A few of our friends had borrowed our boat for the day to go fishing up on the Richardson Clear Water but unfortunately things did not go as planned. Story has it, they were having a great time, the weather was beautiful, the fishing not so beautiful, but they were still having a blast being out on the river until they went to move fishing spots and a sandwich baggy that was swirling around on the bow, caught wind and flew back the length of the boat. Everyone turned to watch it land, including the driver, and when he turned back around he was 2-3 feet too far to the left. They were heading right for a big spruce tree leaning over the water. Harry tried to do an evasive maneuver but the super narrow river and downstream current were too much and they crashed into the tree, ejecting Ethan from the back of the boat where he had been sitting.
Once they realized Ethan was missing, they whipped the boat around and fished him out of the freezing spring fed water about 40 yards back. Ethan was knocked unconscious but came to when they got to him. Everyone knew it wasn't good and that time was not on there side at this point so after grabbing dry clothes and a blanket for Ethan at Harry's cabin, they high tailed it out of there and back to the landing. Ethan was talking and joking but confused on what had happened. His left eye was a ginormous purple plum and he was complaining about his shoulder. They sped back to Fairbanks and straight to FMH where it was quickly determined that he had bleeding on his brain with increased pressure and a collapsed lung. They re inflated his lung and medivac-ed him to Anchorage within the hour.
He underwent surgery that night to remove a blood clot from behind his eye, remove part of his skull to release the pressure on his brain, insert a drain to drain the blood, and insert 4 metal plates to set all the skull fractures. He responded well to the surgery but they wanted to wait 6 hours before trying to wake him up to see how he responded.
Around 9:45 the following morning, they did just that but he was very agitated and running a fever so they put him back under. Over the next 3 days, they tried this a number of times, each with Ethan being very agitated and trying to pull the tube out of his throat. One of the times it took 3 people to hold him down until they could knock him back out. He is definitely a fighter.
By the fourth day, they concluded that he was finally breathing 100% on his own, so they removed the ventilator and THEN tried to wake him up. Things went much smoother. He was awake and asking questions.
Then miraculously, on the 8th day, he was released from the hospital. Released! I still can't believe it. He still has a long road in front of him but is predicted to make a full recovery. He is very sore and tired, is having trouble with the vision in his left eye, needs to have shoulder surgery, but is home and doing remarkably well.
And although I would much rather remember our 10th anniversary for different, happier reasons, I am extremely thankful that Ethan is ok and very thankful to have such a wonderful husband in my life.
So here's to many many more.....for ALL of us.
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