It's been nearly 4 weeks since our car accident. I can honestly say that it's been the busiest time in my life, and I'm ready for a breather. While that won't happen for a while, I can tell ya that Mat had a great report from the surgeon yesterday. The wound is healing nicely. He is able to start walking a bit though he has to use a walker, and he only has to have the dressing changed once instead of twice daily. Currently, a nurse is coming over twice daily to help with that, but tomorrow Mat is going to learn how to change the dressing himself - and it's totally disgusting! The surgeon believes it will take 4 weeks for the wound to heal completely. We meet with the infectious disease doc next week, and then we'll go from there. In the meantime, Mat has to lay low and recover, but he is working from home.
Elizabeth and I also had follow up appts from the accident last week. Lizzy seems fine, but the doc isn't ready to dismiss her yet. We have been instructed to watch specific things, and we go back to the ped ortho doc in 2 weeks to get her rechecked.
I start physical therapy Friday - 3 times a week for a month. I have been sent to a neurological doc for tremors I've had since the accident, I have to get further blood work, and I will likely have to get an MRI - will be assessed during PT. I'm not gonna lie, my hip is hurting and my neck doesn't feel too hot either. I've been taking muscle relaxers, anti inflammatory meds, and I got a sweet painful shot right in the sore spot.
Our highlander is at the body shop being repaired this week. I have a rental (I'm getting spoiled with a mini van for the week), and they hope to have the car ready by Monday. When I dropped the car off, Andrew was with me, and the manager of the body shop knew Andrew and Mat so he was taking extra good care of us. The car should look like new when we get it back! We have this great body shop that posts pics of the progress on-line so we can see the repairs step by step.
It makes me tired to even think of all the doc appts and arrangements I will need to make over the next month, but I am so thankful that everyone is alive, home and really well off after all the insanity lately. I'm ready for some boring days :)
Thank you all for your prayers, for all the meals, the encouragement etc. I haven't had to think of planning meals since last week, and it's been such a blessing!
Our Family
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Mat Came Home Today
First off, THANK YOU all for praying, caring and loving our family. It has been a very difficult week. I'll tell you a little of the back story so you can understand where we are today...
Three weeks ago, a Friday night to be exact, we were having a wonderful time visiting with friends from Atlanta. We were playing at Epcot. Mat met us there right after work. It got late, and we went home. Andrew, who usually rides home with Mat, hopped wearily in my car and nearly fell asleep. Lizzy was in the car with me, and we rode home around midnight with Mat following behind me in his car. We were half way home when we (me, a car in front of me and Mat in his car behind me) had to stop for a bus to make a turn. Another bus plowed into Mat's car and send a chain reaction of crashes. It was horrible! Mat immediately went to the ER after walking out of his car nearly untouched, his leg was pounding and slightly bleeding. He seemed pretty ok although he was in shock, and his car was crushed beyond recognition.
My car seemed to transfer the force to total the car in front of me. The kids were screaming, and the whole place was immediately in a flurry of activity. There were tons of people there immediately to help, and the paramedics were there in maybe 3 minutes. They checked us out, and sent Mat to Celebration. Andrew and I followed in another ambulance about 3 hours later when he started to scream with abdomen pain. The 3 of us got full x-rays. We were sent home and told to follow up with the doc.
We thought everything beyond the whiplash was fine except for the major bruise on Mat's leg. He limped for a few days, but he seemed to be getting better. He had a check up, and the doc said Mat was healing. However, Lizzy was having back spasms. We are still following up with her at a pediatric orthopedic specialist, and I'm going for follow ups too.
Then this past Sunday, Mat's leg started really hurting again. By Tuesday, he couldn't walk, and he was going to get it checked out. He checked himself into the ER. He had an infection, and the report went from being there overnight for observation to being there for several days. He ended up having surgery, and by Thursday night, the night I asked you all to pray so heavily, the docs felt sure that Mat had MRSA. It seemed rather grave to be honest. There was tension in his room and the nurses and docs were very serious.
They ran further tests to see the extent of the infection, and we found out that Mat has a generic staph infection rather than MRSA. It's been drained, and they left a big hole in his leg so that the wound could heal inside out and continue to release the bad bacteria in his leg in the process.
Mat came home from the hospital today. We have a little bit of a road ahead of us. He has to have a nurse come twice a day, he can't walk (although he can get around a little with a walker - which we are giving him heck about), and he has lots of antibiotics and follow up doc visits in the few weeks to come. But he is alive!!!
God certainly has provided, and he knew this was going to happen before it went down. Mat walked out of his little car alive! God protected Andrew from being in the back of Mat's car during the accident. Amy is here helping us with everything especially the kids, and I'm still reeling at how God sent her in just the exactly right timing. Our friend have been so helpful and encouraging. I could go on and on about God's provision.
Keep praying! Mat can handle the pain of the injury, but it is horribly painful when the bandage has to be changed and packed. We have to make sure that we don't introduce any further germs to the wound, and we will have to go back and forth to doc appts for a little while. His spirits are up, and we are so excited to have him home! Mat's work is even sending us food via Mat's favorite chef!
We certainly don't understand whey we had to go through all this, but we hope that God receives all the glory. Just looking at the car Mat walked out of makes us praise Jesus!
Three weeks ago, a Friday night to be exact, we were having a wonderful time visiting with friends from Atlanta. We were playing at Epcot. Mat met us there right after work. It got late, and we went home. Andrew, who usually rides home with Mat, hopped wearily in my car and nearly fell asleep. Lizzy was in the car with me, and we rode home around midnight with Mat following behind me in his car. We were half way home when we (me, a car in front of me and Mat in his car behind me) had to stop for a bus to make a turn. Another bus plowed into Mat's car and send a chain reaction of crashes. It was horrible! Mat immediately went to the ER after walking out of his car nearly untouched, his leg was pounding and slightly bleeding. He seemed pretty ok although he was in shock, and his car was crushed beyond recognition.
My car seemed to transfer the force to total the car in front of me. The kids were screaming, and the whole place was immediately in a flurry of activity. There were tons of people there immediately to help, and the paramedics were there in maybe 3 minutes. They checked us out, and sent Mat to Celebration. Andrew and I followed in another ambulance about 3 hours later when he started to scream with abdomen pain. The 3 of us got full x-rays. We were sent home and told to follow up with the doc.
We thought everything beyond the whiplash was fine except for the major bruise on Mat's leg. He limped for a few days, but he seemed to be getting better. He had a check up, and the doc said Mat was healing. However, Lizzy was having back spasms. We are still following up with her at a pediatric orthopedic specialist, and I'm going for follow ups too.
Then this past Sunday, Mat's leg started really hurting again. By Tuesday, he couldn't walk, and he was going to get it checked out. He checked himself into the ER. He had an infection, and the report went from being there overnight for observation to being there for several days. He ended up having surgery, and by Thursday night, the night I asked you all to pray so heavily, the docs felt sure that Mat had MRSA. It seemed rather grave to be honest. There was tension in his room and the nurses and docs were very serious.
They ran further tests to see the extent of the infection, and we found out that Mat has a generic staph infection rather than MRSA. It's been drained, and they left a big hole in his leg so that the wound could heal inside out and continue to release the bad bacteria in his leg in the process.
Mat came home from the hospital today. We have a little bit of a road ahead of us. He has to have a nurse come twice a day, he can't walk (although he can get around a little with a walker - which we are giving him heck about), and he has lots of antibiotics and follow up doc visits in the few weeks to come. But he is alive!!!
God certainly has provided, and he knew this was going to happen before it went down. Mat walked out of his little car alive! God protected Andrew from being in the back of Mat's car during the accident. Amy is here helping us with everything especially the kids, and I'm still reeling at how God sent her in just the exactly right timing. Our friend have been so helpful and encouraging. I could go on and on about God's provision.
Keep praying! Mat can handle the pain of the injury, but it is horribly painful when the bandage has to be changed and packed. We have to make sure that we don't introduce any further germs to the wound, and we will have to go back and forth to doc appts for a little while. His spirits are up, and we are so excited to have him home! Mat's work is even sending us food via Mat's favorite chef!
We certainly don't understand whey we had to go through all this, but we hope that God receives all the glory. Just looking at the car Mat walked out of makes us praise Jesus!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Mat's in the Hospital
This week has been a roller coaster. It seems like every time I go to the hospital there is more bad news. So here's the story:
The infection Mat has is bad. They drained it in surgery, but they are very concerned about it. They are running more tests to determine the type of infection (they are thinking MRSA) and to see how far it's spread.
He looks horrible, has no appetite, and his spirits are very down. They say all this is treatable, but then they put him in a quarantine like situation. The kids can't see him, and adults have to wear special clothing to see him.
We have friends offering to help, and I'm going to find a cleaning service to come and sterilize our house for the time he comes home...if you know of one of those type of services, please pass the info on to me.
I'm tired, the kids are scared, and Mat is scared...ok...I'm a little scared too. But I want to say that God has provided for us every single itty bitty step of the way. He sent our friend Amy to live with us for the summer starting this week. Our very dear friends "happened" to be in town this week for vacation, and they have spent time with us praying and loving on us...especially Mat! Our precious neighbor with children the same age as Andrew and Lizzy is taking great care of our children, and Mat's mom is coming in town tomorrow....and the blessings go on and on!
Please pray and encourage us. We serve an awesome mighty and powerful God who isn't surprised by any of this...and please remind me of this when you see me :)
Genny
The infection Mat has is bad. They drained it in surgery, but they are very concerned about it. They are running more tests to determine the type of infection (they are thinking MRSA) and to see how far it's spread.
He looks horrible, has no appetite, and his spirits are very down. They say all this is treatable, but then they put him in a quarantine like situation. The kids can't see him, and adults have to wear special clothing to see him.
We have friends offering to help, and I'm going to find a cleaning service to come and sterilize our house for the time he comes home...if you know of one of those type of services, please pass the info on to me.
I'm tired, the kids are scared, and Mat is scared...ok...I'm a little scared too. But I want to say that God has provided for us every single itty bitty step of the way. He sent our friend Amy to live with us for the summer starting this week. Our very dear friends "happened" to be in town this week for vacation, and they have spent time with us praying and loving on us...especially Mat! Our precious neighbor with children the same age as Andrew and Lizzy is taking great care of our children, and Mat's mom is coming in town tomorrow....and the blessings go on and on!
Please pray and encourage us. We serve an awesome mighty and powerful God who isn't surprised by any of this...and please remind me of this when you see me :)
Genny
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