Wear a HELMET. It will save your life.
Two weeks ago, one of the scariest things happened to me and my friend Lila. Lila loves to do adventurous things and really wants to learn how to snowboard. Seeing that we live in FL, that isn't happening any time soon. Two Fridays ago we were hanging out and she wanted to try to do what Scott does all the time, longboarding with our dog pulling him. I said we could but only sitting down. Seeing that we really don't know how to longboarding and that I fell off and hurt my hand just a few weeks before this, I didn’t think it was a good idea doing it standing up. So we started on our way and I was first. I sat down and Chloe pulled me. It is quite fun I have to admit. So then it was her turn. She decided to try it on her feet all by herself first to see how she would do. She surprisingly did really well for her fist time. We went around our block and then Blackie pulled her slowly standing up. Blackie is a very slow dog so it wasn’t a big deal. I told her to just let go of the leash if they pull her too fast anyway. We went around once and then she wanted to go around again. So we did. She switched dogs and had Chloe pull her about halfway around the black. She started to go around a corner and Chloe started to run and about 8 houses down from my house she fell and hit her head. I was about 10 feet behind her and some how didn't see her actually fall, thank goodness. I would be playing it over and over in my head if I did. I thought at first that she was just laying there thinking about how she fell. As I got closer to her I saw that her eyes were closed and that there was blood on the ground. I didn't freak out on the outside but on the inside I was screaming "OH MY GOSH!" She was unconscious for about a min or so and then I got her to wake up. The ambulance got there about 7 min later and we rode to the hospital. She had a CT scan immediately and then was in ICU for 3 nights. She had internal bleeding on the brain but not enough to have surgery! Thank goodness. She got home 4 days later and is doing a little better. She is not allowed to drive or work for a couple of weeks and it may take a couple of months to actually go back to normal life.
There are certain things that happened that day that I can not disregard. There are many people in this world who say that this is all coincidental but I don't believe that at all. There was someone looking out for my friend Lila that day and it was Heavenly Father.
Two things that were not normal happened that day....
1. I walk my dogs almost every day around 11 or 12 and my neighborhood is completely empty. There are a lot of children that are at school and most of their parents are at work. I will maybe see 1 person or 1 car pass by and that is it.
2. I always carry my cell phone with me but I didn't that day.Before the accident happened we met a little boy who used to be the owner of our newest dog Blackie. We talked with him and he went around the block with us the second time around. This little boy lives in NC with his parents and they were visiting with his grandparents that day. Lila fell right where this family lives so when she fell the little boy that was with us when it happened was able to just run in his house and get his dad so he could call 911. If it weren't for this little boy being there and where she actually fell I would have had to run 8 houses to my house in flip flops with two dogs and get my phone to call 911, all while she was unconscious. I can't even fathom this thought.
As they were calling 911 I had no idea what to do. I had never been in a situation like this or even close to this. I said a prayer out loud and asked for guidance to know what to do. When I was through praying I had a distinct impression to one get her to wake up and keep her awake and two to keep her laying flat on her back. The first thing she did when she woke up was ask to get up. She was screaming at me to let her up but I knew that I should keep her on her back. I am a passive person and a push over so in a normal situation I would have done what she said but I knew in my heart that I needed to keep her laying down. I had to literally sit on her to keep her down. When the paramedics got there and heard her asking to get up they said, "NO you HAVE to stay on your back, it could injure you even more if you get up."
All of this didn't happen because I am a smart person or because we were lucky, it happened because of faith and because Heavenly Father was watching out for Lila. I am not one to preach or to publicly talk about spiritual stuff that happens to me but I think this one deserves to be written down.
Just a few days ago my mother in-law told me that one of her co-worker’s relatives did the exact same thing and he died from the head injury. I can not tell you how lucky I feel to have Lila doing so well.
So on that note.....wear a helmet whenever you are doing something that could hurt your head, even if you think you will look stupid. And just so you all know there will be know more dogs pulling Scott on a longbaord unless he is wearing a helmet.
