[TheForge] boo whoo? You Whoo!

[Jerry Frost]

From: "John Husvar" <jhusvar at sbcglobal.net>


>
>
>
> If anybody on the list has a reason to cry, it's you. 
> That's whoo! :)
>


I appreciate the licence to whine John but I beg to 
differ.

>From the moment I stumbled out around the front of the 
truck I've been discovering just how much people care. 
I didn't know how bad I looked, two of the guys who 
were leaving and coming back were puking. My left 
humurus was not just broken, hanging at an odd angle, 
it had a curve in it about the radius of a grapefruit 
and was bleeding pretty good. They kept coming back, 
sick to their stomaches or not.

The EMS guys were very pro, they got me stabalized, 
loaded and transported quickly and as comfortably as 
possible in just a few minutes. The EMT who rode in 
back even had some pretty good jokes to share on the 
ride, all the time ministering to me non stop. He even 
stopped in again to say good bye after the paperwork 
had been signed. He laughed at me when I said something 
about being out as soon as they set the bone. Like I 
said, I couldn't see my arm so had no idea. It was a 
good time for a laugh, morphine doesn't stop pain as 
much as it makes you not care that you're hurting.

I wasn't at the hospital more than a few minutes when 
guys from work started showing up. Okay sure, they were 
foremen and didn't have anything better to do. <grin> 
Still, it was good having familiar faces there. When 
the x-rays were developed the ER doc turned me over to 
the orthopedic surgeon to tell me how seriously I'd 
broken my arm and I'd be there for at least two 
surgeries, one of the foremen took off saying he had to 
go. He heard the word surgery and immediately left to 
get Deb and bring her to the hospital, a 100 mile round 
trip.

It was good waking up post op with my wife there. She 
turned into my bulldog advocate once her sense of panic 
subsided a bit. I was less than impressed with the day 
to day care at the hospital though most of the nurses 
were good. It seems communications there are set up so 
bean counters can track every tissue but simple 
messages can't pass from shift to shift. Without Deb 
there it would've been pretty intolerable, she made 
them move a bed into the room for her. She was with me 
24/7 with one lousey 4 hr break for my whole stay. 
Friends took care of all our critters without complaint 
though in one gal's case it was a hell of a load in 
addition to her own.

8 days after the fall I underwent the second surgery. 
An open fracture has a high risk of infection 
compounded by me being diabetic meant they weren't 
taking chances on something sneaking in while they 
pumped me full of IV and oral antibiotics. Then there 
was the swelling shattering a bone causes. Anyway, the 
second surgery lasted a good 6 1/2 hrs under a 
specialist and though I felt like cold moldy crap for 
almost two days afterwards it was 6 1/2 hrs well done.

I've been home for a couple weeks now and am healing 
well. Had my first followup last thursday and am now in 
an articulated brace instead of a splint and bandages. 
The nature of the break precluded a cast all together, 
it would've led to amputation sooner than later.

So, though I never quite got to the "needing someone to 
wipe my butt for me" stage It was close, I still need 
help bathing. Deb's been there when ever I need 
something though it's running her down bigtime. I'm 
doing as much as she'll allow to ease the load but she 
won't allow much. Then there're the guys from work, I 
got almost daily visits while in the hospital and Deb 
had them running errands for us. Saturday I found out 
there was a signup sheet at work for a volunteer work 
party to come out and get everything squared away for 
winter. Too many guys have volunteered so they're going 
to break into more than one crew and come out on 
different days. The word from the superintendant is to 
call if we need a ride and they'll send a vehicle, we 
live 50 miles from work so it's a big bite out of 
production but we're not to concern ourselves, just 
call.

There's a book worth of more kindnesses done for us but 
I think you get the idea.

The only tears on my face are those of humble gratitude 
for the goodness in people's hearts.

Frosty
-------------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.

http://www.artmetalradio.com/