Well, lots of things have happened since the last post in the old blog, too many to capture correctly, and since this is primarily for Andrew and things that happen with him I will only give a few of the "highlights" of the past month or so.
The weekend before July 4th (Saturday, June 24): Andrew, Momma and I went to visit some friends for dinner in the Bronx to celebrate the coming move of another of our long time friends (Megan) from New York out to San Francisco. It was a great time, and our friends have a little girl (Anna) who is just too cute! She and Andrew had fun staring at each other and seeing another person their own size! After all of the fun and fantastic food, we headed back home and were in a car accident on I-80. Andrew was checked out at the hospital and everything was normal, but unfortunately he was at the hospital because Momma had major pain in her right shoulder and Dad had some pain in his back and side.
The summary of the accident is that we were traveling in the middle lane on I-80 at the speed limit (~55 mph for this section) when we were rammed from behind by a truck going nearly 30-40 mph over the speed limit! We spun the Denali XL and hit the guard rail a few times. Actually we were lucky it was raining, because they think it helped the truck spin versus flip, while neither is great, spinning is much better! Everyone was shaken, but thankfully Andrew was OK.
So the following Monday, June 26, Angela's mom drove out to help us with Andrew as Angela's shoulder and arm were in a sling and completely unusable. It was in severe pain and Angela really had to struggle with the arm as well as Andrew who couldn't be held or picked up by his Momma any more!
Angela's mom helped everyone run here and there throughout the week, with Angela going from doctor to doctor to get checked out. But unfortunately on Friday after a full day of running from appointment to appointment, and running errands, we were having a bite of pizza for dinner and Angela's mother fell down the bottom few steps into the basement while going to get some laundry.
I called 911 while Angela stayed with her mom to help keep her as comfortable as possible while waiting for the ambulance. We later found out at the hospital that her left ankle had been dislocated and had four broken bones and her right foot broken in two places!
So after a late night at the same hospital emergency center that we were just at the previous weekend from our car accident, Angela's mom had her ankles/feet stabilized and was scheduled for surgery the following morning.
That evening I called my parents and arranged for them to come to NJ in the morning to assist us with everything, and on the way to pick up Angela's father so that he could drive her mom home once she recovered and was checked out of the hospital.
That was the plan until after the surgery Saturday morning when some pretty major complications surfaced with Angela's mom. Ultimately she was put on a ventilator and stayed in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) for a total of three weeks. This was a long and bumpy rollercoaster during which our house became an impromptu hotel for two weeks while my parents and Angela's dad, sister and brother-in-law, and grandparents stayed with us during this time of uncertainty.
Andrew had lots of love and care during July while we had everyone here as Momma was shuttling back and forth to the hospital to be with her mother as well as her own 3 times weekly shoulder treatment at a chiropractor across the street from the hospital. Andrew never knew who was going to play with him or give him another face to smile at while bouncing in his chair!
It's hard to believe that it has been six weeks since our accident and life is finally starting to get back to normal. Momma's shoulder is still in a lot of pain and she still does not have the full use of her shoulder and arm as it was prior to the accident. We are still waiting on approval from the insurance company for all treatment measures to take place. We are also waiting for the repair of our truck to be finished and returned to us.
But the last of the support team and Angela's parents left on Wednesday of this week, and while it is sad to have a quiet and "empty" house with just the five of us (Jaz and Racquel in there as well), I am glad to finally get back to some semblance of normal life. Even if our refrigerator conked out two weeks ago and we shuttle everything to and from the basement!
Ah, normal life. With only home disasters to deal with!
Dad
