Saturday morning I was able to carry out my Relay for Life yard sale fundraiser. I ended up raising about $120. I was pretty excited about that since I had only raised $10 so far. Yeah, I've been a slacker this year due to my "easy" pregnancy with Brookelyn. After the yard sale I headed to Nibley where Samantha was dancing for Nibley Heritage Days. The 3 older kids had spent the night at Grandpa Scott & Grandma Kris's house the night before & Travis had gone out to pick them up. When I got to Nibley, Travis told me his Grandpa Butter had been out baling hay and had been run over by the tractor and the baler. This was not good news, as we all know the liklihood of a good turnout with such a situation is fairly slim.
I later learned that Grandpa had been out baling hay and realized that the twine wasn't tying. He put the tractor in park and hopped out to tie up the bale before it fell apart. As he was tying up the bale of hay, he realized the tractor was starting to roll down the hill. As he tried to jump into the tractor to stop it, his right boot got caught in the wheel and he was pulled under. It's a good thing that man is so full of fight. His entire right side was run over by the tractor and baler. The tractor kept rolling down the hill until it hit a bale of hay and came to a stop. Luckily, Trav's uncle was nearby and realized something was wrong. He jumped on the 4 wheeler and drove over and discovered grandpa. All grandpa could say was, "I'm sorry." Uncle Brad hopped back on the 4 wheeler and drove to the house where he told grandma to call Aunt Deena and then he ran back out of the house. Uncle Brad works at the jail so he radioed in for an ambulance. When grandma called Trav's dad she was in hysterics. All she knew was there was an ambulance at the farm and something had happened to grandpa.
A little later Trav's dad was able to talk to Uncle Brad. It was then that we learned that the ambulance had transported grandpa to the Gunnison hospital where he had been life flighted to Utah Valley hospital. At Utah Valley hospital he went into surgery. His right femer had been broken (really badly - I saw the x-rays yesterday). They put a rod and plate into his femer along with 11 screws. He has multiple broken ribs but no sign of internal bleeding. They thought his right wrist was broken but it turns out it isn't. His right forearm is bandaged because the baler left a deep gash there. They had to put many, many stitches in that right arm. His face has some road rash on it on the left side as well. Fortunately, only grandpa's boot ended up in a bale of hay.
Yesterday Trav, Brooke and I went down to the hospital. Trav and I were able to go in and see him. He looked much, much better than I had anticipated. He is in the ICU and they originally thought he'd be there for about 3-4 days. However, he was doing so well that they were thinking perhaps he'd only have to stay in ICU for 1-2 days. Once he leaves ICU he will be put into a regular room. It sounds like he will only have to be in the hospital for about 2 weeks. The dr.s have said he can move his knee and hip as much as he'd like because movement is great. He cannot however put weight on it yet.
We are so fortunate because we know just how bad it could have been. Farms and farm equipment are the most dangerous things on earth in my opinion! I had been down to visit my Grandpa Maughan the other day and he was saying he needs to get out and get the hay cut and baled. I told Grandpa Butter that he now has me worried about Grandpa Maughan. He told me to tell my grandpa to make sure he shuts off the tractor before he gets out because it just isn't worth the risk. Last night on our way home from the hospital I called my grandpa. I told him about the accident and that now I was worried about him. I told him he has to promise me he'll bale with someone and make sure to shut the tractor off before he gets out! He promised. We love all our grandpas and are so, so thankful that Grandpa Butter is still here with us. I know this is one Father's Day we won't soon forget. Treasure your fathers and grandpas because you never know how long you have with them!
