The Husbear’s fever “broke” during the night. At least the higher side of it. He’s been running normal (for him) most of today. And he says the swelling wasn’t as painful today. As such, he didn’t take any of the prescribed pain medication either. So I’m taking that as a good sign. He has some bruising that’s started to present behind one of his knees, and we’re watching that. I actually expected a lot of bruising, but maybe it’s a little too early still.

In the morning he has a doctor appointment, so we’ll be asking lots of questions. And hopefully nothing new presents itself.

I know it’s only been a little over 72 hours since this all started, but I have all the respect in the world for people who are caregivers, either professionally or because they have to for family reasons. It’s been… a challenge. I love my Husbear, and would do anything for him. I just have to learn how to do this better.

We are about 54 hours past the accident as I write this.

The Husbear has been running a low fever most of the day. About 2° above his normal temperature. And the swelling in his leg has either increased (it looks the same to me, and we didn’t measure it until today), or at least become more painful. Granted, he doesn’t like taking the pain medications. His puncture wound hasn’t been leaking as much today, so he may just be retaining fluid and the pressure build-up is causing a little more pain. The wound looks… okay. I’m a little more worried about him today, mostly because of the fever.

He’s supposed to see our GP this Friday, but if the fever is still there in the morning, or worse, I’ll take him to the doctor ahead of schedule.

First off: a big thank you to everyone who sent their well-wishes for the Husbear and for me. They are very much appreciated.

Second: the Husbear is doing well. He’s resting for the most part, medicated as needed. I’ve been assisting him getting around, as he does have to walk on occasion for the healing process. And to go to the bathroom. And there was that whole attempting to shower incident. I really need to finish that Master bathroom soon if this keeps up.

The Husbear slept for the most part through the night last night. I, on the other hand, was pretty much awake all night making sure he was okay, making sure he was getting his medications, dressing his wound, and just thinking. I’m a wee bit tired today.

I went out this morning to take a look at the damage and the tractor.

This will cost us a bit.

I managed to get the tractor upright this morning using my truck. But had to call a wrecker service to crane it off the terrace and flatbed it to the dealership location in Rogers.

My apologies to our friends who we borrowed the tractor from. We *will* get the tractor back you in the same or better condition than we borrowed it.

I was finally able to visually piece together the events that happened: The Husbear was on the top level at the driveway. And ended up under the roll-bar where the cyan “X” is on the next terrace. Luckily the tractor rolled over again down to the next terrace, and stopped there. Thanks to the bucket being up and at an angle. Had it not been, it would have rolled again and hit my truck parked at the bottom of the property in the road. So there’s that.

The Husbear had to drag and crawl himself up the hill to get his phone (the red dot). I was on the phone with him from there until he crawled and laid down next to one of the walls near the house, which is where I found him when I got home.

Can you see the “X”? One of those impressions is from the roll-bar. The other is the Husbear’s leg.

A few friends came by the house to check on the Husbear and me, and some brought food out as well. A very big thank you to all of you.

Tonight, the Husbear was just sitting there staring off into space. I asked him what was wrong. He told me that it just dawned on him how close he came to being killed yesterday. I guess we’ll both be sleeping a little uneasy tonight.

Monday started out well enough.

But then this:

Led to this:

We borrowed a friend’s tractor to repair our driveway after the storm we had at the beginning of the month. Everything was going well. The Husbear was getting stuff done. I was working on the bathroom inside. I had to run to Lowe’s to get a part. As I’m in the car leaving the parking lot, my phone rings. It’s the Husbear. Not saying much, but I could tell he was in a lot of pain. I knew something terrible had happened. He said he needed me home now.

The Husbear said the tractor rolled over on him. I asked him to hang up and call 911. He said no. He said he wanted me to come get him. I made him stay on the phone and talk me through what happened just to keep him focused in case shock set in, while I drove like a bat out of Hell to get back to the house. It was a LONG 12 minute drive.

He told me he was moving some dirt, and the ground below the tractor slipped. The tractor started to roll. He quickly tried to jump out of the way and ball up at the same time. His legs didn’t quite make the jump. The rollbar smashed his legs into the ground, and pinned him for a bit before the tractor rolled over again. (Remember, we live on the side of a ridge.)

He didn’t have his phone on him. It was up at the house. His legs weren’t working and they were massively in pain. He somehow managed to drag himself up the ridge to the house and called me.

Why not 911? For one, it would have taken the ambulance just as long to get there as it did me. And I probably got there quicker, actually. It was a 15 minute drive to the hospital. In 5 o’clock traffic. People don’t pay attention to hazard lights any longer it would appear.

I pulled up to the E.R., and ran in and told them I needed help with my husband in the car. That he had a tractor roll over him. I’ve never seen people move so fast.

They had him in the trauma ward before I could even move the car out of the way.

They worked on getting him stabilized, as he was going into shock. His BP was low. Very low. (Which is odd, or at least they said it was.) So they couldn’t give him any pain medications at first. As there was blood dripping out of his right pants leg, they cut off his pants. All the Husbear was worried about was them ruining his favorite sweatpants. And that he didn’t have underwear on.

They were asking a million questions, and he was in and out of awareness. I tried answering what I could with what he told me or what I knew, but I don’t know how much help it was. They were asking him about pain, where it hurt, what happened.

He kept having spasms and pain in his legs (he said it was an 8 or a 9), so they checked for compartmentalization. One of the doctors came in and checked him for that, and nothing seemed to be presenting itself that would indicate it. So it appears to be that he just has massive muscle trauma in his legs. Understandably.

There was a gaping hole in the side of his leg. They weren’t sure if it was from a compound fracture or not, so they started him on antibiotics and fluid. They brought in a mobile x-ray unit and zapped his legs. Somehow, thank goodness, there were no fractures. So the wound wasn’t from bone at least. We think it may have been a compression wound from a bolt on the rollbar. They eventually gave him a local and stitched that up.

They monitored him and made him comfortable with pain medication once they were able to get his BP to something a little more normal-ish (although it was still a little low).

After a few hours and determining he didn’t have any other injuries, they released him.

At the moment he can’t walk, at least not without major assistance. I pretty much have to carry him as he shifts his weight without causing any pressure on his right leg, which is the worst. So you can imagine the fun I had trying to get him into a house with multiple levels.

I’ve been monitoring him. And finally managed to get him upstairs into the bedroom and in bed. (He didn’t want to sleep downstairs on the couch. Can you tell he’s stubborn?)

His wound is still weeping a lot, but they said to expect that as it was acting sort of like a drain valve for all the swelling in his leg. He’s going to have a rough week or so. And I’m sure the bruising will be… colorful.

I’ve bottled up my emotions at the moment, as I’m the one who has to be the caregiver for now. But I’m probably not going to sleep well for a while. My brain just keeps telling me that I could have come home to find him dead under the tractor in the yard.

And I haven’t even had a chance to look at our friend’s tractor yet, other than it’s laying on it’s side in our yard. I guess I’ll see that in the morning.

*sigh*

I’m going upstairs now to lay next to him and listen to him breathe all night.