On July 21st Zak and Tanner and a few of their friends got the boxing gloves out and where taking turns boxing each other out on the front lawn. Layne and I were already in bed. At around 11:30 p.m. Tanner comes into our room saying that Zak needed our help. He was boxing with his friend Brycen when he threw a punch and dislocated his shoulder.
None of us knew what to do. He was sitting on the grass moaning and begging for us to do something, anything. We called the neighbor who is a nurse, but she's a neo-natal nurse, so not a lot of experience putting dislocated shoulders of teenagers back in. So we got him in the van and headed for the emergency room. Tanner had to help him hold his arm up in just the right spot so he wouldn't scream in pain. I was driving and evidently 60 mph wasn't fast enough. But the road to Rexburg is a roller coaster mess from recent repairs and I didn't think that rolling the van would help the situation.
All the way there Zak just kept saying "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He said later that he just kept thinking, "Dad is going to kill me." I thought Layne and I were both quite calm about the whole thing. I don't think we are that scary as parents. The worst thing he said was, "You shouldn't have been goofing off like that." To which Zak responded, "We were just boxing, how could I know this would happen?"
Once they got him into a room they had to get an I.V. in him to give him some pain medication. But he didn't think it did any good. Then the worst part of the whole thing was when the x-ray technician came in. She said, "Hi, you are going to hate me." And he did. She made him lower his arm and move it in several different positions to get a few different x-rays. Then he had to wait for them to develop so the doctor could look at them. Finally they put some drugs in his I.V that made him dozy. The doctor came in and put his shoulder back in the socket. At this point I was sitting on the opposite side of the room with my head between my knees. The doctor said he wouldn't even remember it, and he didn't.
I have to give Zak credit. They say having a should dislocated is one of the most painful injuries. He sucked it up pretty good. As he said whenever anyone asked if he cried, "I think only one tear slipped out." I must say his pain threshold is much higher than Layne's. If it had happened to Layne he would have passed out and he would have been admitted to the hospital for having too low of a heart rate.
So all of Zak's plans for the last month before his mission got side lined. He had plans to go to Lava Hot Springs the next day. He still went, but there was not diving of the high jump, or going down the slides. He had plans for boating and biking that all went out the window. He had to wear a sling for two weeks .
Layne and I think that it happened for a reason to perhaps keep him from a worse injury biking or boating. He is now down to 10 days before he leaves and he thinks he is going biking this week. GRRRR!!! I told him I will wait to buy the food for his farewell until he gets back. Because if he throws it out again it will increase his chance of needing to have surgery. I tried to remind him how much pain he was in when he was only 20 minutes from the hospital. How will it be when he is three hours away in the middle of the mountains. But 19 year-olds are not to be reasoned with.
I have a picture of him in the hospital before they put his shoulder back in. But he has his shirt off and he is mad at me for taking it because it shows his "fat rolls." So I will wait until he is gone and can't give me dirty looks for doing it. He is already ticked at me for texting it to Jeannette and Brandi. But hey, I'm paying the hospital bill, so tough luck!
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