Virtual Scrap Night Begins!

"Take the Leap" into scrapbooking with an all-weekend virtual crop! I had fun hosting the first challenge over at SplitCoast Stampers. The challenge was to take a sketch and add one more element to your layout. I  used this sketch:

And added one more vertical stripe on the left hand side:

This page documents a little of the hospital hubs stayed in following his work accident in 2010. Miami Valley Hospital, or "the Valley", took great care of him!

Project 365: Week 10

Things were really hectic here this past week- my best friend's husband was in a terrible car accident on Monday and has been in ICU ever since. (Talk about deja vu). My birthday was Friday. Everyone in my house got sick this week. I had to work late a few days. Needless to say, our routine was off a little. I only managed to take a pic a few days, so here they are...

Sunday- Dancing with the Wii

Monday- Dance practice- Viv is in the middle with the black leotard

Wednesday- Courtyard at University Hospital, visiting my friend who's husband is in ICU

Friday- One kid sick at home, one at the bus stop

Saturday- My best friend today!

Thankful Thursday 3/17/11

My gratitudes this week seem pale in comparison to those of the survivors of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. My thoughts have been with that country constantly, and especially with my friend Takako, who did not hear from her family for two days. Thankfully, although their city was hit hard, her parents and brother are safe.

My thoughts have also been on my husband as he celebrated his birthday this week. I am now, and always will be, thankful that he survived his traumatic accident at work six months ago. Although his recovery has slowed and we are beginning to accept that he may never get back to “normal”, I still have a husband and my children still have a father. That is enough.

Take time today to recognize the gifts and blessings in your life!

You can find out more about Thankful Thursday here.

You can link up your own post here.

What If? Or... You and Me Together...Or....The Day of the Accident

September 8, 2010. 

I was eating lunch with some coworkers when my cell phone rang. Justin's work number popped up, but we were having a lively conversation so I hit “ignore”. I knew he was just calling to say hi, so no big deal. The phone rang again almost immediately. Hmm. I answered.

“Bekah? This is Chris. There's been an accident.”

“What happened?”

“A tote fell on Justin. He's responsive and we didn't see any blood.”

At this point it is not registering in my mind that a full tote weighs almost two tons. I am thinking that Justin maybe got hurt a little but is going to keep working, like some stupid manly man.

“He needs to go to the hospital!”

“He's in an ambulance right now.”

Ambulance? Shit. This is serious.

“Where are they taking him?”

“Miami Valley.”

Double shit. They only take people who are really hurt there.

“I'm on my way.” Click.

My coworkers ask if they can do anything. One later told me that she has never literally seen someone's face turn white until she saw me during that phone call. I run up the stairs calling to my office mate, “I need directions to Miami Valley Hospital! Justin. Hurt. Leaving now.”

The drive to the hospital is at once a blur and also exceedingly clear. First call is to my dad. I need to take care of logistics, since I won't be able to pick up the girls from the babysitter. He calls my grandma and reports back- It's taken care of, don't worry about it. Second call is to the sitter, to let her know what's going on. She kinda freaks out on me, and immediately puts a prayer request out on Facebook. The story is already on the internet.

The rest of my frantic drive is filled with two opposing thoughts: the memory of the first moment I saw Justin, and a desperate prayer. “Please God, let him be paralyzed. Just not dead. Just not dead.”

I arrive at the Emergency department and Ralph, Justin's supervisor, is waiting. I can't see Justin yet, he is getting a CAT scan. I question Ralph over and over. “Are you SURE he was breathing? Could he have stopped breathing on the way up here? Are you SURE he was talking?” A nurse comes out to talk to me. She assures me Justin is alive, but that's all the information she has. Do I want to speak to a member of the clergy? NO. I want to speak to my husband!

My cell phone rings. It is a doctor. He says he is with Justin, who has been asking to talk to me. Then I hear him. He is talking. Breathing. Alive.

What seems like hours later, I am led back to the room where they have been working on him. I see him on a stretcher. I see his shirt on the floor, ripped to shreds. I hold his hand. “I'm here,” I tell him. Tears run down his face. I have never in my life seen someone in so much pain. How can he bear it? No choice. I encourage him to be still, to take deep breaths, to squeeze my hand.

Various doctors and nurses are in and out of the room. The news. He has broken his pelvis in three places, but we don't operate on that. He has broken part of his spine, but there is no damage to the spinal cord. We don't operate on that.

A nurse brings up the news story on the internet. Surreal.

I make phone call after phone call.

He is finally admitted to a room. They tell me I cannot stay. So I go home. More phone calls. Very little sleep.

I have few clear memories of the next few days. Just many trips back and forth to the hospital, which is over 30 miles away. I DO remember being told, “He should be dead, if not paralyzed.” He is not. He will recover, at least enough to walk again. My heart is full, near bursting, with gratitude and wonder. I do not cry until almost two full days after the accident.

Three months later:

I am still amazed. I was not meant to be a widow at age 34. I still have a husband, my children still have a father. His recovery has slowed, and it worries us both. He walks with a limp and a cane. There is still some pain. What if this is as good as it gets?

A friend told me, “I have not once heard you ask 'Why me'. So many people would.” I shrug. If anything, it has brought us closer together. If there was ever any question in my mind (and there wasn't), I have been shown in no uncertain terms that I love this man, I need him, I do not want to live without him.

The “what if” has been very powerful to me, more so than what actually happened. The little irritations of married life fall by the wayside. They are unimportant. I wake every day with a grateful heart. My belief in some version of God has been renewed and strengthened. My marriage and the knowledge that we can do anything has been renewed and strengthened.

Justin has asked me more than once what I want for Christmas this year. I already have it.

Recovery...A Layout Using Scrappin' Silhouettes (and Gratitude!)

This week's Scrappin' Silhouette , #21, features two photos. While the horizontal orientation worked great for my pics of Justin in the hospital, feel free to rotate, flip, or otherwise alter the sketch!

I used the latest kit from Scraptastic, Pretty Little Things, to complete my layout.

Today is Thanksgiving, and I have so much to be grateful for. I am so incredibly blessed to still have my husband with me, and despite his major accident, he can walk. Full recovery is still months away, and it is frustrating and worrisome for him. But at 2 1/2 months after the accident, he is walking, going up and down stairs, and using only one cane. What progress! 


Supplies:

paper- Creative Imaginations and The Girls' Paperie

cardstock- Bazzill

Alpha- Prima

Die cuts- The Girls' Paperie

Butterfly- Prima

Spun Silver Glimmer Mist

Adhesive- Helmar Scrap Dots

To play along, create a layout based on this week's sketch, and upload to the Scrappin' Silhouettes blog. 

If you link up by this coming Tuesday, you will be considered for a guest designer position with Scrappin' Silhouettes! 

My Miracle Man

Okay, I have had a really good reason for not blogging regularly the past couple of weeks. On September 8th my husband was seriously injured in an accident at work. It was the most terrifying day of my life. Getting the call, rushing to the hospital, not knowing if he was dead, paralyzed, or brain damaged... I simply cannot describe the horror of this kind of unknown.


I also struggle with describing the feeling of knowing that he will be okay. That despite being crushed by a 3800 lb. barrel of ink, he is relatively unscathed. That despite three fractures to his pelvis and breaking a vertebrae, he will walk normally someday. No internal injuries to speak of. No head trauma. Moderate bruising and swelling. We were told he should be dead. He's not.

We have a long road ahead- therapy, medication, and doctor appointments. But my Miracle Man can do it!