Now That's Gonna Leave a Mark!!

My cute, wonderful, not so little anymore, nephew Ricky had a bit of a spill if you will :). On Friday afternoon/evening he and our cousin Greg decided to go 4-wheelin' up Hobble Creek and over to Provo Canyon. Well on the way back Ricky came around a corner and as he tried to slow down, the ground was a little too loose and the wheeler locked up and sent them both over a...CLIFF!! That's correct a cliff. From what Ricky can remember (there is a bit of "fuzzy-ness" in there) the wheeler rolled 2 times with Ricky still "attached" and then he fell off and landed face down. He remembers being on the ground face down and then doesn't remember until he was back up on the road. The poor guy was standing on the road for about 10 minutes before Greg came back while 2, count them 2, cars passed by a bleeding, dirty, one shoe wearing kid standing on the side of the road looking a bit dazed and confused. These are the same cars that Greg flagged down to ask if they had seen Ricky once he discovered he wasn't in Kansas anymore!! So once Greg got back to him, they had to ride an HOUR back down the canyon with Ricky holding on for dear life with one arm and absolutely writhing in pain with the other. They had left their phones in the car so it wasn't until they got back down that they were able to call for some help. AHHHHH!!! So long story short (too late), after waiting in the ER for HOURS we were relieved to learn that aside from lots of bumps and bruises the only damage was to his left hand. He broke 3 of his 5 fingers right at the 1st nuckle or the joint (the ones on the top of your hand). His littlest finger - the pinky guy - appears to be the worst one and causing the most concern from the doctors so he has been referred to a hand surgeon to evaluate that little guy. I am so proud of Ricky - he was wearing his helmet and was not doing anything "stupid" - he was really just riding pretty carefully. He was so, so, so brave and held it together really well. He was/is in a LOT of pain and did such a good job waiting in the lobby (without pain medicine) for such a long time and then when they had to "set" the bones - he really handled like a little trooper. He told us that when he was standing on the road he looked down the cliff and just kept thinking to himself "wow, I'm really here...really - not dead...wow!" Scary huh!! We are all so grateful that he was in the "arms" of angels and that somebody upstairs was clearly looking out for him. How awesome is the power of prayer!! Speaking of which, everyone pray he doesn't have to have surgery - that his little paddy-cake will heal on it's own and go back to full functionality. He flies home to Cali (sniff, sniff - that's a whole other subject, I don't want him to go) tomorrow and will see someone out there - so more on the surgery subject to come. So, that's all - just one more thing to be grateful for!! TTFN