The last few weeks have been some of the hardest weeks of my life, After the fall, my husband spent 3 days in the hospital. When he got home he was slowly beginning to feel better. Though he has two broken elbows and other injuries, he wasn’t in too much pain, and we were actually able to enjoy the extra time we had together.
However, from the fall, he also sustained multiple face fractures. His nose was broken in three places, his eye sockets were fractured, and his right temple was severely shattered. As a result we needed to schedule surgery. with a maxillo-facial surgeon as soon as possible. At first we were told that it could take up to a month to schedule the OR. This news had me stressed for multiple reasons. First off, Baby William is due in 3 weeks, and I was afraid that they would schedule the surgery around the time I am due. I had horrible thoughts of my husband in the OR, while I’m giving birth all by my self. However the surgery date was rushed through, on the grounds that some of the bones in his face could start fusing in the wrong places, thus a later surgery would make things more difficult for the facial surgeon. We literally got only a half days notice about the surgery date, and not only that, the surgery was scheduled with a completely different surgeon than the one we had a consultation with. Also, because it was being rushed through, there was no time for a pre-op physical, but rather they were relying on information from earlier medical history. All this had me very stressed out. However we decided to trust in God’s timing and went for it.
The surgery was Thur March 29th. scheduled for 5pm. We came to the hospital at 4pm so he can be prepped. We were told that the surgery should take about 3 hours, that I will be able to see him right after, and that he would even be able to eat if he wanted to. Thus, we kissed goodbye, and they wheeled him away, while I got ready to sit in the family waiting room. I figured that around 8 pm all this would be over with, and we can begin to put all this behind us. Thus I waited… At 7:45, I went and got him some food so that he would not have to eat nasty hospital food. 8pm came… then 8:30, then 9 pm… At 9:30 I was the only one in the waiting room. At 9:45 they moved me to a waiting room in the children’s wing, because the adult one was closed, and the people working there were going home. At this point I was beyond anxious… All they could tell me was he was still in the OR. Why soo long!!! 10 pm came… At this point I was so worried I could barely breathe. Keeping back tears was almost impossible. Why I didn’t bring someone to sit with me, I don’t know. My family offered, but I declined, thinking I could wait 3 hours. So I sat there in the tiny little children’s chairs, with no one to even ask what was happening. It was hot; my feet had already swollen to twice their normal size, and the smell of the food I bought him was making me sick to my stomach. I have to say those were some of the longest moments of my life. I kept imaging all sorts of complications.. him not waking up from anesthesia, our baby boy not having a father, me being alone…
Finally at 10:45 the surgeon came out to talk to me. He told me that the surgery had started about an hour late, and that there was a lot more work than the ex-rays showed. A part of his temple was more shattered than it looked from the outside, thus he had to take a bone graft from another part of his skull and add it to the bridge area. He also informed me that my husband had significant blood loss, thus they are taking him to ICU for precaution, and keeping him sedated until the next morning, so that they could keep a breathing tube in. Also he said he might need a blood transfusion in the morning. And the last blow… was that I couldn’t see him until tomorrow.
I held myself together as I walked through the hospital, however as soon as I reached the parking garage, I sobbed as I’ve never sobbed before. I kept ignoring calls from my family, not able to catch my breath. When I finally answered, my mom managed to convince me to come stay at their house that night, instead of going home to and empty, half-under construction home.
My mom calmed me down with some hot tea, and words of encouragement. Thus I dropped into bed completely weary to the bone. Poor William didn’t even feel like kicking that night. I managed to fall into a fitful sleep, dreaming of hospitals and all sorts of strange things.. Around 1am, I was jarred awake by a phone call. It was the night doctor at the ICU. He told me that my husbands oxygen levels dropped dramatically, thus they had to manually assist his breathing in order to get it back up to normal. He said he wasn’t exactly sure why this happened, could be because his breathing tube was displaced when they were moving him. I later found out that, whoever put in his breathing tube in the ICU, had not put it all the way in, so it was blocking his airway, instead of helping.
Any sort of sleep I had flew out the window, and it was only by the grace of God that I got through that night. I had to submit my life, Williams, and my husband’s life into the hands of God, because this had proven to me that no matter how much schooling or degrees one has, we are always susceptible to human error. One can walk into a hospital breathing fine, and not walk out hours later.
In the morning I went to the hospital, by then they had taken out the breathing tube, and he was awake and talking. Relief does not even describe what I was feeling.
To make a very long story shorter… It has been 5 days since the surgery, and thank God my husband is once again on the road to recovery. He stayed in the ICU for two days, and then was transferred to a regular room for another 2 days. We managed to avoid a blood transfusion by feeding him all sorts of blood healthy food. My mother cooked him fresh liver, and we brought a bunch or vegetable and fruit juices, which he drank constantly.
Today he is finally coming home… though he is still pretty weak, he is doing good. All in all the surgery was successful, other than some swelling you can’t even tell too much that he had such extensive surgery. The surgeon made the incision in his hairline, thus you can only see it if you look really closely. We were told as long as he keeps his head out of the sun, it should heal nicely with very little scarring. Today we are going to an appointment to check on his elbows… I pray that things are healing well, so that he may be able to hold baby William when he is born.
I am very thankful to God and all the people who have shown us loving support and prayed for us during this tough time. I will have to write another post to mention some of the acts of kindness we received. This post is already way to long…. 🙂
Bye Bye for now!
So I ran out of dishwasher soap two weeks ago, and decided to experiment. I have never been happy with the store-bought detergent, because it smells so strong, and who knows what is in it. (Did you know that cancer patients are often advised not to use dishwasher detergent, because of all the harmful chemicals it contains. Makes you think doesn’t it..) Since we have an older model dishwasher, it doesn’t seem to get as hot as the newer ones do, so I would always find soap residue on my dishes. This obviously doesn’t sit well with me. Also, when my dishwasher is on, and the steam comes through the vents, the smell of the soap is so strong that I can’t even stand near it. So I did a little googling to see if I could find and make a home-made natural solution. A came across the idea of using baking soda, and decided to give it a try. So I filled the soap slot with baking soda and put on a load of dishes. It worked pretty decent, however, I did find some baking soda residue, and water spots. After a bit more research I decided to try adding about a dime size amount of liquid Dawn dish soap to the baking soda, and added vinegar to the rinse cycle. It worked like a charm! The baking soda provides grit to clean the dishes, the Dawn some bubble action, and the vinegar helps eliminate those water spots. I have been using this method for about 2 weeks now and my dishes and dishwasher have never been this clean before. (Once i put in a little too much baking soda I think, and I did find residue on top of the cups… However I don’t feel so bad about it, because as least I know what it is, and that it is safe.)
1st-time Mom 