I really do have a couple good reasons for not being able to blog the past couple months.
#1: A broken middle finger. This little buggar hurt so bad!
These pics were taken just an hour after I smashed it.
Embarassing to admit how I did it, but I got it caught in 2 panels of our double garage door. We had a power outage, Jason was in middle of nowhere WY, and I was couped up in the house with the kids. It was the beginning of Sept and it was still blistering hot, so with the AC not working I decided to load up the kids and go out to get a bite and play at a park. I opened the door just fine, backed out the van, and when I went to slide it down, it came down a lot faster that I anticipated and I didn't get my hand out in time. My family doc said I was very lucky that it didn't pop the finger or cut it right off.....certainly felt like it did!
This is what it looked like at 4 weeks, and now the nail has completely come off (I'll spare you the gory pictures). Suffice it to say, my right hand was out of commission for 2 months, and since I was getting very impatient trying to type without hurting my finger, or plunking away with my index finger...I gave up...until now.REASON NUMBER 2!
Car accident.
I really couldn't get a great picture of the lovely knot on my forehead where the blood pooled for a couple weeks. It slowly worked it's way down, and created the rainbow bruising you see above. Jason called me his Amanderthal! The bruise is now gone, but there is a permanent dent in my forehead about 1" square. It's really hard to see unless you really look. I have several fillings that were knocked loose and they are going to be fixed this Saturday. I never thought I'd be so happy to go to the Dentist....toothaches are the worst!
May Guinevere R.I.P! She was a total loss. I called her Guin because she was a Nissan Quest. Corny...I know. A car pulled out in front of me while I was driving with Silas down a busy main road in Herriman. The other driver told the police officer that she didn't even see me. It happened so suddenly that I barely had time to brake before impact. I couldn't go right because there was a parking lot, I couldn't go left because there was a double trailer dump truck coming down the road toward us, so I braked as hard as I could and turned the wheel to the left so my front right hit her front left instead of me hitting her dead center (t-bone). As bad as everything has turned out, it could have been so much worse. For starters, I wasn't wearing my seat belt. In my defense I ALWAYS wear my seat belt. That day I had picked up Si and a buddy from preschool and dropped him off. I unbuckled to climb out (stood on one leg) to talk to his mom for a second, and when I got back in I didn't re-buckle. It's not like I made a conscience choice not to, I just didn't realize it. So on impact I was slammed up into the ceiling where my head hit the main console running down the center of the van, and then I was ejected from my seat into the passenger seat. Once I collided with her, I ricocheted off her into oncoming traffic. I remember looking up out of the passenger door window for a split second and seeing the grille to the big dump truck and thinking it was going to hit us. By the grace of angels we barely missed the dump truck because he slammed on his brakes. I slid across the road, over the curb, over a little ditch and through a fence. Once we stopped and everything sunk in....the pain hit. My head was throbbing, I was seeing spots, and I had a massive hematoma forming in the upper right side of my forehead. Silas was in the backseat, so I called out to see if he was okay. He was shaken up, but not even crying. In fact, he reprimanded me, "Mom, you should not have done that! This is a construction spot, it's not for driving!" My neck and head were hurting so badly I was nauseous, dizzy and partially blacking out here and there. Paramedics arrived within minutes (thank heavens for 911 services in the U.S.) and my neighbor came to pick up Silas. They stabilized by neck, put me on a backboard and hauled me off to the hospital in an ambulance. Within an hour they ran every x-ray and CT scan they could and as I laid there waiting for results I imagined what my life would be like if I was paralyzed, or partially paralyzed, or lost my eyesight, or a million other things that could have happened. When the doctor came in to discuss the x-rays he told how very lucky I was. He said that when they got the call of head trauma from a head on collision with a female driver not wearing a seat belt they expected the worst. My head didn't hit the steering wheel as it should have, where I could have been killed or shattered my face. The air bag didn't deploy, as it should have, which could have shattered my face or snapped my neck because I didn't have my seat belt to retrain me from the full force of the 60 mph air bag. I also wasn't ejected from my seat through the windshield. Considering that I was tossed around like a rag doll inside my van during a 35 mp impact, even though I had a severe concussion and headache, a 3" laceration on my forehead into my hairline, aching teeth and jaw, injured left foot and hand, and lots of aches and pains all the way down my spine from neck to tailbone...I was alive! After the doctor left, a Police Officer came into see me. I jokingly said to him, "Are you here to haul me off to jail", because my plates had expired 2 weeks before and I was worried that I would get a ticket for reckless endangerment because I didn't stay in my lane. He joked with me for a minute, but then got quite serious and asked me if I would tell him what I remembered from the accident. I was sure I was definitely getting a reckless endangerment ticket due to his somber attitude! Once I was done telling my side of the story, he told me matter-of-factly that the other driver had her 18 month old son on the rear driver side, and although he was in a carsseat, had I t-boned her and not swerved, he would mostly likely have died. I got chills when he told me that. It's one thing to face your own mortality, but another to think that someone else almost died as well, and that it was an innocent little baby was eye-opening.
So on with change. Here is my new van. Was sad to say goodbye to Guin, and let's face it, not having a car payment. Of course it's Karma, because gray is my least favorite color (red is my fav) but it's growing on me. Although life is full of surprises, and sometimes off-road/trailblazing experiences, all we can do is roll with the punches. It can't be undone, all I can do is look forward with hope. It's been almost 2 months since the accident, and although I'm still in severe constant pain, I am optimistic about my situation. I really hurt my neck and low back, and although I hobble more than walk...at least I'm upright! I'm working with a Chiropractor and Physical Therapist/Massage Therapist several times a week. It's painful, rigorous therapy, and some days I'm just plumb worn out and feel like crying into a big ol' piece of chocolate cake and sinking into a hot tub...now there's an idea...a hot tub!...hmmm. I am in all truthfulness just so Thankful. My heart is overflowing with gratitude. I'm thankful to a loving Father in Heaven who protected me against all odds, and who protected that little boy, who obviously still has a mission on this earth, well I guess I do too. I'm thankful I can still hold my babies, thankful I can see, thankful to be alive! This small experience has once again strengthened my already stalwart belief that we are never alone, that He knows each and everyone of us because He is always with us watching over us. With everything going on in the world, I had another miracle in my life. I'm thankful for the knowledge that I am a daughter of God, and that my life has meaning and purpose. I'm so thankful for Temple covenants and that my family is an eternal family because we were sealed for time and all eternity. What a great reminder this accident has been, that life is short and we do not have control of everything. In one small moment everything I had was almost lost. This accident was so sudden, so unexpected and although it wasn't my fault He did everything possible to get me back on the right track, and for that I am THANKFUL.
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