Introduction

When you think you have things under control....you probably don't.  That has been my experience raising five beautiful boys in the top of the Rockies. 

Hi, I'm Rebecca and I am a southern belle who has transplanted to the High Rockies with the man of my dreams, Yody.  We have five rambunctious boys ranging in age from 7 to 17.  This is my story of life in and out of the ER. 

Our trips have been frequent...about once a month or so.  My friends laugh at me and my family just shakes their heads.  Is it me as a parent or do my children take that many more risks than others?  Aren't all boys needing stitches and casts this often? I'd like to think so, but I know that it is not the case.

My oldest son is Clay and he is 17.  His injuries have been limited to a fractured liver from a fall out of a very tall Magnolia tree, a shattered clavicle from snowboarding with surgery and a plate, a repeat surgery for a pseudo aneurysm and plate removal, a broken thumb and several stitches and staples in his head.  Perhaps it is too heavy.

Grant is 11.  Grant started out early as a 34 weeker.  Grant rolled over at 6 weeks and fractured his skull.  He proceeded to drink a chemical called Nubrite when he was 2 years 10 months that resulted in a peg tube placement for feeding, over 55 esophageal dilitations and lots of barium studies.  He has also broken his hand punching his younger brother in the head, along with both arms twice for a grand total of 7 broken bones.  He has needed numerous amounts of stitching.  His newest venture is celiac disease.  Can't wait to see what we are gonna come up with for this one!

Wilhlem is 9.  He's a joy.  He's only broken each ankle.  He has never needed stitches.  I'm sure his turn is coming.

The pistol of the bunch is Aaron. He is 8.  Aaron has broken only 1 arm and needed stitches once!  We are excited that Aaron has taken a minimum amount of our money to the hospital.

Last but not least is Seth or as I like to call him Sethie.  Seth has had NO broken bones!  Woohoo!  However, he has fallen into a muffler of a Ford Excursion and needed about 22 stitches in his eyebrow.  By the way, that eyebrow is permanently tattooed with a nice black scar (possibly from the burning muffler... who knows?)  Following his brothers' lead, he managed to get a severe concusion in which he had to be 'flighted for life' to the hospital and relearn to walk, talk, eat, etc...  He still maintains concussion symptoms 2 years later.  Yay us!

All this in such a short time of life!  I need to take Aaron to the doctor.  Yody thinks he has whooping cough.  We all got chicken pox over spring break too. It was fun!