The last 6 months of Hell!

Where to begin . . .I guess it began with getting ripped off by con artist construction guys. We needed to remodel our bathrooms and went through the usual process of getting bids. We decided on one we liked and paid half to start the project with there remainder due on completion. Well the starting day came and went and no work began. After a couple of weeks and a series of a couple hundred phone calls we determined that they had no intention of starting work and we were out a considerable chunk of money. We have since gotten with a lawyer and have papers to serve but can't find the guys. That was a bad June. In July we gave in and contracted with some one from our church to do one of the bathrooms. We had gotten lots of assurances that he would do a good job and not take advantage of us before we finally gave in. Again one month later we were ripped off. He did not do a good job, grout is coming out from between the floor tiles which were not even laid right. The attention to detail is non-existant. He has said he was coming back to fix the 2 most major problems but it is now 3 months later and the problems have not been fixed. In the mean time it has caused some real problems for us with some of those people who assured us that hiring him was a good idea.

In the midst of all of this my beloved husband began having some health issues and was diagnosed with high blood pressure. The doctor put him on a medication and things seemed to be better, again, about 3 months ago. Well last week he had an allergic reaction to the medication which caused his uvula to swell to "8 times it's normal size" as quoted by the ear, nose and throat doctor he had gone to see because he thought it was really bad drainage and seasonal allergies. Two steriod shots and several antihistamins later we thought he was getting better but 2 days later we were in ER bacause he felt worse and was having the same swelling again. So once more 2 steriod shots and antihistimins later we again thought we were on the road to recovery. 2 days later came the sinus infection. Now I know things could be worse but that's not all of the story.

The Friday before the allergic reaction - Oct. 12, 2007 - my parents were in a near fatal accident as they traveled to a small East Texas town where they had a "retirement" house. The whole family was to gather there for a "family" thing with come cousins of my Dad's coming from out of town and we would be celebrating my eldest niece's 7th birthday. My husband and I were headed out after he got off work to pitch a tent in their back yard for the weekend and my brother and sister and their families were coming early Saturday morning. Anyway I had called Mom on her cell phone about 1:25 on Friday afternoon to ask a couple of questions before I went home and packed to be ready to go when my hubby got off work. I had only talked to Mom a couple of minutes and was getting ready to hang up with her when I heard a horrible noise and heard my Mom saying "oh, my God, oh God". Then I heard voices saying things like I'm calling 911 and then in a little bit something about Care Flight. I managed to stay connected for about 35 minutes before the phone went dead making a weird "broken" tone. In the mean time I had been Instant Messaging my hubby and he had been calling my brother and sister. We had also been trying to call Dad's cell phone. Finally my husband called Dad's phone again and got a highway patrolman who just told him there had been an accident and they had been Care Flighted to the best trauma center in the United States. Long story made at least a little shorter, Mom has a broken upper right arm and lots of bruising. She has developed cellulitus - a skin infection - in her left leg which was pinned under the dash. She will recover and be ok. Dad is in SICU at the best trauma center in the United States and I don't know if he will make it. He has multiple spine fractures. The ribs on his right side are broken, he had bleeding in the brain which now is controlled. He has a ruptured aorta which is only holding together by the connective tissue around the vessel. He has been running fever and may be getting pneumonia because he has been on a respirator. They put in a trachea tube and a feeding tube. Hopefully the trach tube will help him with the pneumonia. He will have to have major heart surgery either to put in a stint or a heart bypass in order to take care of the aorta. He has been kept pretty heavily sedated because they don't want him moving a lot and completely rupturing the aorta. He does hear us when we visit and has squeezed our hands. He is in a very delicate state and if he makes it has a long recovery ahead of him. When I visited last night he was more alert and was able to nod his head yes in answer to questions. He remembers some things from before the accident like the fact that his oldest granddaughter is in Brownies and from after the accident like the fact that my brother had been to see him yesterday morning. He cannot talk and his left side is much stronger than his right which is good since he is a lefty. He makes baby steps forward and we have had setbacks too, but I know all the prayers on his behalf have gotten him, and us too, through all of this to this point.

It has been Hell but it has also shown me that there are lots of people surrounding my family and myself who are loving, caring and supportive and without God's help and the love of his people this would have been even harder to deal with. Amen!