jennyfur76
Today is VSG Day!!!
Jun 20, 2011
only 3 hours, 44 minutes & 22 seconds to go!! Will be leaving in about 30 minutes to head for the hospital. The nerves have not yet set in, I'm just so damned excited to get this going!!! I've already lost about 25lbs total since the beginning of this, but I'm eager to see the rest start dropping off. I'm also read to get back to regular (chewable) food again! LOL
Good luck to everyone out there!!
1 comment
Good luck to everyone out there!!
Memories of my Life Changing Accident 2005
May 30, 2011
I was in a really bad car accident in 2005, and I've written up some memories of the whole mess.
- Friday, July 8, 2005, my (ex) husband and I were driving to Monroeville to go out to dinner with some of his family that was in town for a wedding that weekend (I was driving). We were driving north on Rt 4 then headed up Rt 269 toward Bellevue, as we were originally supposed to pick up Steve's sister in Bellevue before heading to Monkeyville. On the way, she called & said she had another ride, so we turned onto Rt 547 to head to Monroeville. After crossing Rt 4, Steve told me to hurry-it-up because he was getting hungry. I believe it was approx 7pm. So, I upped my cruise control to around 60mph. As we neared the intersection of Section Line 30, my attention was briefly brought to the left, but only enough time to think, "OH SHIT!!" It happened so quickly that I didn't even have time to go for the break or anything. I did, however, notice that the vehicle that blew the intersection was a white quad-cab, duelley truck (a Ford, no less!)
Imagine you are standing flat against a wall with your eyes closed, and someone takes a huge pillow and smacks you with it as hard as they can, without you knowing that it is coming. That's the best way I can describe the feeling of the initial impact.
Another good depiction is the initial accident scene in the new movie, Disturbia. This hit very close to home the first time I saw it.
When the car stopped, I was instantly in shock. I kept saying, "why is this happening," "I can't believe this is happening," "Oh my God, oh my God...." As I started to access the situation, an older lady came up to my side of the car and asked me if I was alright. I'm sure she could see that I obviously wasn't. There was blood all over the place. She knelt down beside my door and held my left hand and started saying the Lord's Prayer alloud. I have never heard or felt someone pray that hard in my life. (the little old lady lives in the house on the corner of the intersection where the accident took place, she came over to me and her husband was calling 911). I told the lady that someone needed to call the pizza place in Monroeville because our (Steve's) family was waiting for us there. I glanced down and realized the stearing wheel of my car was smashed up against my chest. The windshield was shattered, but part of it was still hanging on to the window frame up towards the right side. Oddly enough, I noticed that my airbag was pink and Steve's was white.... Like I should have been thinking of that!! I looked down at my right arm, which was covered in blood. I could tell that my right wrist was severly broken because my hand was just kinda dangling & I couldn't feel it or move it. I remember thinking, "that's gonna hurt like hell later!" At that point I didn't notice the massive laceration on the underneath side of my forearm.
I quickly looked to my right (as my husband was my passenger) and saw Steve slouched down in the seat. He was kind-of mumbling/moaning incoherantly and his eyes were rolled back in his head. I saw the back of his left arm and that there was a rather large, deep laceration across his elbow. Since Steve didn't have his seatbelt on (& I did) he was kinda shoved under the dash (as if his butt was just off the front of the seat). I will never be able to describe the horrific feeling in words, of seeing my husband severely injured by my side and being completely helpless. I couldnt' help him, I couldn't move. (I cannot even think about this with out my eyes welling up). I started telling the little old lady to leave me and go help my husband. She said that help was on the way and they would help him.
I noticed to my left, the inside door panel wasn't on the door, just bare metal showing. I tried to let my left arm rest on the window-sill, but it was very sharp.
It only seemed like a few seconds before EMT's and firefighters arrived. I don't remember any faces, but I do remember some things. They immediately started cutting Steve out of the car. Steve kept pushing up with his feet as if he was trying to sit up on the seat, and I kept telling him not to move that everything was going to be ok. He would stop for a few seconds, then start again. I also kept telling him that I was sorry and to please not be mad at me. After a few minutes he started saying, "I gotta piss, man!" to the EMT's. They kept telling him to just go ahead and go, but I don't know if he did or not. It only took them about 10-15 minutes to extract Steve from the car then they started on my side. I had heard 2 helicopters land near my car, and I also heard when the first one took Steve away. It ended up taking them an hour and a half to get me cut out of the car. They used the jaws of life, along with a hydraulic-type tool to try and pry the dash off of me. I heard later that they ended up having to put a chain around the front of the car and have a tow-truck pull it off of me.
Part-way through my "extraction," I heard someone in the near distance say, "I found your cell phone! It says you have two missed calls!" I thought, what the heck do I care if I have two missed calls! I later found out it was Steve's mom trying to get ahold of us to see where we were. Little did she know....
While they were cutting me out, I believe they put an IV in my left arm (which ended up being my only non-injured limb), and started asking me questions for their paperwork. I don't remember all of this, but they said I rattled off everyone's phone numbers, names, addresses etc for the Highway Patrol to start contacting our family. Since this happened the week before the Oak Ridge Festival, I knew my parents may not be home, so I started telling them whatever phone numers I could think of that they may be able to reach my parents at. I also told them to be sure and call the pizza place in Monroeville because we had family waiting for us there.
They covered my head with a cloth sheet while they were cutting away the car, to prevent debris etc from hitting me. Prior to getting me out of the car, I really don't remember feeling any pain. I did feel a lot of pressure on my legs, though. It felt as if an elephant was sitting on my lap. I guess it kinda was, it was the front end of my car sitting on my lap!! After cutting away much of my car, the EMT's attempted to pull me out of the car. THAT is when I started feeling the pain. I don't remember alot of it because it was so severe, I blocked much of it out. They had me part way out of the car and realized they couldn't see my right foot. It had been shoved through the floor board, then 1/2 cut off by the brake pedal. They had to put me back in the car and do more cutting for about 10-15 more minutes. I was hurtin' pretty good by then. When they finally got the brake pedal cut off and had room to get me out, they pulled me out and placed me on a stretcher. The pain REALLY hit at that point. I belive I was screaming & crying quite a bit. I remember telling them, "Just put me to sleep so I won't feel it!!!" "Just knock me out!!"
I do remember that as soon as they got me on the stretcher they started cutting off my clothes. I begged them, please don't cut off my jeans! I just paid $60 for them last week!!! Someone said, "honey, you've got a lot more to worry about right now than a $60 pair of jeans!!" Go figure! I guess I'm a typical woman that I was more worried about my new jeans than realizing that my right foot was hanging off the end of my leg!!
I don't remember the short trip from beside my car to the helicopter, but I remember briefly, being on it. I opened my eyes and could see a guy with his head only a few inches from mine. He kept talking to me the whole way to Toledo. He also kept counting down the minutes it would take to get there. 12 more minutes....10 more minutes...9 more minutes.... I remember thinking, "will you quit counting and just get me there already???" The strange things you think about when your're in shock!
As I said, I don't remember much of the flight to Toledo. I also do not remember anything about being in the ER. I guess, however, I was pretty vocal! I, later (meaning weeks), talked with a young guy who was one of the transporters at MUO. He actually remembered me from the night we came in from the accident. I remember when he saw me again, his face turned pale, and he said, "I remember you when you were in the ER.....you were in a LOT of pain!" So, I guess it was a sight to see!
The main thing I guess I remember first about being in the hospital is during the first 5 days, that I was in intensive care. I, of course, was flat on my back, neck brace and all. Since 3 of my 4 limbs were mangled, I couldnt do much moving. I recall a fairly handsome doctor (later to be introduced as Dr. Gomez, one of Ebraheim's assistants) standing to the right side of my bed. My first question was, "how is Steve? What's wrong with him?" The doctor would only tell me he was in another room but was doing good. I later found out that all staff and family were strictly instructed NOT to discuss Steve's condition with me.
Steve's injuries entailed: broken left femur, collapsed lung, severe brain injury, and a tear on his aorta (vessle on back of heart). He was in SEVERE critical condition. If he would have sneezed, he would have died! Guess that's why they didn't want me to know right away. They didn't want to upset me while I was still in intensive care. I think it pissed me off more that no one would give me any details! Oh well, they kept pumping me full of morphine so I don't remember a whole lot.
Anywho, Dr. Gomez. He started going thru the list of my injuries....left femur broken (actually snapped in 2 places), right wrist severly broken, right ankle nearly severed w/severe fractures, right knee cap shattered & removed, and multiple open wounds/lacerations on legs and arm. For some reason the only thing I could focus on was the fact he told me my knee cap was removed! I asked if they put another one in, he said no. Then I said, "could you?" He just laughed at me and said not right now! I also later found out I had several broken ribs, but I guess that was not a huge concern compared to the other stuff!
While in intensive care those first 5 days, I didn't get to see much of my family. They would only let one person in at a time and not very often. Since I had so many open wounds, they wanted to try as hard as possible to prevent infection of any kind. The nurses had to do "dressing" changes to my wounds twice a day. At that time it took over 2 hours each time! The wholes on the front of my left leg were so open and deep that they could take a whole roll of gauze and stick it down in there! It was pretty amazing how they did that stuff.
I also remember the first day or two, when they had to do bedding (sheets) changes. That was quite an experience! They would have 2-4 nurses do it each time, because i couldn't help them at all. 2 nurses would get on one side of the bed and roll me toward them, while another nurse would shove all the sheets under me. They would then roll me the other way and pull the sheets out the other side. The first few times they did this, I still hadn't had my surgery to set all of the breaks. So, when they would roll me onto my right side, someone would have to hold my left leg up while they rolled. I have a hard time describing the feeling, but I could actually feel my femur bone moving around inside my leg! It was one of the weirdest sensations! It kinda hurt, probably woulda hurt a lot worse without the morphine!
The docor's told me many times over that it was a miracle I was even alive! Since it took so long to extract me from the car (1 1/2 hrs), I had lost alot of blood. They had to do a few transfusions to get me back up to where I needed to be. They also were amazed that they didn't have to amputate my right foot/leg and my right hand. Dr Ebraheim said that while i was in the ER, I could still wiggle my big toe, even though most of my foot was not attached! I tell ya, he's definately a miracle worker! The nurses at MUO told us that when Princess Di was in her accident, DrEbraheim was one of three doctors in the whole world that was on call to go to her! Holy shit!!! If he's good enough for Di, then he's good enough for me! LOL
After a week in intensive care, then a week in step down at MUO, they decided to transfer me to St Francis Healthcare Center in Green Springs. Partial nursing home, partial rehab center (this is the same place Christopher Reeves was). The day they were taking me there, I had only seen Steve one brief time before this. So, on the way out, they wheeled me (on my stretcher) into the ICU where Steve was so I could see him before they took me to GS. (He wasn't transported there til another week later) I wasn't sure at first if he knew even who I was but he did. Luckily they had most of me covered up with blankets so he wasn't able to see my legs. He did, however, see my arm with the bars all around it. He immediately sat up in bed and started calling for his nurse to come in. When she got there he just pointed at me and told her to fix my arm! I tried to tell him they were already fixing it, but he couldnt get his focus off that. It upset him quite a bit and he didn't want me to leave. I think that was one of the toughest moments when I had to leave his side and be driven many miles away. I felt so helpless!
The first night at G.S. was pretty rough. I was in an unfamiliar place with a lot of people I didn't now. They put me in one of the big ward rooms that has room for 4 beds. There were already 2 little old ladies in there so they put me in the 3rd spot. It was later in the evening when they got me there, so it was after the normal supper time. I remember they brought me a toasted cheese for my first meal! LOL The nurses were very friendly and helped me to settle in. I believe it was a Friday night when they transported me there cause I had 2 days off and right away on Monday they started doing some therapy with me. Monday morning they said they were going to get me up and into a wheelchair. Now, keep in mind that I had been flat on my back for over 2 full weeks now. I couldn't even sit up by myself let alone get in a wheel chair!! My first thought was, "how the hell they gonna do this one???" Well, they did! Four nurses came in and they rolled me around putting a canvas harness type thing under me that kind of cradled me like a stork's nap-sack. They attached the straps to this metal "lift" that looked to me like the cherry picker things they use to pull engines out of cars!!! Once attched, they pushed a button and it lifted me up in the air. There had to be a separate nurse holding each of my legs cause they were both in imobilizers and I had no control over either leg. It had to be a hilarious site to see. My big butt up in a sling (and still in a hospital gown by the way), with 2 nurses holding my legs, one nurse running the lift and another guiding me by my back. They scooted me across the room, hanging in the air!!, then guided me down into a wheel chair with leg extention things to support my legs. I have to tell you....this was exhausting...even though I didn't do anything! I was so scared they were gonna drop me! Lucky for me, they had done this many times before and with bigger butts than mine! So all was well.
I was only able to be up in the chair for about 20-30 minutes at a time the first few times, cause I would get really dizzy and light headed. Mainly because I had been lying flat so long that sitting up really messed with my melon. But, it got much better every day and pretty soon I was in the wheelchair for a few hours at a time, and they would wheel me down to therapy twice a day to do some excersizes. At first, the only thing I could even move was my left arm, cause I had no weight bearing allowance on the other three limbs. So, that was pretty boring therapy. But, I couldn't believe how heavy a puny 1 pound weight felt! It was rediculous!! I felt like such a weakling! LOL Then for occupational therapy (OT) they sat me up to a table with a peg board standing up, and I had to use my left hand (on the good arm) to put pegs on the board. At first I thought, how hard can that be, until I got to the 3rd and 4th peg and could barely lift my arm! Wow! One of my first experiences at appreciating the "small things" in life.
5 comments
- Friday, July 8, 2005, my (ex) husband and I were driving to Monroeville to go out to dinner with some of his family that was in town for a wedding that weekend (I was driving). We were driving north on Rt 4 then headed up Rt 269 toward Bellevue, as we were originally supposed to pick up Steve's sister in Bellevue before heading to Monkeyville. On the way, she called & said she had another ride, so we turned onto Rt 547 to head to Monroeville. After crossing Rt 4, Steve told me to hurry-it-up because he was getting hungry. I believe it was approx 7pm. So, I upped my cruise control to around 60mph. As we neared the intersection of Section Line 30, my attention was briefly brought to the left, but only enough time to think, "OH SHIT!!" It happened so quickly that I didn't even have time to go for the break or anything. I did, however, notice that the vehicle that blew the intersection was a white quad-cab, duelley truck (a Ford, no less!)
Imagine you are standing flat against a wall with your eyes closed, and someone takes a huge pillow and smacks you with it as hard as they can, without you knowing that it is coming. That's the best way I can describe the feeling of the initial impact.
Another good depiction is the initial accident scene in the new movie, Disturbia. This hit very close to home the first time I saw it.
When the car stopped, I was instantly in shock. I kept saying, "why is this happening," "I can't believe this is happening," "Oh my God, oh my God...." As I started to access the situation, an older lady came up to my side of the car and asked me if I was alright. I'm sure she could see that I obviously wasn't. There was blood all over the place. She knelt down beside my door and held my left hand and started saying the Lord's Prayer alloud. I have never heard or felt someone pray that hard in my life. (the little old lady lives in the house on the corner of the intersection where the accident took place, she came over to me and her husband was calling 911). I told the lady that someone needed to call the pizza place in Monroeville because our (Steve's) family was waiting for us there. I glanced down and realized the stearing wheel of my car was smashed up against my chest. The windshield was shattered, but part of it was still hanging on to the window frame up towards the right side. Oddly enough, I noticed that my airbag was pink and Steve's was white.... Like I should have been thinking of that!! I looked down at my right arm, which was covered in blood. I could tell that my right wrist was severly broken because my hand was just kinda dangling & I couldn't feel it or move it. I remember thinking, "that's gonna hurt like hell later!" At that point I didn't notice the massive laceration on the underneath side of my forearm.
I quickly looked to my right (as my husband was my passenger) and saw Steve slouched down in the seat. He was kind-of mumbling/moaning incoherantly and his eyes were rolled back in his head. I saw the back of his left arm and that there was a rather large, deep laceration across his elbow. Since Steve didn't have his seatbelt on (& I did) he was kinda shoved under the dash (as if his butt was just off the front of the seat). I will never be able to describe the horrific feeling in words, of seeing my husband severely injured by my side and being completely helpless. I couldnt' help him, I couldn't move. (I cannot even think about this with out my eyes welling up). I started telling the little old lady to leave me and go help my husband. She said that help was on the way and they would help him.
I noticed to my left, the inside door panel wasn't on the door, just bare metal showing. I tried to let my left arm rest on the window-sill, but it was very sharp.
It only seemed like a few seconds before EMT's and firefighters arrived. I don't remember any faces, but I do remember some things. They immediately started cutting Steve out of the car. Steve kept pushing up with his feet as if he was trying to sit up on the seat, and I kept telling him not to move that everything was going to be ok. He would stop for a few seconds, then start again. I also kept telling him that I was sorry and to please not be mad at me. After a few minutes he started saying, "I gotta piss, man!" to the EMT's. They kept telling him to just go ahead and go, but I don't know if he did or not. It only took them about 10-15 minutes to extract Steve from the car then they started on my side. I had heard 2 helicopters land near my car, and I also heard when the first one took Steve away. It ended up taking them an hour and a half to get me cut out of the car. They used the jaws of life, along with a hydraulic-type tool to try and pry the dash off of me. I heard later that they ended up having to put a chain around the front of the car and have a tow-truck pull it off of me.
Part-way through my "extraction," I heard someone in the near distance say, "I found your cell phone! It says you have two missed calls!" I thought, what the heck do I care if I have two missed calls! I later found out it was Steve's mom trying to get ahold of us to see where we were. Little did she know....
While they were cutting me out, I believe they put an IV in my left arm (which ended up being my only non-injured limb), and started asking me questions for their paperwork. I don't remember all of this, but they said I rattled off everyone's phone numbers, names, addresses etc for the Highway Patrol to start contacting our family. Since this happened the week before the Oak Ridge Festival, I knew my parents may not be home, so I started telling them whatever phone numers I could think of that they may be able to reach my parents at. I also told them to be sure and call the pizza place in Monroeville because we had family waiting for us there.
They covered my head with a cloth sheet while they were cutting away the car, to prevent debris etc from hitting me. Prior to getting me out of the car, I really don't remember feeling any pain. I did feel a lot of pressure on my legs, though. It felt as if an elephant was sitting on my lap. I guess it kinda was, it was the front end of my car sitting on my lap!! After cutting away much of my car, the EMT's attempted to pull me out of the car. THAT is when I started feeling the pain. I don't remember alot of it because it was so severe, I blocked much of it out. They had me part way out of the car and realized they couldn't see my right foot. It had been shoved through the floor board, then 1/2 cut off by the brake pedal. They had to put me back in the car and do more cutting for about 10-15 more minutes. I was hurtin' pretty good by then. When they finally got the brake pedal cut off and had room to get me out, they pulled me out and placed me on a stretcher. The pain REALLY hit at that point. I belive I was screaming & crying quite a bit. I remember telling them, "Just put me to sleep so I won't feel it!!!" "Just knock me out!!"
I do remember that as soon as they got me on the stretcher they started cutting off my clothes. I begged them, please don't cut off my jeans! I just paid $60 for them last week!!! Someone said, "honey, you've got a lot more to worry about right now than a $60 pair of jeans!!" Go figure! I guess I'm a typical woman that I was more worried about my new jeans than realizing that my right foot was hanging off the end of my leg!!
I don't remember the short trip from beside my car to the helicopter, but I remember briefly, being on it. I opened my eyes and could see a guy with his head only a few inches from mine. He kept talking to me the whole way to Toledo. He also kept counting down the minutes it would take to get there. 12 more minutes....10 more minutes...9 more minutes.... I remember thinking, "will you quit counting and just get me there already???" The strange things you think about when your're in shock!
As I said, I don't remember much of the flight to Toledo. I also do not remember anything about being in the ER. I guess, however, I was pretty vocal! I, later (meaning weeks), talked with a young guy who was one of the transporters at MUO. He actually remembered me from the night we came in from the accident. I remember when he saw me again, his face turned pale, and he said, "I remember you when you were in the ER.....you were in a LOT of pain!" So, I guess it was a sight to see!
The main thing I guess I remember first about being in the hospital is during the first 5 days, that I was in intensive care. I, of course, was flat on my back, neck brace and all. Since 3 of my 4 limbs were mangled, I couldnt do much moving. I recall a fairly handsome doctor (later to be introduced as Dr. Gomez, one of Ebraheim's assistants) standing to the right side of my bed. My first question was, "how is Steve? What's wrong with him?" The doctor would only tell me he was in another room but was doing good. I later found out that all staff and family were strictly instructed NOT to discuss Steve's condition with me.
Steve's injuries entailed: broken left femur, collapsed lung, severe brain injury, and a tear on his aorta (vessle on back of heart). He was in SEVERE critical condition. If he would have sneezed, he would have died! Guess that's why they didn't want me to know right away. They didn't want to upset me while I was still in intensive care. I think it pissed me off more that no one would give me any details! Oh well, they kept pumping me full of morphine so I don't remember a whole lot.
Anywho, Dr. Gomez. He started going thru the list of my injuries....left femur broken (actually snapped in 2 places), right wrist severly broken, right ankle nearly severed w/severe fractures, right knee cap shattered & removed, and multiple open wounds/lacerations on legs and arm. For some reason the only thing I could focus on was the fact he told me my knee cap was removed! I asked if they put another one in, he said no. Then I said, "could you?" He just laughed at me and said not right now! I also later found out I had several broken ribs, but I guess that was not a huge concern compared to the other stuff!
While in intensive care those first 5 days, I didn't get to see much of my family. They would only let one person in at a time and not very often. Since I had so many open wounds, they wanted to try as hard as possible to prevent infection of any kind. The nurses had to do "dressing" changes to my wounds twice a day. At that time it took over 2 hours each time! The wholes on the front of my left leg were so open and deep that they could take a whole roll of gauze and stick it down in there! It was pretty amazing how they did that stuff.
I also remember the first day or two, when they had to do bedding (sheets) changes. That was quite an experience! They would have 2-4 nurses do it each time, because i couldn't help them at all. 2 nurses would get on one side of the bed and roll me toward them, while another nurse would shove all the sheets under me. They would then roll me the other way and pull the sheets out the other side. The first few times they did this, I still hadn't had my surgery to set all of the breaks. So, when they would roll me onto my right side, someone would have to hold my left leg up while they rolled. I have a hard time describing the feeling, but I could actually feel my femur bone moving around inside my leg! It was one of the weirdest sensations! It kinda hurt, probably woulda hurt a lot worse without the morphine!
The docor's told me many times over that it was a miracle I was even alive! Since it took so long to extract me from the car (1 1/2 hrs), I had lost alot of blood. They had to do a few transfusions to get me back up to where I needed to be. They also were amazed that they didn't have to amputate my right foot/leg and my right hand. Dr Ebraheim said that while i was in the ER, I could still wiggle my big toe, even though most of my foot was not attached! I tell ya, he's definately a miracle worker! The nurses at MUO told us that when Princess Di was in her accident, DrEbraheim was one of three doctors in the whole world that was on call to go to her! Holy shit!!! If he's good enough for Di, then he's good enough for me! LOL
After a week in intensive care, then a week in step down at MUO, they decided to transfer me to St Francis Healthcare Center in Green Springs. Partial nursing home, partial rehab center (this is the same place Christopher Reeves was). The day they were taking me there, I had only seen Steve one brief time before this. So, on the way out, they wheeled me (on my stretcher) into the ICU where Steve was so I could see him before they took me to GS. (He wasn't transported there til another week later) I wasn't sure at first if he knew even who I was but he did. Luckily they had most of me covered up with blankets so he wasn't able to see my legs. He did, however, see my arm with the bars all around it. He immediately sat up in bed and started calling for his nurse to come in. When she got there he just pointed at me and told her to fix my arm! I tried to tell him they were already fixing it, but he couldnt get his focus off that. It upset him quite a bit and he didn't want me to leave. I think that was one of the toughest moments when I had to leave his side and be driven many miles away. I felt so helpless!
The first night at G.S. was pretty rough. I was in an unfamiliar place with a lot of people I didn't now. They put me in one of the big ward rooms that has room for 4 beds. There were already 2 little old ladies in there so they put me in the 3rd spot. It was later in the evening when they got me there, so it was after the normal supper time. I remember they brought me a toasted cheese for my first meal! LOL The nurses were very friendly and helped me to settle in. I believe it was a Friday night when they transported me there cause I had 2 days off and right away on Monday they started doing some therapy with me. Monday morning they said they were going to get me up and into a wheelchair. Now, keep in mind that I had been flat on my back for over 2 full weeks now. I couldn't even sit up by myself let alone get in a wheel chair!! My first thought was, "how the hell they gonna do this one???" Well, they did! Four nurses came in and they rolled me around putting a canvas harness type thing under me that kind of cradled me like a stork's nap-sack. They attached the straps to this metal "lift" that looked to me like the cherry picker things they use to pull engines out of cars!!! Once attched, they pushed a button and it lifted me up in the air. There had to be a separate nurse holding each of my legs cause they were both in imobilizers and I had no control over either leg. It had to be a hilarious site to see. My big butt up in a sling (and still in a hospital gown by the way), with 2 nurses holding my legs, one nurse running the lift and another guiding me by my back. They scooted me across the room, hanging in the air!!, then guided me down into a wheel chair with leg extention things to support my legs. I have to tell you....this was exhausting...even though I didn't do anything! I was so scared they were gonna drop me! Lucky for me, they had done this many times before and with bigger butts than mine! So all was well.
I was only able to be up in the chair for about 20-30 minutes at a time the first few times, cause I would get really dizzy and light headed. Mainly because I had been lying flat so long that sitting up really messed with my melon. But, it got much better every day and pretty soon I was in the wheelchair for a few hours at a time, and they would wheel me down to therapy twice a day to do some excersizes. At first, the only thing I could even move was my left arm, cause I had no weight bearing allowance on the other three limbs. So, that was pretty boring therapy. But, I couldn't believe how heavy a puny 1 pound weight felt! It was rediculous!! I felt like such a weakling! LOL Then for occupational therapy (OT) they sat me up to a table with a peg board standing up, and I had to use my left hand (on the good arm) to put pegs on the board. At first I thought, how hard can that be, until I got to the 3rd and 4th peg and could barely lift my arm! Wow! One of my first experiences at appreciating the "small things" in life.
Small Goals
May 28, 2011
Things I am looking forward post-op....
- riding a rollercoaster & fitting in the seat
- fitting in a seat at a theatre
- being able to buckle my seatbelt without sucking in my breath
- walking for more than an hour without having severe pains in my legs/joints
- tying my shoes w/out feeling like I'm gonna pass out
- being able to sit in a regular lawn chair, not an oversized heavy-weight one
- not be the "fattest" of all my friends
- getting rid of my extra chin
- wiping my but without trying to be a contortionist (lol)
- not getting pitty looks from friends & family
- making my ankle joint (replacement) last longer than expected
I'm sure there are more, so the list will continue. :-)
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- riding a rollercoaster & fitting in the seat
- fitting in a seat at a theatre
- being able to buckle my seatbelt without sucking in my breath
- walking for more than an hour without having severe pains in my legs/joints
- tying my shoes w/out feeling like I'm gonna pass out
- being able to sit in a regular lawn chair, not an oversized heavy-weight one
- not be the "fattest" of all my friends
- getting rid of my extra chin
- wiping my but without trying to be a contortionist (lol)
- not getting pitty looks from friends & family
- making my ankle joint (replacement) last longer than expected
I'm sure there are more, so the list will continue. :-)
About Me
OH
Location
37.1
BMI
Surgery
06/21/2011
Surgery Date
Surgeon
Oct 03, 2010
Member Since
