just bring the car over here?” Duh... I took his advice, moved the car, helped raise her up and load her in, and then sped off.

Whether a good choice or bad, we were like fish out of water and did not know where medical facilities were located in Salt lake, so we headed back to the emergency room of the hospital we had just left an hour prior. It was a long drive and Shelly was somehow able to grasp Adam’s hand and calm down. Her foot, though gapingly open, did not excessively bleed. We arrived and loaded Shelly into a wheelchair and made it inside.

So while the Dixon family loaded up and headed for home, the Leavitt’s were just checking in for a 3 hour ordeal that would include multiple x-rays and 9 stitches to close the deep wound.The highlight will long be remembered the hospital staffer that came in and brightened the room with levity regarding being accident prone. She confessed being similarly clumsy and joked that her family would remind her to wear her helmet when leaving the home, taking along a pack of tissues for her drool, and that she always had a free ride on the short bus wherever she wanted to go. We asked about where we should purchase the helmet for Shelly, and she quickly responded that it came with the bus pass. The entire concept was so politically incorrect, yet this gal and my lovely wife were kindred spirits and their immediate bonding helped Shelly get through the experience.

Leaving the hospital was strange. No longer were those we loved staying there. We had no more emotional ties. We loaded Shelly into the car to head for home, not knowing how she would recover. Strange...