HUNTERRRRR PART DOS

So today I went and visited my bestest buddy, Hunter!

AND HE WAS SMILING.

I mean, he /did/ smile, when he wasn't being forced to drink this "It'll make your insides glow!" drink.

He was sitting up in his chair when we walked in, and I sat on the edge of his bed while I talked to him. He was drinking this mix of water, crystal light, and gastrografin. The last thing is some kind of chemical that will make his insides glow so they can see the CT scan easier. It apparently tasted absolutely horrendous, because he was having real trouble choking it down. I felt really bad for him. And he had TWO of these styrofoam cups to drink. *shudder*

Anyway, I showed him the video that the children had made. Well, I took it. It's all the children's church kids saying, "We miss you, Hunter! Get well soon!" And then they wave and act cute and stuff. He smiled really big when he saw that :)

Then I showed him all the pictures I've taken this week, and then he took my phone for about ten minutes and looked at his Instagram and his Facebook and stuff. He still doesn't have a phone, because the insurance company wants $200 to replace the phone. (It's a $200 deductible for an $80 phone. He paid $80 for his SIII a few months ago, and now they want $200 to replace what is, on the market, essentially an outdated model. It's insane.) So his parents are trying to figure out what to do.

The nurse came in and changed his Wound-Vac bag. It looked like KoolAid, because it was clear liquid (I'm assuming it was pus) that was tinted red (with his blood). He said it's mega-uncomfortable.

But he had no tubes except his nutrition IV in his arm (no stomach drain, no oxygen tube, no heartbeat monitors!).

The nurses admitted that they sent him home way too early. I mean, if Hunter's parents hadn't brought him back on Monday, he would most likely have been dead by Wednesday or Thursday. The starting infection, the abscess, the blockage... It's extremely lucky that he's still alive. (But I mean, this kid's unkillable. This car crash, his concussion earlier this year [blood errawhere], car crash last year... He's lucky he's never broken a bone!) This time, he's not going home until he can manage ON HIS OWN. That means he can walk, go to the bathroom by himself, and eat by himself. He will fight to stay in longer if that's what it takes, and so will his father. (His father is really scary. I'm scared of him.)

But he really looks so much better:

This is him staring down the second "Cup o' Doom." He finished the first one, stuck the straw in the second one, and glared. It was just so Hunter-y that I couldn't help but smile.

And HUNTER SMILED. HE SMILED A LOT. It was just so perfect :) I'm so very, very happy. He looks so much better than the last time I saw him. (And I now realize that the last time I saw him, he was DYING. His bodily functions were slowly shutting down and infection was spreading through his intestines. And that is really scary to think about.)

He told me that he's finally stopped having nightmares about the crash.

He's going to be so messed up. But the fact that he was smiling today (AND HE DIDN'T WINCE ONCE) means that he must be doing much better.

I've missed him <3

***

Marina's been moved to the rehab center in the hospital, and she posted a picture today from the last day she remembers. She doesn't remember how she got to the hospital, and she's a bit forgetful. But they told her that Jake died, and she got together the pictures. She said "We had a fun night. Rest in peace Jake! We all loved you"

MARINA'S AWAKE!!!!

I just got off the phone with my mother, who had previously gotten off the phone with Mrs. Deanna (Hunter's mom). She said that Deanna had gone and talked to Marina today, at Hunter's request.

"Wait...you said TALKED?! MARINA'S AWAKE?!"

"Yes! She's awake! She's conscious, and she's /aware/. She can hold a short conversation with you. She seems to be doing better."

"When did she wake up?!"

"I have no idea; I didn't ask Deanna that. They're talking of moving Marina to a rehab facility soon, so she can really focus on getting better."

"That's...that's fantastic! Wow! ...Does she know how she got there?"

"... ... I didn't ask Deanna that, but I'm sure she does. You can't just wake up in a hospital and not get told how you got there without being told everything. I don't know how she's dealing with that."

"What about Hunter?"

SO. Hunter's looking MUCH, MUCH BETTER, according to his mother! I guess they MUST have missed something in his first surgery, or something, because if she says he's doing better, and LOOKS better, then he must really have improved since I last saw him! 

Tomorrow, they're going to try and get him to move from the bed to the chair.

He's still got all the tubes and things in, so that's all right. He's getting better care.

And when they did the surgery, they found a bone fragment in his hip that they're going to remove later. Once Hunter's recovered and gone home. He'll come back to the hospital and they'll remove that in an outpatient procedure.

BUT MY BROTHER IS DOING MUCH BETTER! You have no idea how happy that makes me!

And coupled with the news that Marina's AWAKE AND TALKING!! WOW! (I mean, I don't know the girl, but I've been praying so hard that she'll be okay and not damaged mentally... I've seen her mother and talked with her father. It's just...incredible.) 

It's been a good evening!

I'm going to go visit Hunter in the hospital on Sunday (because I <i>know</i> he'll still be there then), so I'll give you a full-on update then! (I may give little updates before then, but once I talk to him, all bets are off!)

Undetermined Hospital Stay!

My mother called me when I got out of Coms this afternoon to give me an update on Hunter. She talked to his dad today. And it's not good.

They went in and did surgery yesterday, as you probably remember. Well, they found some sort of blockage (I believe), and they found an abscess in his hip/hips, so they went in and removed those. They also cleaned out infection, and removed MORE of his intestine. (Ouch.) He hasn't been able to keep his pain pills down, which is why he's in so much pain right now. 

He's got his drainage tube back in (ew), his nutrition (food) IV, and probably his morphine drip as well. It's like he never left the hospital.

This time, I think they're gonna keep him in until they're SURE he can keep food down. They'll wean him off everything again, but instead of sending him straight home, they'll keep him for a few more days and make sure he can eat. I'm pretty sure they just released him too early last time. (Maybe they thought that if they sent him home, he'd eat, because he'd be away from the stress of the hospital and whatnot. But who knows?)

It's still going to be a long ride.

***

And as far as I know, Marina's still unconscious. I haven't heard anything about her yet, but I'm sure that now Hunter's back in the hospital, we'll be getting regular updates on her again.

This is absolutely insane. I don't know how to take this any more.

I'm hoping Hunter's going to recover, mentally and physically. I don't want to lose my brother to this. (I know he's not gonna die, but I hope he's going to be the happy LOOK-AT-ME-I'M-ON-THE-ROOF-BECAUSE-I-CAN-BE person he once was.)

Is it bad that I'm absolutely furious at Jake for this? I'm still so pissed.

And upset.

And sad.

I have so many emotions running through me that I don't know what to think.

He not only killed himself by not listening to his friends, but he almost killed two of them. (Bailey's only injury, really, was the fact that he sprained his ankle really bad by kicking the door open to get out.) Marina's still got a ton of surgeries (not to mention physical therapy) to go through, and Hunter may end up hooked up to machines the rest of his life.

I hate this.

Dingbat's Having Surgery

Yes, yes. Hunter's going into surgery sometime this afternoon. They're gonna open him up and take a look-see. Hopefully they'll figure out what's going on with his intestines. (He /did/ seem a little bloated when I saw him on Friday, but I chalked that up to stitches and pills and whatnot.)

I'm assuming they're also going to clean out any infection they find.

My mom called me at 12:15 to tell me this, immediately after my Bio class let out (perfect timing). It was just like, UGH. ARE YOU SERIOUS. BROTHER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING.

So we'll see how this turns out. I hope I get an update later.

The Dingbat's Back in the Hospital -.-

Yes, you read that right. My wonderful brother's back in the hospital. 

My mom called me at around 8:45 p.m. to tell me that he's been put back in. Why?

He can't keep food down. He'll try to eat something, and then throw it back up. His body still hasn't adjusted itself yet. Yesterday, he was switched to lower-level painkillers, and that was a struggle for him (I hope he didn't become addicted to morphine in the hospital; he literally pressed that button about once a minute), so that's why I didn't get to see him yesterday.

His body functions are shutting down, just a little. His kidneys are having trouble. THE BOY HASN'T EATEN IN A WEEK, not since they took him off the IV-nutrition-food thing.

Now he's hooked back up, and he's being monitered and stuff. He's going to be okay, though, so don't freak. :3 He was just released from the hospital a few days earlier than he should have been. (The original forecast was more than 7-10 days. He was released in six.) I don't think he was quite ready to get out. He was struggling when I saw him the other day, and he was on a potent mix of painkillers then.

I don't know how long he's gonna be in this time, but hopefully not too long. I don't want to have to fight 280 traffic to get to UAB again. But I will if I have to. He's worth more than anything to me.

(And no, Hunter's not my actual brother. But we're so close that we might as well be. We actually get mistaken for siblings all the time, even by people who have known us for years. My Sunday School teacher, tenth grade? [I moved here in eighth grade.] She asked me how my brother was one Sunday, because she hadn't seen him in a while.

"I don't have a brother."

"You know, Hunter?" [Like I didn't know my brother's name.]

"...He's not my brother."

That happened way more than it should have. So we just stopped fighting it. We've been brother and sister for about four years now, and I hope that doesn't change any time soon.)

Hunter!

I went to visit my absolute bestest friend yesterday. (I mean, seriously. This guy is just absolutely beyond epic. He's kept me stable for the past few months, and if anything ever happened to him, it would be like losing a brother. I love him, just absolutely love him. We could never date, though. We've tried it, and it doesn't work very well XD)

He has a walker. He was washing his hands when I got there, and had to shuffle his way back to the couch. He moves slower than most of the older people that I know, but hey, at least he's walking! (He's also sleeping on the couch, because there's no way his parents could get him up the flight of stairs to his room. Plus, the hallway at the top of the stairs is too narrow for his walker. He's gonna be stuck downstairs for a while yet.)

He hasn't eaten much the past few days, his mother said. 

"I don't know if I'm hungry, or if I'm in pain," he told me. 

"Please, just eat something. For me? It'll make you feel better." I put a hand on his.

"I threw up this morning. It hurt. A lot. And it was black."

"I'm sorry. But maybe you just need some food in your stomach. Something soft. I have jello."

So he ate maybe half a cup of jello in forty-five minutes. It was really sad, and I wish I could have done something. But what can you do?

We just sat and watched cartoons for about an hour. I talked to him about my Talk Like a Pirate Day escapade (going out to get free donuts at 10:00 at night), how our friend Eddie hopes he gets better, and what I'm doing for Halloween. 

And he just sat and winced. It really hurt to see him like that. He's not fun and excited about life. He's barely talking.

The one time he did perk up was when our friend Cameron came over to visit and brought him some CDs. We then got into a discussion about band (Cameron and I, that is); Cam used to be in Chelsea's marching band, but graduated two years before I did. Hunter spoke up and was adament that our marching band this year sucks. So we argued about that for a bit :P

He had to take three pills while we were there, and it took him a good five minutes to get all of them down. His parents have a notebook that keeps track of all his meds and when he took each one. Loratab, Oxy-something... plus stool softeners (he moaned at that one, but his mom said, "It's gonna happen, and this will make it less painful") and infection meds. There are so many medical things hanging around his living room.

^That's his, "Why?" face. But just look at that hair :3

I don't know how he's going to survive. I hope he gets better. Everything about him just seems...dead. He needs to get well soon so I can give him a hug. (I can't hug him at all now, because it would hurt so much.)

I may go back to visit him either today or tomorrow, and then again when I come back from school next weekend. Hopefully he'll be sans walker by then, but we'll see!

***

Marina's doing very well. She came through her Wednesday surgery with flying colors: everything went much better than expected, and they were able to do more than they thought they would. So she's doing very, very well. Still unconscious, but hopefully she'll do well when she wakes up. That's what everyone's praying for, at least.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

I didn't get to post this yesterday, as yesterday was filled with all sorts of WHAT AM I DOING moments, but I figured it was time to share my stuff with y'all.

As not very many people know, September 18th is National Talk Like a Pirate Day. There are some people who go all-out for this day, wearing pirate costumes and literally answering everything in pirate-speak.

Krispy Kreme Donuts, however, probably tops everything. They give out a free donut if you simply speak like a pirate, and a free DOZEN donuts if you show up at their store dressed like a pirate! (How cool is that?)

So yesterday around 6:00, I get a text message from my friend Becca, inviting me to go to Krispy Kreme with her and a bunch of other people, to get our free donuts. I look around my dorm room, and figure that I can pull together a decent pirate costume.

After Writer's Club (I love those people!!), I drive over to the BCM with my roomie, and we sit and wait. Turns out, I'd be driving three other people as well. It's all cool.

We drive 35 minutes into Vestavia to get to the store, talking and listening to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack all the way there.

Once getting to the store, it was absolute CHAOS. There were college kids (and some high school kids) in pirate costumes EVERYWHERE. The poor people at the store didn't even bother checking costumes; they just handed EVERYONE A HOT, FRESH DOZEN DONUTS and pretty much told us to scram! So we all sat outside and ate our booty. And took pictures.

 This is me in my Pirate Bandanna and my plaid peacoat. I looked kinda like a pirate, but not really, so I was super surprised (and extremely excited) to have gotten my free donuts!

 This is my box of donuts. I mean, this thing was still WARM on the bottom when the lady tossed it at me! What more could you want?

 Our group of plunderers. I'm on the front row, far-right side. My roomie's in the red shirt next to me. You can see that she's clearly not dressed anything like a pirate. Nor were several of the other people that came with us, but we all got donuts! WOO!

Just looking around the parking lot at all the pirates that came with us. There were three or four other groups around, sitting down and scarfing donuts just like us.

All in all, I think it was a really successful night. I mean, it's a spur-of-the-moment thing, and my first Crazy College Night of the new school year. I'm hoping I'm going to get to have several more nights just like this one.

Although hopefully not quite so late... My head hurts this morning something awful.

Also, thanks to everyone who's been reading my blog the past...four months! I broke 1000 page views sometime last night! (Of course, my blog says I have over 3000, but about 2000 of those are spam sites. I have an actual counter on the sidebar of my blog that keeps track for me.) You're fantastic, and I hope I'm able to keep you coming back!

HUNTER'S GOING HOME!!!

Yes, yes! Hunter's going home from the hospital!!

You have no idea how excited I am. I get to go and see him on Friday, probably, without having to drive all the way up 280 to UAB!

This is seriously the most exciting news I've gotten in a long time. Hopefully Hunter will start eating again soon (as far as I know, while he can eat solid foods, he just doesn't want to eat).

So I'm going to go see Hunter on Friday, when I get home from college. It's going to be just absolutely awesome.

Thanks for all your prayers, guys. Now the only one who needs to wake up is Marina. Hopefully she'll get better soon. She's got another surgery scheduled for either tomorrow or Saturday, depending on how the doctors think she's doing.

Mid-Week Updates

It's been a few days since I've written, but now that I've gone back to school for the week, it's kinda hard to stay in-the-know, because I keep forgetting to text Cassidy and ask her about her brother.

SO. To recap the last few days...

The visitation was on Monday. I went to school in the morning, then drove back home after my Coms class so that I could attend that. The line for seeing the family/viewing the casket was so long, we had to weave through the chairs in the sanctuary. My dad said he'd never seen anything like it.

I met his brother, Hunter (not the same Hunter that's in the hospital). You see, Blake & Jake were adopted, so I think Hunter's their half-brother, but I'm not sure.

I met Mrs. Martha's parents, and her mother didn't want to let me go.

I hugged Blake again.

I hugged Mrs. Martha, and she said she was so grateful I was there. 

I also hugged Mr. Greg, and he just seemed...out of it.

Then I waited for my sister, and I held her hand as we walked to the casket.

I shouldn't have looked. It didn't look anything like Jake. There was so much makeup on his face, and he looked...just wrong. I'm sure they had to do a lot of reconstruction on him. They should've just had a closed-casket. But I know he's not really in that casket; he's in heaven. That's just his body.

Then we walked away from the casket and I absolutely lost it. I hugged Sarah and she told me, "DON'T YOU EVER MAKE ME DO THIS." And I promised I wouldn't. And I made her promise she wouldn't make me do that. 

I talked to a few of my friends and we shared stories. Then my friend Corey's dad got a call saying that Bailey had been released from the hospital. So Bailey's home now. (Hunter's still going to be in until at /least/ Friday, but probably longer than that. Mirana hasn't woken up yet.)

Then I drove back home.

***

On Tuesday, the funeral was at 11:00 in the morning. I didn't go. My sister and mother went, however, and my mom said it was really hard. Especially hard. I can't even imagine.

The Oak Mountain football and wrestling teams arrived in school buses. If they hadn't, there wouldn't have been any parking for anyone else; there was not an empty space in the parking lot. Which is amazing. Jake really will be missed by a ton of people.

All of the teenagers went to Zaxby's afterwards.

***

I called my mom this morning and asked about Hunter and Mirana.

Mirana had her surgery on Monday, and the surgeons reattached her spine and her pelvis. She's resting, but she's still heavily sedated. I'm hoping there's no brain damage, but my friend Jason said that she had lost oxygen at some point in time, and it might not be good.

Hunter's still not eating. He's been taking off the nutrition IV, but he just won't eat. He can eat, but he's "not hungry." It's going to hurt going through his intestines, so I suppose that's why he's not eating.

***

I'm going to go see Hunter on Friday, when I get back home from school. So hopefully everything's going to be okay.

Mirana's next surgery is scheduled for today, and then another surgery on Friday or Saturday, depending on how she does today.

Just keep these complete strangers in your prayers, please. It's going to be really rough for our youth group, to know that when we walk in, it won't be Jake and Blake keeping everybody in line. (Well, Jake keeping Blake in line.)

I'm just hoping nobody will be drastically changed by this (Blake and Hunter, especially). We need their personalities now more than anything.

Day Three

After church this morning (where I again dressed as a cowgirl), I went to the hospital to visit Hunter and Bailey. 

 Full-view!

 I got to ride a horsie today! (I don't have a name for him yet - what should I name him?)

 This is Pistol Pete - he's the bad guy! In this picture, he's stealing the treasure box!

This is Pistol Pete as he's waiting to go in. This is a completely candid shot, by the way. He had no idea that I was going to take a picture.

***

There are cops all over the waiting room now. Apparently, one of the people in the ICU is a gang-shooting victim from Tuscaloosa, so they're there to make sure that no members of the opposing gang come in and shoot up the place. (THAT is terrifying to think about!)

***

Bailey was surrounded by girls (there was only one other guy in the room), and he was sitting up and talking.

Turns out, he doesn't have a broken ankle. It's just a lot of swelling, and possibly sprained. He had no shoes on when the car crashed (neither Hunter nor he were wearing shoes; they just don't wear them), and he had to kick the door open to get out. That's how he hurt his foot.

Other than that, though, he seems to be doing fine. He's hopping around with his walker. He threw up all the food he ate yesterday (I think he overwhelmed his system), so he's back to eating just a little until he can keep things down.

***

Hunter was actually eating JELLO when we walked in to see him! His mother gave him about three spoonfuls, then he didn't want any more. He can drink water (I'm sure he's excited about that; he was constantly dipping his blue tongue-sponge in water and sponging himself in our previous visits). 

He's not quite as itchy as he has been; he said that the itching was about a 5 on the 1-10 scale, so that's good.

He's had a bath, so all his dried blood and stuff has been cleaned up. While he was being bathed and cleaned up and stuff, they found a pinecone in his butt. I'm not even joking. There was still all sorts of debris and stuff on his back, because their #1 concern when he got to the hospital was getting his intestines sewn up and his stomach emptied. So he's been lying on this stuff for a while. At least all the pinestraw and dirt and stuff is gone now, so he can truly rest comfortably in his bed.

He wasn't quite as awake today as he has been. He used my phone to check his Facebook wall (he's going insane over his phone). He's sure that they'll find his phone once they're able to check out the car. It's still impounded by the coroner.

Hunter's doing very well, though. He told us that we make his day brighter. If people didn't come and visit him, he'd be very depressed. 

I just hope that this experience doesn't change his personality. He's always been bright and happy, the one person who tells me that everything's going to be okay, that I have so much to live for and I shouldn't dwell on the past. He's one of the reasons I'm probably not dead yet. So I hope he's still going to be the same afterwards. It's going to be hard, though.

***

Not much information on Mariana, but they were washing her hair today. That's the one thing that her mother has been after: "Can we please wash her hair?" 

I learned that she's a very athletic person, so having to go 16 weeks without putting any weight on EITHER leg (so no walking) is going to drive her bonkers once she wakes up. (She's got a broken femur. Along with all those other broken bones, of course.)

It's just amazing that she's not dead. If anybody else had been in that front passenger seat, Bailey especially, they would have died. I'm still having trouble figuring out why HUNTER wasn't in that seat. I would've thought that Bailey would've wanted to sit next to his girlfriend. I think only Bailey or Mariana can answer that question, and I don't think that's a question I want to ask.

***

Blake (Jake's brother) and his parents came to visit Hunter, Bailey, and Mariana today. Hunter told me that he thought he was ready. He was blank emotionally while they were there, but his body reacted. Heart monitor went all over the place, and his fever came back. "I wasn't ready," he told me later.

I ran into Blake on his way out, and I gave him a long hug. He whispered, "I'm going to miss him so much." 

"We all are. You should've seen all the people gathered in the youth room this morning, Blake. We love him so much." And we stared out the window for a few minutes before he continued on his way to meet up with his parents (who were talking to Bailey's dad in the waiting room).

The visitation's tomorrow evening, and I'm going back home for that. I won't go to the funeral, because that'll mean missing both of my classes on Tuesday, and I can't afford to do that. (I have a Psych test on Tuesday, anyways. I hope I do well.)

***

It's a long road ahead still. I hope to go back to the hospital next Friday and see Hunter again, if he's still in the hospital. Otherwise, I'm going to his house.

The children made cards in Children's Church today, and they all signed the big card that I made for Hunter. Hunter had me read a few cards out, but he was just so...tired. He probably took a short nap after we left.

Mariana's phone was found by two girls who just went by the scene to SEE IT. They had NO CONNECTION TO ANYBODY IN THE CRASH. They just wanted to see "Where that kid died." They found her case, then her phone (it had separated in the crash) and put a picture on Instagram. "Hey, we found this phone! If anybody knows who it belongs to, come and get it!"

Their Instagram was immediately swamped with messages saying, "TAKE THAT DOWN" "WHAT ARE YOU DOING" "DO YOU HAVE ANY RESPECT?!" and so on. It was taken down within the hour, and she called Mariana's sister saying, "I'm sorry, I didn't know!"

...

YOU DIDN'T KNOW?!

Anyway, the phone was still usable. The sister knew the password, so they were able to get into the phone. It's probably cracked, but they can still use it. 

I wonder if Hunter's phone is going to be in one piece...

Day Two

So I went to visit Hunter in the hospital today, about lunchtime or so. He was sitting up in bed (well, propped up), and he didn't have his neck brace on any more. One of his tubes was gone, and while we were there, they took out the tube that ran through his nose to his stomach (to suck up his stomach juice...ew). He's been moved to a different room, and he's okay to walk a bit. He said that the worst part is, "I have to get up to peeeeee." And he made this face. He's still upset that they cut his New Orleans shirt off in the ambulance, and that they took his pants. ("I WAS SO EXPOSED. THEY SAY EVERYYYYTHINGGGGG D:")

He's also extremely itchy. It's the medication he's on, combined with the fact that he hasn't had a bath in like two days. His mother was constantly scratching him while we were there. He got me to scratch his head and his left side while his mom did his legs. He's also extremely bossy. Like almost mean-bossy. But I mean, if I had staples in my guts, I'd be rude, too. *shivers*

He's also got a fracture pelvis, but it's a hairline fracture, and shouldn't be too bad. They're not worried about it.

He won't be able to eat for a few weeks. People keep bringing him baskets of goodies, and all he can do is stare at them. It's going to be torture. But at least he looked more alive today, and he was certainly alert.

***

I went to visit Bailey before we left, and he was sitting in the chair in his room. He started physical therapy today, and his therapy was to stand up for five minutes, then move to his chair. He still can't put any weight on his left ankle, but he can hop to the bathroom and back. He's really upbeat and happy, and he feels kinda bad that Hunter can't eat all the delicious food. (You should've seen the feast spread before Bailey. There was so much food for such a scrawny kid.) I told Bailey that Jason might come visit him, and he said, "Zac too?" So hopefully Jason and Zac show up tomorrow. Maybe even while I'm there!!

He's got a puncture in his lung that they're watching in case of pneumonia, but he should be going home very soon.

***

Mariana is actually doing VERY well. They were able to get her stable enough to operate on, and finished about two a.m. this morning. She's still in a medically-induced coma, because every time she wakes up, she has a panic attack and tries to rip her tubes out. Nobody's really sure of her mental state, so they're keeping her heavily sedated.

They put a brace on Mariana's leg, put her bones back inside her skin, and got everything set. They discovered that her pelvis is snapped in two places, one on either side of her spine. Once she rests up, they're going to see if she's strong enough for surgery on Monday. If she is, they're going to tie her pelvis back together and do a bit of setting of her hips. 

The doctors aren't even worried about her brain hemorrhage and her collapsed lung any more. We saw her dad as we were headed out, and he told us all of this. He seems very good for a guy whose daughter was crushed by a car.

***

All in all, everyone's doing very well. Better than any of them should be.

The officer on duty tonight at TreeTop (we have an officer there on Fridays and Saturdays to keep peace if anything happens) said that he was on-site at the accident on Friday. He said that Jake was doing AT LEAST 110, maybe more, when he hit the tree. It took just over an hour to cut Mirana out, and once all the living were headed to the hospital, they cut Jake out. It took them over two hours to do that.

Hunter's dad went out to the site with Hunter's sister (Cassidy) today. They couldn't find Hunter's phone. Cass took pictures of the crash site, and the junk that's still there. (The Audi symbol from the front of the car is lying near the tree.)

One headlight was fifty feet, straight in front, from the tree. There was a quarter embedded in the tree trunk. But no phone. (Mr. Greg gave Hunter the quarter he dug out.)

Here's Jake's obituary, if you want to read it.

I'm not sure if I'm going to go to the funeral or the viewing. Either one of them will destroy me. I'll miss school for the funeral, though, and I can't do that. I'm a note taker for one class, so I'm very, very important. I may have to just go the viewing.

So. Those are my updates for today.

What REALLY Happened This Morning...

Okay. This is going to get long. But I need to get this out. 

At 2:00 this morning, Jake Miller, Bailey Miller (no relation to Jake), Bailey's Girlfriend Marina Hall, and Hunter Moss were all in a car that Jake was driving. He was driving way too fast, and they were all telling him to slow down. Marina's in the passenger seat, Hunter's behind the driver, and Bailey's behind the passenger.

Jake rounded a curve in the road, lost control of the vehicle, and hit a tree going at least 90mph, according to the traffic people who surveyed the scene. There were no skidmarks on the road, so he didn't even tap the brakes. Jake died on impact.

Bailey and Hunter managed to force their way out of the car. Bailey called his dad (they were very close to his house), and then he dialed 911. Bailey attempted to get Marina out. Marina had been nearly crushed by the engine. The tree had pushed it on top of her. If she hadn't been so small, and if the airbag hadn't covered her so well, she would've died right there, just like Jake.

Bailey also tried to get Jake out, but he couldn't.

It took over an hour for the paramedics to cut Marina out of the car. I don't know if she was conscious then or not. If she was conscious, she was probably looking at Jake the whole time. The paramedics were more worried about the living person than the dead body at the moment, and rightly so. They managed to get her out and into an ambulance.

Bailey had a broken ankle, so they put him in the ambulance as well.

Hunter was walking around, but he complained of stomach pain, so they put him in an ambulance and rushed him to the hospital.

Bailey ended up with some internal bleeding and a broken ankle. When I left the hospital (at around 2:00), he had just finished surgery and was waking up. He's the least injured of them all. But he's probably going to be the most damaged, mentally. He seems all happy and ready-to-go, but Mateo told me that Bailey kept repeating, "I couldn't get him out! I COULDN'T GET HIM OUT!" when they talked. [Referring to Jake.]

Hunter's intestine was sliced open somehow, or else burst, and he had to have emergency surgery, several xrays, and a CT scan. They're going to keep him in the hospital for 7-10 days, to make sure there's no chance of infection. I was able to see him while I was there, and we talked for a bit. He really, really wants to drink something, but he can't drink anything until they sew his midsection back up. (And that's going to be a while.) He looks MUCH worse than he is:

You can't see the seatbelt bruise, but it's there, and it's VERY prominent. It's really bad. (One of the adults said that he should say that he got into a knife fight, and that's how he got these scars. Hunter laughed, then winced.) He was very drugged up when I saw him, both times, but he was able to talk more the second time. He's still in immense pain, and I'm sincerely hoping that he's able to talk more on Sunday when I go back to see him (I doubt I'll be able to see him tomorrow.)

Marina's hips are broken in at least three different places. She's got compound fractures and breaks in nearly every bone in her body. If she gets through this, she's going to have to learn how to walk again. When I was at the hospital, she was still too unstable to put into surgery. She was also in a medically-induced coma, to keep her from going into shock. I saw her mother while I was there, and she didn't look good at all. (But then again, who would be? Seeing your daughter like that...)

We're still not sure what happened, or how the car was. We can't see the car until the coroner has made his report and released it. Once they do, one of our church members (who is friends with the guy who owns the wrecker lot where the car was taken) is going to go and take pictures of the car. It was a little Audi A4, so it was a tiny little car. I can't imagine there being very much left.

Bailey was told that Jake was dead while he was on the way to the hospital. Hunter figured it out on his own, from listening to the policemen talk and from the way people were acting. I don't know if Marina's been conscious enough to know.

I spent about six hours in the hospital waiting room, watching Hunter's friends come and sit and wait, because they couldn't go back and see him. It was family-only for a while, and once his mother and father could go back, they didn't come back out to the waiting room. His brother came back and sat in a corner and cried, which really scared me. I was actually the first non-family-member that he asked to see. I felt really happy about that. And he didn't look as bad as Aaron (his brother) had led me to believe.

We're still trying to piece together the story, and I think we're never going to have the whole thing.

Just keep them in your prayers and thoughts, please. I know that you know none of these people, but Hunter means the world to me. He's my best friend, and he's kept me from killing myself a few times in the past three months. 

It's going to be a tough recovery for these people, particularly Marina, if she pulls through. (And I hope she does, otherwise that may be what makes Bailey snap.)