The past few weeks have not been terribly bad, but it could have been so much worse. I left work and took a few weeks off to go home and help my parents out. They own a small business in south Louisiana and needed a hand right around the same time I needed a break from the military life, and my fiance needed time to study. (She is about to take her national exam in massage therapy). It was good timing for everyone so we packed up, left Florida and went West on I-10 a few hours. The plan was for me and my fiance to get a week of work at the office under our belts then let the folks take a small, short, and much needed vacation. Because they run the business it's hard for them to get away. I was going to try and help them do just that and get away a bit. Well my grandfather on my dad's side of the family had been having health issues. A few years back he had a stroke and the stroke left an artery in his head with a small kink. Yes just like a garden hose, but still had flow. The kink would sometimes move and when it did it would touch a nerve sending extreme pain down his face. He described it like brain freeze in his entire face. Something I can only imagine hurts like hell. So after some time dealing with this because the doctor he was seeing hoped it would correct itself, the Wed before last he has surgery to fix it. They had to remove a piece of his head to access the artery, straighten it out, and place a screen between the artery and nerve to prevent future "brain freeze" attacks. He was in ICU for about 3 days after the surgery, then was placed in his own room for a night or two, then released home. Needless to say it was a tense time for our family. He is older now and many people underestimate the risk associated with older people having a major surgery. Unfortunately my parents had to post pone their little trip do to the circumstances of my grandfather. My father had to spend a few nights at the hospital with my grandmother to lend a helping hand when he was recovering so they couldn't leave. Well luckily for everyone my grandfather is doing better minus a few headaches, and a slight balance issue every so often. Anesthesia doesn't fair so well on older individuals and sometimes it takes a little bit for them to get their wits back so nothing to be overly concerned about. Overall things were looking good though. So because of things looking up, Saturday my family and I went on the water to spend the day together. Took out our party barge loaded with my aunts, my cousins, my parents, my fiance and my uncle with his new girlfriend. He is my dad's youngest brother by 13 years and older than me by just 9. Needless to say he's close to everyone. When he was young he unfortunately had made a few poor choices as many do when they are young and think they know everything. The unfortunately thing for him was he got caught and got in some trouble here and there. He just recently moved back home and started a new life that was going in the right direction. Solid job with the same company the entire time he was home, attending almost all the family gatherings, took up very healthy hobbies such as fishing and being out in the boat, and most importantly he surrounded himself with good people. People he can count on and depend on and people that want the best for him. He was actually a great person to be around with lots looking up for him. After the afternoon on the boat he left to bring his girlfriend and her kids home. The next morning, today Sunday August 1st, he was suppose to take my other uncle, the middle brother who was in town salt water fishing. He decided to leave his girlfriends house early to get to bed so he could wake up and head out fishing. Just about 8 pm, he was less than 5 miles from home when out of no where a car trying to pass 3 cars in a curve hit him head on. The driver, a young 21 year old that was going to the hospital to visit a friend that was there because they tried to commit suicide. He was going to try and talk to them and help them and be there for them. There were no skid marks on the road from either vehicle so the two vehicles received the full force of the impact. The young driver of the other vehicle, unfortunately died instantly. My uncle was in terrible shape. On the outside he had a left elbow compound fracture, left femur compound fracture, right knee fracture, and multiple cuts and bruises. On the inside a punctured diaphragm, ruptured spleen, liver lacerations, and bleeding. He was air lifted to a level 1 trauma center in our capital city of Baton Rouge where he went into surgery around midnight and didn't get out until 6. They didn't even work on any other the outside injuries. The removed his spleen and packed his liver and after they were done they left his incision open just in case they had to perform and emergency surgery on him today. It took 5 units of blood and 9 units of fluid to get his normal pressures back. They had to induce sedation because of many reasons ranging from pain and comfort to it being the safest option with the extent of his injuries and him possibly moving and hurting himself even further. Tomorrow he will be seen by 4 specialist so that can all correctly diagnose his status and tell us what it's going to take to give him his life back. This story could have a much worse ending but the bottom line is that my uncle is still with us. I will be able to fish with him again...I'll be out on the lake with him again...I'll see him at family dinners and get together's. Life is a terrible game of inches. One inch this way he could have died, one inch the other they both could have lived. Many people say things happen for a reason and I am not one to argue with that. I do think that people can find the good in every situation to include bad ones and I think that after time those reasons will be reveled but sometimes it is very difficult to see in the early stages. I visited my uncle today and looking at him hooked up to that ventilator with the braces on his arm and leg it was very difficult to see the good. It makes me realize just how fragile people are. One second you are here planning out your days and they next it's all changed or even gone. My advice is be careful what you put off until tomorrow because you never know what'll change today.
B
No comments:
Post a Comment