on Friday June 28th at around 3:50 pm Tyson was in a car accident.
let's jump back to about 3 hours before his accident, Brody, Sydney and I ate lunch with Tyson. we were pretty quick because Tyson had to get back to work for a meeting and I was going on visits to see a few ladies from church. while eating lunch i was telling Tyson that I kinda didn't feel very good, he suggested coming home early, but I told him no, because I would be on my visits and I would be fine. we parted our ways and that was that.
from what we can figure, it had to of been around 3:30 when Tyson was at work, sitting in front of his computer working on a power point presentation, when he says he was looking at the screen and just felt a gush of energy just rush down his body, and literally could not for the life of him remember what he was working on. he decided to get up and walk around for a few minutes to try and shake things off, but when he came back to his desk he still couldn't remember anything. he had a feeling that maybe something was wrong with me, because remember how at lunch I told him I didn't feel very good. and so he thought once he could get a hold of me he would be able to refocus. so he tried calling and texting me, that was at 3:40 pm. when Tyson couldn't get a hold of me he decided to just come home for the day and check on me. All he remembers is getting into the car to drive home.
as I was about to leave my friend Emily's house I was grabbing the kiddos and my stuff and checked my phone and noticed I had just missed Tyson's call and a text. I got the kids in the car and called him back. he was in the car on his way home. he told me he was just about to get off on Gaskins (the exit he takes off the highway to come home), and he said he was thinking something was wrong with me, I told him I was fine, just tired and told him I was just leaving Emily's house and was on my way home too.
I started just talking to him telling him about my visits when I noticed he wasn't responding to what I was saying, but I could hear he was still on the line. I started saying, "tyson? tyson?" and then I kinda heard a slight moan on the other end and that was it. in that quick moment i first thought maybe he dropped his cell phone when he went to shift to go around the sharp turn on Gaskins. so I tried calling him back a couple of times but he never answered. all of this happened within like 2-3 minutes! I thought it was kind of weird and got a little scared inside but told myself it was ok. i kept trying to call him and then tried calling his work cell. i called his work cell a few times when suddenly a women answered his phone and she told me Tyson had been in an accident. I quickly asked her if 911 had been called and she said yes, she told me where the accident was, I was like 1 minute away. She told me he was shaking and foaming at the mouth and I begged her not to leave him and told her to tell him I was coming. it took everything in me to stay calm so I wouldn't scare Brody. Luckily Sydney had fallen asleep and Brody was playing on the ipad. She told me to take my time and she would stay with him.
I drove over the overpass on Gaskins (heading toward threechopt), there were firetrucks, police cars and an ambulance. my mind was racing, my heart was praying uncontrollably, could all of this have just happened within minutes? I mean, I was JUST talking to him! and how did his car get on the other side of Gaskins? from where he had gotten off the highway his car was on the other side of the over pass.
I pulled up behind a firetruck and told a fire fighter that was my husband in the accident and my kids were in my car and he just told me to go to Tyson.
I ran towards his car, his smashed up car ( it looked a lot worse to me at the scene than in the picture ). I saw a girl standing by the car and told her my kids were in my car, please go sit with them and she did. Tyson was still in his car when I got there. still buckled in, no scratches, no blood. the women who had answered his phone got out of Tyson's car and came to be by me. I think her name was Cheryl. she told me she saw that there was the accident and pulled over next to Tyson's car and just got in the car with him. yes, you read that right. this women pulled up to Tyson's car and got in with him! how amazing is she? an angel perhaps? i thanked her over and over for being being with him. but by the time I left the scene she was already gone before I could get her information. The more I play it all through my head, I really think she was an angel.
But back to the scene, Tyson was totally out of it. and I mean OUT. OF. IT. he was super lethargic and ANGRY. So so ANGRY and looked liked he was drugged up. The paramedics were trying to get him to stand up and get him out of his car and onto the stretcher but Tyson would not have it. He didn't want to be touched, he kept saying he hurt and he just kept yelling at all of us. I kept telling him him he needed to just try and calm down and he looked at me and yelled, leave me alone Emily! In my mind I was like, WHAT? and I told him no that it was me, Jen and I was here with him, but he just kept calling (yelling) at me, Emily! He didn't even know who I was.
Because he kept fighting the paramedics, the paramedics finally told me that I had to be the one to try and get him on the stretcher. I must have been full of adrenaline and I think heavenly father was with me too, but I was somehow able to pick Angry Tyson up and get him on the stretcher and the paramedics took him away into the ambulance.
then the cops start talking to me trying to figure things out, how did i know tyson was in the accident and where it was? why wasn't he at work? was he on drugs? i told them i was talking to him on the phone, the lady Cheryl answered his phone and told me where he was, he wasn't as work because he left early because he thought something was wrong with me. (WRONG! What was wrong, was Tyson! he just didn't realize it at the time.) and NO, he was not on drugs. but man alive, those cops were determined he was on drugs. and to be honest, if you could have seen Tyson, you too would have thought he was on drugs. It was bad, i mean bad. They searched his car high and low for any "evidence". They wanted to know how often he drank. I just kept telling them he doesn't do drugs and doesn't drink!I know it was super hard for them to believe me. I just told them he didn't do any of that. It did cross my mind though, was he on drugs? because seriously, you should have seen him. they asked if he had Epilepsy, I said no. They were thinking that maybe he had a seizure. meanwhile, as I am being drilled by the cops, which I should note they were really nice, they were just trying to figure it all out. one of the paramedics comes up to me and says, "miss, you're going to need to come inside the ambulance and calm your husband down". in my mind i was like really? he doesn't even know who I am.
I ran over to the ambulance and the first thing I saw, was Tyson handcuffed and tied down to the stretcher. yes, he was that angry they had to tie him down and handcuff him (awesome!). i just kept telling him firmly that he needed to calm down so that the paramedics could help him. but of course he just kept yelling at me calling me Emily. don't worry, I kept reminding him I was Jen. and I looked at the paramedics, told them knock him out if they could. I had to go back to the police and fill out some paper work, I did that, then went back to the ambulance where they told me they were taking Tyson downtown to VCU hospital.
I knew I couldn't take my kids with me to the hospital, and I got out my phone and quickly called my friend Lara, who also happens to live across the street from me. Up to that point I had kept it together, until Lara answered her phone. and I lost it, like hysterical, telling her Tyson had been in an accident, he didn't know who I was, and she had to help me and take my kids for me. she told me to come home and she could take care of them. The accident was super close to our house. I ran back to my car and thanked the sweet girl who stayed with my kids, and started to drive home. I knew I had to start calling family. I called Tyson's mom first, no answer. I called my mom, no answer. I called my dad, no answer. I called Tyson's sister Amy, no answer. I called my brother and he answered and I couldn't even talk I was still completely hysterical in tears, my brother just kept telling me to tell him what happened, and all I know I said was, "tyson's been in an accident and he doesn't know who I am, he's headed to the hospital, pray for him, call mom and dad." and that was that conversation. Then I got a hold of Tyson's sister Sara who too had to deal with me in total hysteria! (sorry guys!) she called everyone else for me to tell them to pray for Tyson.
meanwhile, I got home, luckily Lara's nieces were in town, so they watched her kids, Lara got our good friend Ashlee who lives across the street to watch Sydney and Brody and Lara went with me down to the hospital.
As we were on our way to the hospital I got a text from my brother saying he was on his way and would be there in a few hours!
At the time I called my brother I had forgotten he was in Chicago on business and when I called him he was on his airplane ready to head back to Oregon, but when he got off the phone with me he told the flight attendant there had been an accident and he had to get off the plane and get to D.C., they opened the door to the plane got him off and onto a plane that was just about to take off to D.C. he was here within 4 hours! yeah, amazing huh? he was my saving grace!!!
I was so scared that Tyson wasn't going to remember me. we made it to the hospital and by that point I had talk to Tyson's parents and my mom. Lara and I got to Tyson's room in the E.R. and there he was sitting on the edge of the hospital bed with lots of wires hanging from him and I looked at him and asked, "do you know who i am"? and he looked and me and said, "of course, you're Jen" .....HUGE RELIEF PEOPLE!!!! and then I said to him, "now i promise i won't be bad at you, so be honest, are you on drugs?" and he laughed and said, "no". Hey!,I had to ask!! we laugh about it now.
after knowing he knew who I was and wasn't on drugs I started to feel a teeny tiny bit better. he was still loopy, not angry just a little goofy. Lara's sweet husband came down to the hospital and gave Tyson a blessing and then the doctor came in to talk to him, Tyson didn't remember the doctor, nor did he remember the questions the doctor asked him. the doctor ask him the same questions I guess he asked Tyson when he first got to the hospital and this time he was able to answer them. they did x-rays, heart test, cat scan, urine and blood samples, you name it a test was done. and everything came back normal. which obviously is great. in conclusion to all of this, they determined that he indeed had a seizure while driving. SO SCARY!
The doctor said that patients who have a seizure, start off angry when coming out of the seizure then slowly being to come to and get goofy and slowly become normal again. Luckily for Tyson he does not remember at thing. all he remembers is leaving work to come home, waking up in the ambulance for a quick second knowing he was handcuffed and really mad and that's it. Tyson had to stay at the hospital for a few more hours to be monitored, so I headed home. I got the kids from Ashlee and got the kids all ready for bed and put to sleep, Tyson called and said he was good to go and to come get him. Ashlee stayed at my house while I went to pick up Tyson.
When Tyson said he was good to go, I asked him where he was. his reply, "in a hallway" me: alone? tyson: yeah. me: what if something happens? tyson: i dunno. me: um, okay i'm on my way, you just had a seizure while driving, hit two cars and you are in a hallway all alone, perfect! Thanks VCU Hospital ;)
So yeah, to quickly recap things, talking on the phone with Tyson, car crash, no memory, angry tyson, tyson calling me Emily (which we figured was the last thing he heard me say before he had his seizure was, "i just left Emily's") calling everyone telling them to pray for Tyson (because we didn't know what was wrong), being completely hysterical about the whole thing, to....okay I am good to go come pick me up. WHA??????? yes all that happened. the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. that all really did happen and I'm the only one that was there for it all. I mean obviously all my amazing friends who helped me out were there, but really it was only me who saw the accident and went through it all. it's like i made it all up. i didn't. ha! but it was all so crazy. Anddddd...I'm kinda glad Tyson doesn't remember any of the accident.
I picked Tyson up from the hospital he was good! the doctor said to take it super easy for a week, and if he were to have another seizure it would be within that week. Good News, he never had another one, nor has he had another one. he's had a check up with her doctor and he is good. By law he had to see a Neurologist which he saw on August 29th, that appointment went great. The doctor looked at his CT scan and x-rays from the day of the accident, she said his brain looked healthy and amazing. She also had him do some movement tests and he did just fine.
So from there she set up an appointment for an EEG which he had today. Everything went good and now we just wait. If they find anything funny in this test, then they will schedule an MRI. If everything comes back fine from the EEG then he just has a follow up with his Neurologist in December.
By law, because Tyson had the seizure while driving, he can not drive for 6 months, so December 28th is his official driving day. So lucky for him he has me to drive him all around :) it's actually really great and we love all the extra time we get to spend together as a family.
he is doing great. to him all of this still never happened, so at first it was hard for him to take it easy. I had to remind him his accident was so bad that he doesn't remember a thing, that's kinda huge for the brain. but he really is great! after the accident my amazing brother Jeremy stayed with us for a week to help make sure everything was ok for all of us. he is AMAZING. I am so thankful for him. I am thankful for all my wonderful, loving friends who have helped me over the past few months and for Tyson's work and his co-workers for being so great to us.
The first month after his accident was super hard for me. I was afraid to leave him alone with the kids in case something happened to him. We've had a few incidents where I have left Tyson and the kids alone and I've called and he did not answer his phone. Talk about instant panic! Luckily the few times, they were either playing down stairs or Tyson just didn't get to his phone in time. So thank heavens, but moments like that may of had me in tears in the car, or in the little boys underwear section in Target sobbing. not a big deal ;) but two and half months in and I am doing better and Tyson is doing great. We know he is totally safe at work, and everyone around him is there watching out for him, and the rest of the time he is with us.
Andddd...I have left him alone with the kids more and more too. ha!
The doctors all think this was just a one time thing for him, but they will continue to test him and check him just to make sure.
We know Heavenly Father was looking out for us that day of the accident. Tyson got off the highway and just barely finish the turn off Gaskins Rd, where he proceeded to hit a car coming up Gaskins, hoping over the median, followed by hitting another car coming down Gaskins Rd. before stopping. everyone involved was ok. thank goodness. He was going through his seizure during the whole crash, literally an angel had to of been driving his car. it just makes no sense how his car got where it did and so safely at that. You just have to see the whole intersection to get it. We just feel so blessed. We have gone through every scenario possible, thank heavens he was off the highway going slow instead of 70 mph and crashing on the highway, thank heavens he wasn't with the kids, thank heavens he wasn't killed or killed someone else, or severely injured etc, etc... we count our blessings daily! I am beyond what words can express how thankful I am that Tyson is OK and just love him so much! Biggest scare of my life.
Thanks again to literally EVERYONE for helping us, calling us, emails, texts, thoughts, prayers, you name it. THANK YOU!!!
