The Accident

We have had many questions about our "accident" and what happened so I thought I would explain it and let everyone know about what we call our MIRACLES!! It was after last Thanksgiving my kids and I were in a severe auto accident. It was pretty traumatizing for all of us. Luckily the kids were only bruised and scratches. Nothing serious...THANK HEAVEN!!! That was first of the major miracles though. Cause Megan should have technically been thrown from the car. She had undone her seat belt (now she is always making sure everyone has there's on) and I was trying to do it back up and rear ended a gravel truck with two trailers. Not a pretty sight. As for me it was a much, much different story. The steering column collapsed and slammed the steering wheel into my right leg breaking my femur bone. I broke a couple of my ribs and bruised my sternum. I had a severe concussion from hitting my head on the windshield...weeks later I was still digging glass out of my hair. Another MAJOR miracle was that about 30 seconds after the accident happened my mom and Jules (my sister) pulled up to the stop sign right by the accident. They were there the entire time to help us. My mom stayed with my kids and Julie went with me. They seriously were a godsend to us. I don't know how I would have done it cause my kids were in a different ambulance than me and I was so scared for them. SO it was wonderful that they were there. Julie helped me a ton cause I was in the worst pain I have EVER been in. A hundred times worse than labor and delivery. Another miracle was that my doc informed me if I had broken my bone and inch higher I would have hit the main artery right there and I would have bled out in seconds. Wow talk about a shock to us all. I thought I was going to die. The accident happened at 1pm and by 6 I still didn't have any pain meds cause they hadn't found a vein...the curse of red hair and fair skin. I was praying I could pass out but didn't happen. Finally at 6:30 the doc showed up, he had been waylaid because they had to have a special rod delivered because my femur was longer than any they have ever done....crazy!!! They finally put me under for surgery. I was never so grateful in my life for anesthesia as I was that moment. Needless to say I was in pretty rough shape. Six hours later I had a rod inserted inside my bone in my leg. They did a nice 6 inch incision through my hip muscles and hollowed out my bone and put a titanium rod inside and then screwed it into place with 4 screws. One of the screws stripped out while they were putting it in so they had to make a new hole...sounds like a construction project. But I guess they were reconstructing my leg. I was hospitalized for three days and then our family moved in with my mom and dad and Jill. We stayed with them for over two weeks until Jeremiah was done teaching for Christmas break. They were a Godsend again and always are. I would have never made it if we hadn't gone there. I was in SOOOO much pain and could not even lift my leg an inch. I couldn't even put weight on my leg for the first couple of days. Then I was only barely weight bearing. Me and my crutches were great friends. By the time I went home I was about 35% weight bearing. Jeremiah finished teaching on Dec. 17th and we were able to move back home. It was a challenge though cause my bedroom was up FOURTEEN stairs. We set up camp downstairs but I really missed my bed and so I moved back up. The exercise was good for me but quite a challenge. Christmas was a very humbling experience that year. Luckily I had already finished all my Christmas shopping before the accident. So that was a HUGE relief. But we realized how blessed we truly were. In reality we should not have lived through that but we did and I was so grateful that my kids were OK. We have had a lot to deal with the past twelve months. The kids and I had nightmares and a lot of emotional issues...but we learned that a lot of talking and a WHOLE lot of crying was very helpful. We had such wonderful friends and WONDERFUL family to help us through it all. This past summer I had to finally have my screws removed and that was quite fun. Then about a month and a half ago I found out that I had developed bursitis in my hip and I am now receiving steroid shots to help deal with that pain. We are actually handling it pretty good. It has been a long haul but definitely a learning and growing experience. Gotta love those. I am just so grateful we are all here and alive and well. My kids are fantastic now and I am actually walking. There is so much to be happy about. So that is my story...whew quite a long one sorry!!