Time to mow the grass?

Every shift I worked in the ER was an adventure. I would grab my lunch and head out with anticipation in my heart and a big grin on my face.

This was a Saturday night and there was an event in Semmes, Alabama that was likely to cause injuries, so everyone was talking about it. Its a small town just outside of Mobile, Alabama. Semmes is a rural community that consists primarily of farms, dairies and flower nurseries. They are a tight-knit group of people who support their high school football team on Friday nights at Mary G. Montgomery High School. They appreciate a good competition and had begun having lawn mower races. This night would be the first full-fledged organized, sponsored race so the whole town was a buzz about it.

We realized that anything called a lawn mower race would probably include ER visits, so we were ready. 

Our ER was busy without the race, so we were running and putting out fires as we tried to care for the patients we already had, while in the back of our minds was the vision of victims of wrecks from racing lawn mowers.

It wasn’t long until we got our first injured person from the very first lap of the very first race. It was a young man about 19 years old who had suffered a tip over when he was in a curve at too high a speed and he was thrown from the mower as it tipped and rolled over several times. Unfortunately when he was thrown, it was right in the path of another mower, he scooted and scrambled and was able to lessen the blow, but he still caught a pretty hard lick that broke his femur (the large bone in the upper leg). He was in some intense pain as he arrived.

Xrays revealed just how devastating that break was, it was through and through with a jagged break, it was  a nasty injury. That poor young man was asking for his mother, but the person who came with him explained that she had gone with his younger brother who was also injured and was taken to Providence hospital a few miles away.

He was a great looking young man with some deep scratches on his face that contained dirt and trash. Those were being cleaned as he winced from the sting of it all. His hair was jet black and it hung in curls that bobbed up and down while the techs scrubbed and cleaned his wounds.

About an hour after he arrived, we got another young man who had fallen from his mower and had a serious concussion. He was quickly sent for a CT scan of his brain. I remember watching them roll him in, he had sweaty blonde hair that had hay protruding from it and lots of freckles dotted his face. His left arm that hung from the gurney was covered with freckles as well.

I noticed his name was Toby, I always loved that name. I said a silent prayer that Toby would be ok. 

We received a third patient that night who had a gash on his leg from his accident during the race. It took 48 stitches to close that gash. He was the toughest 14 year old I had ever seen. He sat there watching and slightly wincing as he felt the sting during the process. He gritted his teeth but no tears ran down his face. This young man had the biggest brown eyes and a sweet smile. He was well mannered and appreciative of everything our staff did for him.

Mrs. Carmichael came in and asked about her son with the broken leg, he was the first patient we had received from the lawn mower races. She was upbeat and very talkative as she talked about these races and the injuries her three sons had received. She had this one with the broken femur at our ER and two others across town at another hospital. Their injuries, were thankfully less serious than the one we had.

It turns out that she just loved these races. The excitement was a thrill for her. She was not happy that her sons were injured but she was talking to this one about needing to heal before the next race coming up in the fall. I couldn’t believe my ears.

As I processed the whole situation in my mind, I realized we are all different in this world and that is a wonderful thing. There are risks of injury in almost anything we choose to do in life. Even with that in mind I was so happy that my sons never had any interest in lawn mower racing. We needed that lawn mower for the grass.

I was thankful that all of our patients were expected to have a full recovery. 

We are funny creatures and it is wonderful that we all have our own interests and our own desires, who am I to judge what is the right choice for others. It's hard enough just deciding for myself.