Saturday, May 14, 2011

The Hand That 2011 Has Dealt So Far....

May 13......D-Blog week was the week that I was going to jump back into blogging. Here it is the very last day...and I here I am. Actually, it's quite appropriate for how my life has been since January 12.
January 12 is yet another day engraved in my mind forever, much like Jada's diagnosis date. A game changer for our family. January 12 is the day that Jeff was involved in a horrible car accident in the middle of nowhere Alaska in 20-30 below temperatures.
He was coming home from Delta Junction (95 miles away) in a Subaru station wagon driven by his friend and co-worker, Luke. They came up over a hill and were going down the other side, when a truck in the opposite lane passed another vehicle in a no passing zone. It was icy. Jeff and Luke had nowhere to go, so Luke turned the car sideways and took the full force of this big truck. What they didn't know, was the "other vehicle" was an ambulance, coming back from Fairbanks. God is so good. Jeff and Luke had immediate medical attention....that doesn't even happen in the middle of a city! The entire left side of Luke's body was broken....from a concussion on his head all the way down to a broken ankle. Jeff was able to walk with help from the car to the ambulance...but was experiencing intense internal pain. He had indeed bruised his colon and broke some vertebrae in his back, and had a concussion.
Jeff was admitted to the hospital and the dr. told him that his colon would most likely perforate...and it did. Two days after the accident, I was getting ready to head to the hospital, and Jeff called. His colon had perforated in the middle of the night and they were prepping him for surgery. The surgery lasted somewhere between 3 and 4 hours and they ended up removing a foot of his colon, leaving him with a temporary colostomy. He ended up being in the hospital for 8 days, healing and learning how to care for his colostomy. Luke just got out of the hospital a few weeks ago, still with broken bones that are healing.
The weeks that followed were all a blur to me. Jeff had business trips to Chicago (because....oh...by the way....the same day he was in the accident he also found out that he got a new position with his current company) that he had to take and then the kids and I took a trip to Iowa to see family before spring break hit all around the country. Traveling stand- by is something you just don't want to attempt at certain times of year!
Somehow, April rolled around really fast. At the beginning of the month, Jeff had an MRI done to see how well his colon was healing. After the initial surgery, they told us it would be 3-6 months before they would re-attach his colon, depending on how well he healed. Well, the MRI showed some good stuff, so he was scheduled for surgery on the 27th of April, a few days after Jada's 6th birthday.
Now...we are on the other side of surgery. Two weeks post-op now and he is completely ecstatic to be done with the colostomy bag, but healing from this surgery has been extremely painful. His surgery lasted two hours...an hour and a half of it was spent cleaning up the scar tissue from all of the abrasions that happened during the accident. His dr. told me that healing was going to be slow and difficult...he told Jeff as well, but for some reason, Jeff thinks that it ought to be moving along a little faster than it is! :)
Lessons learned from this..... 1)Friends and family are CRUCIAL parts of your life. Jeff's sister and husband flew up from Anchorage after the accident. His dad flew up from Iowa to help with the kids. And my church family provided us with meals for two weeks plus I could call any one at any time if I needed anything. I could go on and on with the things that people did for us. It blew my mind. 2) I will never again take my husband for granted. Our marriage has been growing stronger over the years, but this has shoved it forward even more. He is God's perfect gift to me and he completes me in everyway. I don't want to walk through this life and raise our children without him. 3)Diabetes can take a back seat! Blood sugars haven't been perfect (but really...when are they?) but Jada is doing great. I've learned to trust other people with her in ways that I never would have before.
So...this has basically been our life, with diabetes on the side. Accident, surgery, recovery, a little bit of normal...then more surgery and a whole lot of recovery. Life should be getting back to normal for us soon. I'm starting my summer schedule at work...going to nights rather than my typical early mornings. School is out this week...the weather is amazing (after a VERY cold winter) and I'm ready to get back to my real life!!

11 comments:

Melissa's Thoughts said...

How very much your life has changed from when I first came upon your blog. But what I see here is how very much your life with D has changed. You commented one time that it didn't seem that D ran our lives..or something to that effect..I see that in your life too. :) God Bless your family.

Lora said...

WOW! I am so glad he is on the mend. What a year!!!

Unknown said...

Holy Moly...I was wondering exactly what was going on. I am not on FB much, but noticed that there was a lot going on for you and your family Amy. I am thankful that you are all doing well.

And...the "D" lesson is huge.

Donna Webber said...

I think you are an amazing Mom, wife, friend and christian. I am so glad to see that you have taken the negatives and learned from them to make them positives. You have taught me so much and I want you to know how much you impact others without even trying. Lots of love and prayers. God blessed my life by putting you in it.:)

Nicole said...

thank you for blogging this, I kinda knew what was going on threw FB and I'm so happy to hear that EVERYONE is healthy!!

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a year! So glad you all were able to live through this and are now coming out of this stronger with your hubby in one piece and on the mend. Thankful for you that he survived such a serious crash. Glad you had so much help from family and friends and that Jada is doing well D-wise. You deserve a wonderful, carefree spring and summer enjoying your family and lots of nice weather and I hope you get it.

Unknown said...

I'm desperately trying to catch up on blogs....

Oh, my friend.

Oh what an example of endurance and grace you have been throughout this ordeal.

I will never forget that post about his job! I was so excited for you guys! And then...the next post...it just seemed so surreal.

Look how far you've come already. I'm so proud of you and your husband for the way you are raising your family, and the way you truly demonstrate what the core of marriage is about.

God bless you, my friend.

I'm so thankful to know that you guys are doing okay. Beaten, bruised, and broken -- but you have persevered.

And you, my friend, are okay.

hosting said...

I found this blog from twitter and checked out many of your many other blog posts. They are cool. Please keep it up!!!! Regards.

Medical Billing Software said...

Great reading your article...when we crib about the regular work pressure and normal life we don't realize how much some of you have at hand.Great fight and I am sure you are heading for fun filled and happy days.

Medical Billing Software said...

It is at the face of adversity and crisis that you learn ...of course friends and family stand by and support which is very kind and that the other vehicle was an ambulance was God sent.

indium said...

great to seen your blog. have a great day