Life can flip around in a second

There’s nothing like good, clean fun to get you into trouble. My 23-year-old athletic son was running on the paths at Camden Park, enjoying a beautiful fall Saturday afternoon. He was almost to the bottom of the trail when his foot hit a tree root and he flipped over and his right hip landed on a rock.

He told his buddies he couldn’t get up. They got him to the car and to Emergency. My younger son and I met him there with a wheelchair. ER personnel X-rayed his right hip and said they couldn’t help him there — he might need surgery — and carted him to Hennepin County Medical Center. The doctors there said he didn’t need surgery, which would have involved pins and a plate, but my son has to be immobile for eight weeks. He has three cracks in his hip socket and cannot bear any weight on it.

My son, sisters and I discussed over many phone calls what to do with him for that time. Our first thought was he had to live with me. I’d move a bed into our living room which would be across from the bathroom.

Upon further discussion, one of my sisters in Minneapolis said he could stay with her. She has a daughter my son’s age who still lives at home and who would love to help take care of her cousin. (She will also tease the heck out of him over having to use a walker.) My son had commented to my sister that his mom’s place was “a zoo.” Painful, but accurate.

From riding bike for 15-20 miles a stretch to being stretched out on his back will be hard for my son. But he will have peace and quiet and good care. Thank God for family is all I can say.