The dive

We have been planning a fun family vacation for months. A time to all be together. Marrieds are out of school, Phoebe is home from her mission, college kids are getting ready to go do sales for the summer, Hyrum leaves soon on his mission and Porter and Sawyer are happy for a break from school. Off to St. George we went. Bikes, gear for hiking Subway, golf clubs, tennis rackets, frisbee golf discs and swimsuits all packed. Woke up on our first morning, Monday, April 26th and it was raining. What a bummer. But who cares, we can still hot tub. Everyone got in the hot tub but me (mom). Mostly because there really wasn’t any room. And maybe also because I don’t love hot tubs. I’m pretty sure by the time they got out, the hot tub was only half full from all the water that went over the edge. Oops! Sorry!  

Then they all decided to head over to the pool and yes, it’s still raining. And we had to walk across razor sharp rocks to get there because we’re lazy and don’t want to walk all the way around. The pool was cool and refreshing and the boys instantly started a game. See who can jump over the sled Sawyer was holding on the water. Every time they would make it, he would move it out a little further. Always a competition. They were having so much fun.  It was Porters turn and he decided to dive over it. Mind you, he had to stretch out to clear the board. I heard a thud after he dove and knew he had hit the bottom of the pool and I looked to see how deep it was. 4 feet 2 inches. 

Hyrum was standing right where he dove and Porter floated to the surface and Hyrum said, “Dude are you kidding?” And reached out to him and saw blood pouring out of his head. Hyrum said, “He’s bleeding really bad.” He carried his limp brother over to the side of the pool and laid him on his back. He had about an 8 inch laceration kind of shaped like the letter J clear to his skull. It was not wanting to stay closed and he was bleeding very badly. Luckily, Phoebe had her cell phone and we called 911. As we huddled around Porter and tried to keep his wound closed and him warm with towels, we could tell something was very wrong. He couldn’t move his arms and legs. He kept saying, “I can’t move my legs.” Or “my arms feel so weird. They’re tingly.” He was laying there motionless. He was conscious and talking to us and knew where he was and that he had hit the bottom of the pool. He said, “That was so scary. I thought I was going to drown.” Some of us were freaking out, some were calm, but we were ALL instantly pleading to God through our thoughts and prayers because of what was unfolding before our eyes. Paul put his hands on Porter's head along with a few others and gave Porter a beautiful Priesthood blessing. I KNOW there were angels there surrounding us. There were also some very kind women who heard the commotion and were right there doing everything they could to help. 

The ambulance arrived within 8-10 minutes and the fire truck was right behind them. They assessed the situation and got Porter in a neck brace, on a stretcher and on his way to the Dixie Regional Medical Center. I jumped in my car and headed to the hospital. I called my mom on the way and I'm pretty sure she couldn't understand one thing I was saying through my sobs. But, after I hung up with her, a huge wave of peace and calm enveloped me. I couldn't cry. I could think clearly. I felt loved and known and watched over. I was praying my guts out in an audible voice and I thought I heard someone talking. When I looked down to see the directions on my phone, I saw that my mom was still on the line because I hadn't hung up. She was probably laughing at what I was saying to God. I drove and beat the ambulance there - thanks dad for the led foot. There was a whole team of neuro docs, pediatric docs, nurses, ER docs and staff waiting for Porter. They wheeled him in and he was still alert and calm and actually being quite funny. He kept calling me shawty and babygirl! I don’t think the gravity of what was going on had hit him. He asked the doctor, “Will I ever be able to play tennis again?” He replied, “We are going to do everything we can to have that be a possibility!” They were so kind to us. 

Porter got x-rays and a CT scan and they quickly realized his situation was more than they could handle at their location. Time was of the essence to get his spinal cord relieved of pressure due to fractured vertebrae C5 pressure. There was also a crack in C6. His bilateral vertebral arteries had also been compromised. Luckily, he was breathing fine on his own and awake and responsive. After some consultation, we decided to have him life flighted to University Medical Center in Las Vegas.

On the way to Vegas, I called my dear friend, Becky Seedall, because I knew she had a couple of brothers in Las Vegas that are doctors and asked if she would contact them about neuro doctors. I didn’t really want him to just show up and have just anybody take care of him....although I know there are tons of competent doctors. I just wanted to feel like he was in good hands. She quickly got back to me telling me her brother, Doug, had had back surgery by a fabulous doctor. Unfortunately, he was on vacation but knew his parter in practice, Dr. Maitre, was equal to the task. Doug texted his doctor and asked if he could reach out to Maitre and see if he’d be willing to go assess Porter and even be willing to take on his case. Amazingly, Doug’s doctor, who was on vacation, instantly texted him back and said he would call Maitre. He did so, and it just so happened that Maitre was at the hospital and said he would take care of Porter. 

For Doug, this was a powerful experience because he was on call at the busiest hospital in Las Vegas when Becky texted him. Miraculously, he found he had 2 hours at the hospital with nothing to do but help our family. He has expressed that this was such a spiritual experience for him. He says there have been a handful of times in his life where he was in the right place for a reason. This was one of those experiences where he feels that he was the Lord’s hands yesterday with the events that lead to Porter having the skilled physicians that are caring for him. 

Becky’s brothers, Doug and Dave knew the on call trauma anesthesiologist, Devin Kearns, who is a physician in their ward. He was able to meet Porter as he landed in Las Vegas and call him by name and talk to him. Devin was able to get word back to us notifying us that he was there safely. He stayed with Porter until we arrived. 

And if they hadn’t already done enough, Dave opened his home in Las Vegas to our family and so the kids packed up the VRBO and headed to our new vacation spot. It literally is like our own resort. It’s beautiful. We are so grateful for people’s generosity even when they don’t know us. People are so so so so good. 

Paul and I cried and talked the whole way to Vegas. Trying to wrap our brains around what was going on. We were being innundated with texts and messages and calls from SOOOO many people that know and love Porter and our family. We feel so grateful for everyone and their love and support and especailly, their prayers and faith.

Again, a medical team was there awaiting porter’s arrival. Once we got there, we were waiting outside, because of Covid restrictions and Devin, the anesthesiologist, came out and when he saw us, he started to weep and hugged both of us. He was so kind. He said, “I’m going to get you both up to see your son right now.” I guess only one parent was supposed to be inside at a time. We walked right in with him and no one said anything. We were so happy. We met with and consulted many doctors in the neuro unit as well as the pediatric ICU. After a long day, Dr. Maitre, took Porter back for surgery at 9:00PM.  He told us it would take about 4-5 hours, but we were pleasantly surprised when they brought him back about 3 hours later. They reassured us that everything had gone very well and that the spinal cord was NOT severed, which was awesome news.

They were able to alleviate the pressure on the cord by removing discs (discectomy) on either side of C5, and a large portion of C5 by going in through the front of his neck. They put a steel cage (corpectomy cage) in place of the vertebrae to hold open the space and protect the spinal cord. They plan to go back in on Wednesday or Thursday to fuse the vertebrae together from the back. Also, they still need to repair his scalp. He literally scalped himself. But they need to do that after they do the fusion. One other thing they need to do is an angiogram. They are worried that there is damage to his bilateral vertebral arteries. We are keeping our fingers crossed that his arteries are just spamming (a word he would use) or spasming and not damaged. 

As they put the NG (nasogastric) feeding tube in after surgery, Porter lifted his arms and tried to reach for the tube. Everyone stopped and was like, “Did you see that? He lifted his arms with purpose!” It was an exciting moment. The nurse said, “with a C5 fracture he shouldn’t be able to do that.” We felt hope. We will take that as a win! It’s the little things. Little steps. Miraculous moments. We are feeling your unwavering faith and prayers and support and love and generosity and kindnesses. 

We love you. 

“For behold, I am come to declare glad tidings of great joy. For the lord hath heard they prayers, and hath judged of thy righteousness, and hath sent me to declare unto thee that thou mayest rejoice...for the Lord Omnipotent shall go forth amongst men, WORKING MIGHTY MIRACLES, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, CAUSING THE LAME TO WALK, the blind to receive their sight, the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.”

Laura

http://bit.ly/porterbrinton