The Story Part 9 from my Dad’s Journal

I apologize for the delay in posting the rest of my Dad’s journal entries. For those of you who have not been following this blog from the beginning you can catch up on “The Story” by clicking on the tab below the picture of Wesley on the blog.

Part 9

I think I cried the whole way home to Three Forks. I was crying for Wesley and how his life was changing. When I got home the first thing I did was walk into Wesley’s room, everything felt and smelled like Wes. Everything was just as he left it. The tears started falling again as I knelt down beside the bed in his room and pleaded with Heavenly Father. After several minutes, I had a peaceful feeling come into my heart that everything would be alright. I don’t know what that means but the prompting were very strong and the words that filled my head were “Trust me, I see the big picture, everything will be alright.”

I left Wes’ room and took a shower, while in the shower the tears kept coming. I had done my best to suppress the tears and be strong, calm, and reserved, but in the shower, alone, it seemed the tears would not stop. It had still been less than 24 hours since the accident happened and I could not believe all that had happened in such a short period of time. That morning, Karen and I talked about how we felt as if a week had already gone by. I hurriedly got dressed and left the house to head back to the hospital, a 45 minute drive. It was nice to be clean and out of ski clothes. As I got back onto the interstate headed for Bozeman the tears came back. They seemed like a long lost friend and I cannot explain it, but there was something very therapeutic about letting tears fall until they stopped on their own.

When I arrived back at the ICU, Karen and Trevor were sitting with Wes. Wes was pretty sedated but he knew that I was there. While I had been gone, our stake presidency had come by the hospital to check on Wes. They were on their way to Three Forks to attend church in our ward building. The Stake Presidency had scheduled a Ward conference for that Sunday, but the night before they had reschedule ward conference and asked our bishop to just hold a fast and testimony meeting and then to cancel the rest of the meetings.

I think our Bishopric might have been a little surprised to see the entire stake presidency at church that Sunday. The word had gotten out to all the members of our ward and most of our stake, our old ward and stake in Arizona, and hundreds of people we did not even know and they were all fasting for Wesley. It was remarkably humbling to know that on that Sunday so many people were petitioning the Lord in behalf of Wes. We knew that the Lord was definitely aware and involved in what was happening in Wesley’s life.

Fast and testimony meeting ran much longer than it normally does and afterwards the stake presidency came by the hospital again and reported to us what a wonderful and spiritual meeting they had attended in Three Forks. They told us how amazing it was to hear and feel the outpouring of love that the ward members have for Wes. Again, we were humbled and wished that we could have been there.

After the meeting on Sunday, members in our ward stayed and wrote notes and encouragements for Wes on three large posters. The posters were delivered to us at the hospital and we promptly put them on the wall in Wesley’s ICU room. When Wes would drift in and out of consciousness we would read to him from the posters and remind him how many people were praying for him. It always brought a smile to his face and made him very happy.

Throughout the day we had many friends come by the hospital to check on Wes, many told us about the special fast and testimony meeting and the wonderful things that had been said about Wes. The priest quorum and good friends came by everyday Wes was in Bozeman to check on his well-being. Our church leaders were there every day as well, at least once, often several times a day. Friends brought meals to us everyday we were there. We cannot thank our friends enough for all the support they have given us.

Trevor left in the late afternoon to get back to school in Rexburg. It was so nice and a great comfort to have him with us. It was about a three hour drive back to school and upon his return he called and told Karen that he needed to come back to be with us. We assured him that everything would be fine and that he could not afford to miss classes with the heavy load he is carrying.

Tonight Nedrow’s picked up our daughter, Ryanne from the Bozeman airport. She flew in from Louisiana. We tried to tell her not to come but she and her husband, Ben, would hear none of it. Ben put her on a plane and said you need to go cheer up your brother. It was so nice to see Ryanne and immediately she put herself to work. She took over our cell phones and answered most of the text messages. She took rotations late at night as we always had at least one of us with Wes at all times. She cried with us and cheered us up. Ry was a lifesaver. We really do not know what we would have done if she did not come.

Wesley woke often and with a tube down his throat he could not speak. He could not communicate except through his eyes. Everything had happened so quickly, he was not adequately prepared for the state he would find himself in, after surgery and in the ICU recovery. As I looked into his eyes late Sunday night, I could see a tremendous amount of fear. Think about waking up in a bed that is rocking side to side, and your head and neck secured so it cannot move, with a tube down your throat, IVs hanging almost everywhere with tubes coming out of your neck and you’re not capable of moving at all. I caught him reflecting on these thoughts as he anticipated what his quality of life would be. I know he was thinking, “Am I going to be like this for the rest of my life?” I know I was prompted by the spirit as I assured him that he was going to be alright. We told him this is only temporary and that tomorrow we should be able to take the tube out of your throat. I told him that today is the worst it is going to be and that from this point going forward things will steadily improve. I assured him or might I say, the spirit assured him, he would have a high quality of life. That night Ryanne had prayers with him as well, and basically said the same things as he woke up and have those questions in his eyes.

Monday morning would be a new day…