Friday was a great birthday.
The weather was unseasonably cool; high of 78. In July. In TEXAS. My girls' weekend contract prohibits me from sharing many details of what goes on at girls weekend, but I am able to share these two pictures of our group as we waited in the normally baking hot sun for Zilker Hillside Theater to begin at dusk. That melting heat is what precludes me from attending an annual basis.
The guy texting is not with us (just to be clear)
Larry and J were involved in a motorcyle accident on the lower deck of I-35. L ended up rear-ending a Suburban on the motorcycle. Please go reread the above paragraph so you can keep breathing and then continue reading.
Traffic was backed up (as usual) and a truck stopped quickly. The Suburban in front of L swerved to not hit the truck, but L ended up (at slow speed) hitting the Suburban. Two Good Samaritans called to tell me about it because when they saw what happened they immediately got out of their car and went to J because they are also moms, of course I was very grateful for their help. J was insisting to them, "Call my mom. Call my mom." Thankfully, he had the composure under pressure to be able to tell them my number.
They started out the conversation with, "Don't panic." Yeah, right. "J is fine, we are talking to him now and staying with him. Your husband seems to be ok, but is bleeding, but we are staying with Jake and the paramedics are arriving now. I call you back and tell you where they are taking them when I find out more details." We exchanged a few more details and hung up. I got the girls all up to speed, we prayed as a group and we went into problem solving mode. I'd just like to say I'm part of an amazing group.
We were headed to Bobbie's daughter's house to check out their newlywed digs; super cute can't wait to really see it all finished and not in panic mode. Bobbie and I broke from the group and took her husband's car (he was also there doing some plumbing work) to the Children's hospital where J was being taken.
Shane was in town, so I sent him to the hospital where Larry was headed. Janet and Clayton were already in Texas so we said we'd be in further communication as their drive progressed closer to Austin.
J had no broken bones, no internal injuries, just a good sized cut on his elbow that they expected would need stitches. In the end they decided that it just needed steri-strips. We were all very excited and after a few hours he was released and Bobbie took him back to girls weekend. He's been asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement so that no secrets of girls' club are revealed. We are in negotiations; I may have to call in a legal favor if he keeps bringing in his big negotiating guns.
Larry was more beat up. He has no broken bones, but was knocked out for a while, received stitches on his eyelid, chin, and two spots on his hand. Later we found out that he also has a four inch tear in the back of his throat on his pharynx. The ENT doc who did the exploratory surgery said there was nothing in there to cause the tear, and he had never seen anything like it. He put in a breathing tube as a precautionary measure as swelling was likely and there was certainly no need to get into an emergency situation with a blocked airway. He also inserted a feeding tube because it is difficult for L to swallow right now, and the doc didn't want any food going through the tear. He feels like that needs to stay in for at least five days.
The breathing tube was removed Sunday afternoon and there was no additional swelling, his vocal chords tightened back up and his voice came back. By Sunday evening L has been moved to a regular room.
As of Monday he does have an infection that they are treating, plus he has some fluid on the lungs likely from being in a horizontal position for a while, or perhaps additional infection brewing. He was able to be up and walking around the floor and working with PT. He is understandably sore all over since he flew over the handlebars. Likely L will be in the hospital until Friday.
The two ladies called back on Saturday evening to check on J and L. They were also able to tell me some additional details that happened. The passenger said she happened to be looking at them when the accident happened. After they hit the back of the Suburban she saw L fly over the handlebars and then J fly over him, both landing on the pavement.
Larry has no recollection of the accident.
Clayton, Shane and I went to see the bike today. It was not in good shape, but also not completely crushed either. The boys took all of the personal items out and I filed the insurance claim.
Of course there are so many things to be thankful for, but the ones that come immediately to mind:
- Both L and J will be/are ok
- Girls club was not out of town and support was RIGHT there on the spot
- J was with it enough to remember my phone number so I wasn't hours later learning about what happened
- Shane was in town
- Clayton was headed here already and 'on vacation' and able to help out here at home
- I was feeling just fine and non-cancery while all of that was going on
Ok, I think I've covered all the basics on that topic.
Today, Monday, was also the half-way point on chemo treatments for me. Remember that part? Yeah, it kinda got pushed out of my thought process for a little while.
Treatment went well today. Tomorrow I go back for the Neulasta shot to pump up those WBC a little earlier than the last round. The count today was 8.3, in the good zone to start.
Goals/Prayer Requests for this week:
- Keep giving glory to God for his protection
- Stay hydrated (something I fell apart on last time)
- Get L well enough to be home
I'll end on with this verse we covered in bible study this evening; perhaps it is the lemonade after the extra lemons we were handed over the weekend.
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6-7
Holy cow. So thankful. Praying for your family.
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