Oh Elizabeth, reading your post brought tears to my eyes. I remember when my boys were little - if my toddler and a danger even came into view of my eyes at the same time, my mind, my mouth, and even my skin would cry out no-no-no-no-no - like some visceral, instinctive response. I cannot imagine what you must feel to have the danger actually materialize. You are so brave to go through this and so brave to share it. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Hopefully someday this will fade into just a story you tell his children about their beloved daddy.

I am glad your little one is doing ok! Wish him a speedy recovery! You take care!

Oh how awful! That was painful just to read. It is so hard to see your children hurting. I hope he recovers well and soon. You hang in there. I'll send plenty of good wishes your way.
Dana

You need to remember that this was an ACCIDENT. It could have been worse. The same outcome could have resulted from an entirely different circumstance. Don't blame yourself. Don't beat yourself up over it. Learn from it and go forward.

Personally I've witnessed the destruction caused by accidents involving children. One friends child found his handgun and played with it. Another friends children died in the OKC bombing. The families caved in, the effects have lasted years past the day of the accident, they may never fully recover. It changed the way I think about handguns and terrorists - this will change the way you think about children riding along on a mower.

Eliz - extra prayers for your family are being sent. I had a bad accident when I was 7 and I still recall the look on my mother's face - no one can accurately describe it. I feel for you and your husband and hope that since your son is so young that he will not remember it clearly, if at all.

whenever something dreadful like this happens, i instantly think of ways it could have been worse. and it definitely could have been. wish your son a swift recovery, and wish for you, eliz, that you don't replay the event every time you close your eyes.
marsha

Thank You all for your support! Just what I was looking for. You are all great! I am holding up rather well most of the time. Today was a bummer we were on our way to the hospital when I realized in my haste to get everyone ready and settled in the van I had fed my son. He can't go under if he has eaten. So I turned around and called the Dr. we will be going tomorrow. The Dr. is hoping that she can do his skin graft as soon as Monday. I am trying to keep my chin up but feeling a little blue today. It is my 35th Birthday and I am feeling a little old. I know it is not old in the scope of things but for some reason my age is bothering me this time. Have a great day all and please keep my son David in your prayers!

Yes, do remember it was just an accident. It's so hard to keep kids out of trouble all the time. And since he's so young he probably won't remember it.

I'm a lurking newbie here, but I wanted to say that my thoughts are with your family and son. Children bounce back from things like this much better than 'us' moms do!

Have a nice cup of tea and relax. Accidents happen to the best of us.

I know this must have been a terrifying experience for your family. Thank goodness your son is going to be okay, and thanks for the reminder to us all about how important is to keep children (and pets) away from dangerous mowing equipment.

Take care...
~Angie

Elizabeth, my wonderful neighbors across the street have two children, a boy 5 and a girl 3. They are always on the riding mower with their parents. Like you and your husband, they would never do anything that would endanger their children. Anyway, I will pass along your story to them. The little boy has a cochlear inplant...his mom is deaf too.

Last November I slipped on a steppingstone which flipped up and severed my achilles tendon. It took me surgery, a full leg cast and a year to recover. No one's fault, just like your son's accident. Please do not blame yourself. It was just an unlucky set of circumstances that are now over and done with.

God bless you, your brave little tyke and your whole family.. I know you will get through this.

Eliz, Thanks for the wake up call. Your story will hopefully serve to remind us all that any kind of tool or power equipment can be very dangerous. It reminded me of an incident this early spring using one of those tree limbers that have an extended arm. I was using one to take down a limb off of a hickory nut tree that was too close to the roof of our house. It was a thicker limb and after I got through half the thickness the blade got stuck probably because of the weight of the limb. After a couple of soft pulls to dislodge it without success I used my whole weight on the rope attached to the loper part of the tool to get it dislodged. I remember thinking in the seconds it took to come flying down aimed directly for my face "well...that was really stupid". Thankfully I somehow dodged the blade.

We all do things we would take back or not do if we had the time to think things out. Harm to our children, whether we are directly culpable or not has to be the hardest thing as a parent to bear. I am sure you play it all back in your mind over and over but don't beat yourself up too much. This will eventually become just a part of the fabric of his life and as silly as it might sound he might end up with fond memories of the love that was showered on him in a time of great pain.

One of my "fondest" memories of growing up came out of a time of pain for me. I had a really fast growth spurt when I was around 6 or 7 and I would wake in the middle of the night with my leg muscles literally in knots. It happened on a regular basis for a good while. My memory is of a dark room, the smell of rubbing alcohol and strong hands massaging my legs until the muscles were relaxed and I could thankfully and peacefully fall back to sleep. The smell of alcohol still brings me back to that place in time and to the unrelenting love of my mother.

Best wishes to you and yours, Adele

My heart goes out to you and yours Elizabeth. My childhood accident- falling and putting a gash in head- happened when I was close to 4 years old and I don't remember the hospital part of it at all. Focus on his recovery not the accident- they are just an unfortunate part of life.

And I have 2.5 years on you- WE ARE NOT OLD! I have a former classmate who is pregnant with her first child.

Take heart,
Shari

i just want to extend my best wishes to you and your family elizabeth. i can't even imagine what i'd do if it had been one of my kids. i don't have anything to add to what everyone else has said except to reiterate. it's not your fault, it was an accident, so don't beat yourself up. it won't help and might depress you. and, you aren't old! i'm 35, too. i have to admit, it did hit me a little more this milemark than others, but we are young, young, young! best of luck with a speedy recovery. tammy

Elizabeth, I am thinking of you and your family. Having 2 kids under the age of 8 my heart is often in my throat over "possibilities". Don't dwell in the past, you obviously are different from the experience. But in the end, you both are alive and recovering. He won't remember as much as you do but he isn't open to the accident potential which is the joy of youth= immortality/invincibleness. As we age we lose our innocence but if done correctly we gain wisdom which leads me to being 35. 35 is young. It isn't 25 but it brings a soundness to life, a strength and confidence to deal with real life, love and tragedy. Your soul and body have been marked through experiences. Only someone with wit and wisdom can read the signs of a woman who has truly lived. Otherwise, the clues go unnoticed or uninterpreted by the life untrained. 35 is a number. What it means to you is yours alone to define but think of what you have done on your journey to 35... would you go back? Would you change some little detail? Because by changing the smallest fact would have had a huge impact on who you might have been.

Happy Birthday, embrace it, revel in it and just have a d##n good time. Shannon/Dirtrx who believes a woman doesn't truly knows how to live life until somewhere after 40.

Still learning how to live life to its fullest at over 40 here - and it hurts us over-40's feelings for yal' to argue over whether 35 is old - it's not, 40 is not, and it's looking like 50 isn't going to be in a few years. I'd trade my body today for my younger one, but not my heart nor my mind nor my experiences - and I'm finding out that our bodies are the least of our stories. My 17-year-old has the cutest girlfriend and they are going on a year together. He remarked the other day about how I looked pretty good compared to the other mothers of his friends (thanks I think?), and how everybody says if you want to know what a woman will look like - look at her mother. He said that his girlfriend's mother didn't look all that awfully bad. I didn't say anything, but I thought that when he is my age and he values how his wife loves him and loves their children and how fully she loves life, instead of how she looks, I will know that I have done the job I set out to do. It's a beautiful life, it will be beautiful again for Elizabeth's little David, and I'm off to rake leaves and mulch in my own cathedral again today.

Elizabeth, My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Take it one day at a time and be good to yourself. It's easy to get run down during a stressful time like this.

It's not just the power tools/machines we have to be careful of. I remember when we were little... My brother and a little kid (I think his name was Roy) next door and myself were playing in the garden. Roy was using the hoe and making large over the head swings with it as he hoed (chopping weeds or something), my brother stepped over close to him. I don't remember why, but he must have bent down and the hoe came down on the crown of his head. All I remember of it now is the blood gushing everywhere and screaming. The bad thing was that someone had just recently sharpened the hoe making it even worse. He got stitches and a lot of pampering, we got a severe talking to, lol and probably our butts tore up, I don't remember.... and we all learned to have respect for the simplest tools.
Take Care!

Rootdigger OUCH that just hurt to read. I am glad that he was OK. I would just like to say again how much I appricate all of your support. This is such a draining process. We will be back in Greenville Monday morning bright and early for another cleaning. Dr. did not think it looked ready for grafting yet. Once it is finally grafted he will not be able to walk on if for 3 more weeks. He is having some pain now and they have put him on Tylenol with Codine. Not sure I spelled that right.
And about my age. LOL It is not so much that I think 35 is old but my life has changed so much in the last 5 years I just don't feel like a little cutie girl anymore. I love being grown up and would not go backward for anything. I have really found my way in my 30's it has truely been a blessing. Hope all is well with everyone else. Eliz33

Eliz, isn't it amazing the things modern medicine can do? He'll be up and running before you know it. Kids are so resilient! A friend of mine has a son which was in a really bad car accident several years ago. I think he was about 14 at the time. The car caught fire and he was severely burned and went thru many grafts. It took a lot of healing physically and emotionally, but he's great now and the new skin did just fine. A lot depends on the parents attitudes and his parents were strong, fun loving and very supporting. In turn the family had a lot of supportive family and friends which helped with their down times. They grew a lot over that time. I can't imagine keeping a 2 1/2 year old down for 3 weeks! Have a plan?
Hang in there, you can do it!

If you want us to send him cards from mommy's garden friends, just email your address. I for one would love to wish him well.

claire in sanford (old enough to be your mom, so please don't say YOU are old!)

No I don't have a plan to keep him off of his foot. For now I have been lucky and he does not want to walk on it. He crawls around everywhere. I am not sure what I will do. Tomorrow we go in for the skin graft. I asked the Dr. if that ment that we had saved his big toe and she said "It looks like it!" Hopefully the skin graft will go well. I am not sure what if anything they will do after that. We are to move into our new house on Thurday next week. So we will be so busy I have no clue how I will handle all of that and him. I am very excited about everything and a bit scared too. I thank you all so much for the support. Eliz33

Hats off to your Elizabeth a move and a recovering child! I'm sending lots of postive cosmic energy your way! Shannon

and christmas! you're more of a woman than i. so glad to hear things are going well for you and your baby. tammy

Both Christmas and a new home are joyous new beginnings...and though crazy busy, both so much fun. We don't have to remind you of what's important THIS Christmas...we know you have everything in perspective and will handle it all in its correct order as you see fit.

Elizabeth girl, you know if I could I'd be right there with you... You hang in there all will be fine.
You are a strong willed person and you will make it through all of this.
Glad it is looking up on baby's toe, I know how worried you were about that.
I figured you were too busy to call and I was right, forgot you got the new house.
Good luck with the move, sorry it is such a crazy time for you, but I know you well enough to know you will make it through all of this no matter how trying it feels. Don't lose hope, and don't let your self get down in the dumps over the move and David's appointments. Take one day at a time and if a box doesn't get cleaned out today then there is always tomorrow, or even next week. And ask for help! Don't let yourself get overwhelmed when you can get help.
You have many thoughts and prays with you at this time.
Take a deep breathe, get a Mt. Dew, sit down relax,or better yet go take a nap! You need to get some rest, it won't do anyone any good if you burnout trying to do it all all on your own.
Happy belated Birthday, and remember you are only as old as you feel!
Best wishes for you and yours! Call me when you get a new number!
Fran

Elizabeth, sorry to hear about your little one. I haven't been on in a while so I just saw this. Injury to our children is a mother's worst nightmare. I'm glad to hear he's healing and he was able to keep his toe. I'll say an extra prayer for him tonight.
My 19 year old was in a car accident a few weeks ago. When DH and I got to the accident scene my heart dropped into my stomach. She'd pulled out in front of someone on a busy highway and was hit just behind the driver's door. Both cars were totaled but she and the kid driving the other car both walked away. We've not thought twice about the loss of the car.

And happy B-day! Mine's on the 1st too only I'm 29. Yes I know I have a 19 year old, and a 22 yr old too. So I married young. What of it. ; )

Jen - PS. my hydrangeas doing great!

my math skills were never the best, jen, but I KNOW there's a typo there. Do you really want elizabeth to feel like an old mom? lol

That's great that you were just out of high school probably. I was 23 when I married and 31 when I had my son, who is now 24. For me, the thirties were the perfect time to raise him. I was more settled and wiser. It was definitely my happiest time. And Elizabeth, I've never felt "old" as his mom. In these times, there are so many women opting for motherhood at your age.

I hope everything's going well with you and little David and all the commotion of both moving and caring for an injured child, Elizabeth.

I KNOW you've been harried to the hilt these past few weeks!

Take care of yourself,
Jeff

Just a little update. David had his skin graft on Thursday last week and is doing very well. We got to see his foot on Monday for the first time since the accident. Looks a little weird but definatly better then it would without his toe. Claire THANK YOU so much for the card what a neat idea. He loves the stickers. We are doing well and should be closing on our new house on the 15th. I am very excited. Have a great day! Elizabeth