Surviving Accident-Prone Children - My Accident-Prone Children Survived to Adults but the Accidents continue

When my son asked if he could live with my brother and family in Texas, I was reluctant, but agreed to allow him to visit for the summer. Although at age 16 Wally wanted to at least visit for the summer, but, once he got to Texas he wanted to stay, and my brother said it would be okay if he wanted to stay with him and his family, under the condition he would finish school. So I gave in to my brother’s conditions and gave my permission.

How could I think the accidents would stop?

It was not long after Wally’s arrival at my brother’s house before the accidents continued.

One was the crash of a dirt bike in which Wally had his leg cut to the bone.

I was in Illinois a thousand miles away. I told my current husband I wanted to go and see about my son. He told me he did not want to come down here, so I purchased an airline ticket and when I told hubby I had my ticket to visit my son. He knew that I was terrified to fly and realized how determined I was to see about my son, he quickly changed his mind and decided to drive down with me.

After I return the ticket Hubby and I drove down to visit Wally.

October 27, 2013 I went to visit my son to glean bits and pieces to connect the time lines of accidents,

Walter (he no longer wants to be called Wally) told me about accidents that I had not known about, like the time my brother had him hold a plastic bucket under a hot catalytic converter and as the hot parts fell into the plastic bucket it melted into his hand and he had to be taken to the ER for burns on his hands.

It seems there were accidents I did not hear about till now.

Wally/Walter got a job at a Mobil service station after school and weekends. Bill, the man that he worked for had a routine exterminator to come in and make sure the station did not have any unwanted critters.

When the exterminator could not come in one day of the scheduled days, Walter convinced Bill that he could do the exterminating job.

When Walter sprayed the pesticide, he did not follow the directions. He inhaled some of the pesticide and it knocked him out. Fortunately a customer came into the station and found him passed out and called an ambulance. He almost lost his job over that one.

It was at the station where Wally met and married his first wife and nine months later the couple had a baby daughter.

Again I was thinking that now that he is married maybe the accidents will stop.

I know this is not one of Wally’s regular accidents, but because it could have been and that is why I am including this incident.

Going to school all day and working all night was taking a toll on Wally/Walter and when his wife left him alone with their baby daughter, he went to sleep when he was supposed to be watching her, when he awoke sometime later his daughter was asleep, and he got up and went to the bathroom, when he was washing his hands and he looked up, and he was looking into the face of a black man with his features. He rushed back into the living room to find the half bottle of black shoe polish sitting on the coffee table.

Wally’s little daughter had found the bottle of shoe polish with the cap un-secured, so she painted her dad’s face, her first masterpiece.

My son Walter, alias Wally never knew if he was right or left handed. I don't know if he does to this day.

Married to his second wife and the father of a little boy, Wally had his visitation with his daughter every other weekend. On one particular weekend he was showing off for his son and daughter, by swinging by his leg on the monkey bar. After swinging by his legs for a while he pulled himself up to sitting on the monkey bar, when suddenly (as he explained to me how it happened) he felt himself falling and grabs onto the chain and came down full force with all his weight pulling on his right arm, He could feel the muscles pulling loose from the bone and explained that it was like rubber bands snaping that balled up under the skin.

Wally went to the hospital and they were able to reattach the muscles to the bone and he was told he would not have total use of his right arm again. Or so he was told.

He said he told the doctor “oh yes I will.” Losing the ability to write with his right hand was not a problem, because to this day I could not tell you if he is right or left handed, from the time he began using spoons and forks he would us first one hand and then the other.

When Wally was sent to physical therapy for his arm, on the very first day, as he went in the door of the gym he tripped on the door seal and broke his foot.

I took him to the doctor and they put a cast on his foot and he was told not to drive until he got the cast off, but the following day he was determined to drive to work and when he was stopped for a red light his foot with the cast slipped off the brake and he slammed into the car in front of him.

Walter had worked his way up to manager of the Mobile station and was divorced from his second wife, she got custody of his two sons and he got the house that he bought without her.

I had left work early because I was sick with a really bad cold and, I had just closed my eyes to take a nap when the phone rang. It was a lady from Mobil, who said, “Your son has been hurt – I don’t know how bad – he has been taken to the hospital” then gave me the name, address and directions on how to get there.

I ran outside to get my husband who had been cutting the grass on the lot in back of our house and he had gone into the ditch and got stuck. I ran back to the house got chains and the van and pulled him out before I told him about Wally.

When we arrived at the hospital, I went straight to emergency admitting and while I was providing information, my husband found out there were two other Mobile people there. One was Hope, Wally’s assistant manager and the other was Brenda Dearman, manager of the North Richland Hills Mobile station.

When she saw me Hope said to Brenda, “Here is his mom” and Brenda told me what happened.

Brenda’s station was having a grand opening and her and her husband being good friends with Wally ask him to help out with the free hot dogs and blowing up the balloons for the kids.

He had been on the hot dog trailer about half an hour, handing out hot dogs and blowing up balloons, (the balloons were the long skinny kind that have to be blown using a helium tank) so they could be twisted into animal shapes. When someone jokingly said: “I’ll bet you a dollar you can’t blow up one of those balloons without the helium tank.”

You have only to meet my son once or twice to know if you tell him he can’t do something, he will do it or die trying – well he did blow it up and almost died doing it.

He took the balloon and proceeded to blow it up, then when he took it away from his lips, gulped in to much air, hyperventilated, passed out and fell from the trailer which was several feet off the ground onto the concrete. Regaining consciousness Brenda asked what my number was, but he could not tell her, so she called his supervisor and she was the one who called me.

While Brenda and Hope went to pick up Walter’s truck, we went into the emergency room and there he was sitting up laughing and joking with the attendants and nurses. He had a slight concussion, but was allowed to go home.

On the way home he told me how Brenda had saved him from being killed or at the very least paralyzed.

As I said before the trailer platform was several feet off the ground and the door was above the tongue and hitch and when Brenda saw that Wally would fall across the tongue/hitch and she knew she could not catch him, she ran and pushed him away so he fell onto the ground but his head hit the sidewalk.

This was the sixth time he was in an emergency room this year. This happened on a Saturday and on Monday he filed an insurance claim, and the following Saturday he called and told me that he had a date with the girl who took his insurance claim, and said “see Mom, not all bumps and bruises lead to sore endings!”

Brett: He was on a baseball team after work, and was hit by the baseball off the bat, in the leg, and was on disability for a long. He kept most of the details from me.

Walter: He and a group of neighborhood friends were ridding dirt bikes across an open field and Walter hit a deep rut and had a bad accident that not only knocked him out but messed up both knees and he had to have surgery on both. This is a different dirt bike, not the one where he cut his leg to the bone.

Walter no longer wanted to be called Wally. I wish he could outgrow the accidents, and hope that I don't get the chance to write another hub on this subject.

I Love you both my sons.

Well Walter had surgery on his left arm today, he had to have the legiments reattached same as the surgery on his right are, years ago.

Now they match, and from his scars he will look like he was nailed to the wall through his arms.

Still pretty sore after being dumped out of the raft in a class 4 rapid. Our guide lied to us... he said there were instructions written on the bottom of the raft however, I didn't see any.

Anyone can use a raft to go through a rapid.. Try going through it without one!!!!

Walter loves Bar-B-Que. He decided to make steaks for himself and his wife on the gas grill. There is a reservoir that holds the hot grease and he decided to clean it when the grill was still hot and when he pulled out the reservoir he spilled the hot grease on his legs.

The scars from this mishap will be will him forever.

Walter and his wife Snow, invited me and my friend Mary to their home for Christmas dinner the week before Christmas because they planned to go on a cruse on the Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas ship.

Then a few days before Christmas I learned that when they went snorkeling Walter broke his left foot. I jokingly tell people they have very hard water in the Caribbean. I then found out that he was stepping into the catamaran and a wave came and caused his foot to turn and break.

Got my fingers, toes and eyes crossed. No accidents please.