Jun 14, 2007

Life, as you know it, is so fragile

I usually don't post personal things here, but this also has a scrapbooking bend to it. A distant friend's husband fell off a roof he was working on last Friday and did some major damage to himself. He has been in the Trauma ICU unit at a hospital about 2 hours from home. He has a major brain injury, badly broken arm and a cracked pelvis.

Because we live only 25 miles from the hospital, his wife has been staying with us and I have been spending the day at the hospital with her. There have been little baby steps of progress in his recovery that have been encouraging. Let me say, though, STAY OFF THE ROOF! This is nothing that anyone should have to go through.

We have had long talks about how fragile our lives are. Last Thursday, her daughter and three of her Grandchildren had arrived from Utah for a visit. Everything was normal and life was good. THIS Thursday, she's happy because they took the pressure gauge screw out of her husband's skull and will remove his ventilator this afternoon and then hope they can get him to wiggle his toes again on command. It's been so sobering.

I have been encouraging her to take photos of his progress. He has come a LONG WAY since he arrived at the hospital via helicopter on Friday evening. I told her he would want to see them as will their 6 adult children later on. When it's all over, I will encourage others near her to make a book - even a simple one (maybe a hardback one from someplace like Heritage Makers) - to document his recovery.

We don't know what "recovery" means at this point, but it's a story that needs to be told. This isn't something they ever DREAMED would happen. He moves houses for a living and has stood on many roofs, many times over many years. Falling off was something he was well versed at NOT doing. But, it only takes a moment...

I hope that the photos will tell a triumpant story of a man who fell off a house and recovered fully. Even the hard stories of our lives should be preserved.

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