I called my parents to tell them about the accident and that Mike was being transferred to Provo and then called Nellis' parents to come and pick us up. After making the phone calls and being checked by the doctors, Nellis and I had to fill out the witness statements for the police.
Before they took Mike in the ambulance to Provo, I went to say goodbye to him and fainted. After becoming conscious again, I was sent home with Nellis' parents.
Nellis' parents took us up to Provo to see Mike the next morning, Sunday. We met my parents there. Mike was sleeping after having surgery late the night before. His face was bruised and scraped up; his back was deeply scraped (it looked like hamburger); he broke his right leg just below the knee, but that would heal on its own and was not casted; he broke his left leg around the ankle area and he had to have surgery to have pins and plates put in it; and he had cracked the wings that come off of the tenth and eleventh vertebrae in his back. He was not doing well.
Nellis was still having a lot of pain in his abdomen and had a bruise on his side where you could see the outline of where the truck had hit him. We talked him into going to the ER at Utah Valley Hospital while we were there. While in the ER, they did x-rays and cat scans. His hip was not doing well. They also discovered that he only has one kidney and it was damaged. They said that his left kidney was only about the size of a walnut and it was not functioning and had been that way since birth. We were surprised that with all of the hospitalizations that he had while he was young, they had not found this out about his kidney. His right kidney was badly injured in the accident. They told us to get him into a urologist at home as soon as we could. Nellis had also sprained his hand, which they wrapped up.
We went home with my parents that night. During the night Nellis woke up screaming and in severe pain. My dad and I rushed him to Cottonwood Hospital and they set up an appointment with one of their urologists for that Tuesday.
After meeting with the urologist, he said that Nellis needed to be admitted to the hospital and have surgery done because he had a blockage and it needed to be taken care of.
Nellis was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday and they performed the surgery on Thursday. The doctor said that his kidney looked like hamburger and will always be prone to blockages. Nellis has had 2 or 3 more surgeries on his kidney since that time.
Nellis was realeased from the hospital the following Tuesday and had his staples removed that Friday morning, the day of our wedding. He still had a catheter running from his side to drain his kidney. Mike was released from the hospital on Wednesday. Mike does not remember the accident at all. Mike and Nellis slept in the living room for the next few days. (Mike would remain there for several weeks).
Our truck, which had been drivable after hitting the elk, was totalled after it was hit by the college couple. We had a tool box in the back of the truck and as the bed collapsed inward it had gone flying down the road.
I continued to have neck and back aches and headaches. The headaches kept getting worse, so I finally went back in to a doctor. They kept putting me on different medications and I had to go through physical therapy for months. At one point I had an MRI done. I would also get light-headed and dizzy very easily by moving quickly or even just standing up. I lost my job as a nanny because I could not lift the new baby or do the cleaning. Due to this I was out of work for 5 months. I still get headaches easily and my back and neck hurt if I sit or stand for too long. If my neck is bothering me a lot, it will cause bad headaches. My arms go numb very easily also.
Mike missed the last quarter of his senior year of high school. He was on crutches for his graduation. He still has pain in his ankle. He has had a hard time working since because he cannot do the lifting or standing for too long. He still has difficulty when doing a lot of standing or walking. He needs to have a desk job.
