60-Second Steve & The Weirdest Weekend of Our Lives

Well I'm sure if you don't already know the story, the pictures of Steve strapped to a board have caught your eye...here's the abridged version of what happened.

We headed out to Lake Cushman this weekend for a Young Life leadership kick-off weekend. During our afternoon break on Saturday a bunch of people went out on Todd & Jess's boat. Apparently, while Steve was wakeboarding he took a big fall and fell pretty hard on his head. He didn't lose consciousness, but when he got back on the boat he was acting really strange and confused. ("I don't really know what's going on." "Where are we?") Well, after 5 or 10 minutes of everyone thinking that maybe he was just playing around they realized that he was actually serious and he really didn't know what was happening or where he was. Even as he stepped off the boat he said, "Who's boat is this?!" (He could recognize people but no events.)

So, obviously when I saw him back at the cabin it took all of 30-seconds to realize he has a bad concussion and no memory. We called 911 and the Cushman EMTs came as well as the Shelton Paramedics (um...that's another blog for another day). Suddenly the cabin is full of tons of medics as the are holding Steve's head in place, putting oxygen on him, pricking his finger and asking, "Do you know what happened?" "Do you know who the president is?" "What month is it?" to which Steve did not know the answer to any of it. Meanwhile, Steve keeps asking every 60-seconds or so, "Can someone tell me what happened?" and "Jenny, are you freaking out?" This is where we quickly learned our strategy of giving Steve a note to his most frequent questions.

ANYWAYS...they transported him by ambulance to Shelton General Hospital to get a CT scan on his head and I rode with Garth behind the ambulance. We got there, he had a head scan and PRAISE THE LORD there was no neck fractures, brain hemorrhaging or anything completely horrible. He does, however, have a Class 3 concussion (the worst "class" of concussion) and AMNESIA! I'm telling you, it's like living out some kind of movie...

So, we made the decision to come back to Cushman and stay the night. It was late, I did not want to be myself and it didn't make sense to go through the stress of getting our kids home that late at night. Plus, we had to wake Steve every 2 hours through the night so I knew I had help there if I needed it.

Steve gave us all a good laugh once we were home from the hospital. We knew, of course, after our hospital visit that he was going to be fine, so we felt just fine joking around with him! :) His memory was about 60-seconds so he kept repeating the same questions over and over again, along with the same jokes. Finally, Alicia decided to write the "The answers to Steve's Questions" on a big white board in the room. Jess also included a nice picture of what happened to him on the boat. This actually helped Steve's memory quite a bit later in the night and today. He's such a visual learner, so every time he wondered what happened he would actually be able to recall the picture from the white board.

Here's an example of 60-Second Steve during this point in the night:

Steve: (looking at white board) Todd! YOU were driving the boat?

Us: (laugh, giggle, laugh because Steve JUST said this 1 minute earlier and of course we're not laughing at him but just kind of all thinking how weird and strange this is)

Steve: Am I a good source of entertainment for you guys tonight?

Us: (laugh, giggle, laugh b/c Steve JUST said this 1 minute earlier)

Steve: I'm scared to talk because I know I'm just not making sense.

(Steve closes his eyes for 30-seconds or so, opens them and says...)

"Todd! YOU were driving the boat?

As the night wore on Steve started getting a little scared and disoriented. We had the following conversation over 10 times...

Steve: Jenny, I need to talk to you.

Jenny: (knowing exactly what he's going to say) It's OK, Steve. We're at Lake Cushman for a Young Life Retreat.

Steve: OK, but I have no idea how I got here. I'm kind of freaked out. It's like I just woke up in this cabin and I don't know why all of these people are here or how I got here.

Jenny: It's OK. You have a bad concussion. The doctor said you'll remember.

Steve: What month is it?

Jenny: It's September.

Steve: WHAT? I feel like I just skipped all of August. How can it be September?

Today, Steve is doing much better. He obviously has a horrible headache, but he's regained all of his memory from Spring and Summer and he's starting to patch the week back together. He just got his memory of yesterday morning back, but nothing past about 8:30 a.m. He's been able to remember everything that has happened from 3 a.m. this morning and on. I know I've said it before, but it's just so weird!!

It was a very unexpected weekend, but it was also really powerful in so many ways. We had a great meeting with everyone this morning and it was one of the best moments for me since we've been in Federal Way. We had to throw out a lot of the agenda but what was replaced was a really, really powerful sense of community. And although we'll always remember the weekend of Steve's head injury, what will also stick out to me just as much is how much everyone surrounded us. Distracting our kids when the medics were there, changing their diapers, feeding them and caring for them all night while I was gone. Praying for Steve, calling 911 for me, driving me to the hospital, driving back from the JT concert and arriving at 3 a.m. to be there for Steve and to be part of the group and on and on and on. I am so thankful for everyone this weekend and I know when Steve remembers he'll be incredibly grateful, too! :)