Tenth Anniversary Of Accident

Anniversary is usually a happy word.  Perhaps today isn't as much of an Anniversary as it a Memorial?  Ten years ago today a man chose to get behind the wheel of a car drunk and in his impaired judgment got on the 75 freeway in Dallas, Texas going south on the north bound lane. As you can see in this picture, that wasn't an easy feat, as it has a barrier down the middle, walls on each side and you would have to enter totally on the wrong side, not just cross over a median.

 It was 10:00 P.M., so it was dark, but still incomprehensible how this could happen, except it shows how impaired one can be when drunk behind the wheel.  He was driving a Ford F-150, I was in a Honda Accord.

My legs were crushed and I had several broken ribs.  Fortunately, no head injuries.  I spent 3 weeks in a medically induced coma and 6 months in rehab.

 Then there were another 2 years of surgeries and recoveries before life became my "new normal".

The scars tell the story.

 All those memories do come flooding back today.  But I thought in honor of the day I would list 10 positive things that came out of that day.

1. Where my accident happened was a blessing.  If it had been a mile further up the freeway or a mile behind, I would have been taken to another hospital.  As it was I was taken to Baylor hospital where it just so happened the premier trauma surgeon in Dallas just happened to be on call?  Any other hospital and it was fairly certain that my leg would have been amputated.  So while I may question at times why God didn't prevent my accident, I know that He couldn't control someone else's poor decision to drive drunk and I thank Him for making sure I would get the best help.  I am also thankful for the unknown angels that stopped and talked with me until the emergency workers could get there. They also called Steve and my mom to let them know what had happened.  I don't know who they were so I just call them my angels.

2.  I can honestly say through rehab and my recovery that "Never Once Did I Ever Walk Alone".  I could not have done it without the thousands of prayers that were going up for me.  God gave me the strength I needed for each step of the way.  I am forever thankful!

3.  I have been blessed with the most amazing caretaker ever!  My husband Steve sacrificed/sacrifices so much for me each and every day.  From bathing and putting lotion on me, to cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, taking me to doctor appointments, therapy appointments, giving me shots, hooking up IV's, etc. etc.  Then what Steve couldn't do my mother supplemented.  When Steve had to return to work, she stayed with me and took me to appointments, also cleaned my house, cooked and took great care of me!  All the while, my father was ill and she was caring for him too.

4.  I am thankful for my family. Brothers, Sisters, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins (my grandparents were deceased) who though they didn't live in the Dallas area, all came to visit and then stayed in touch throughout my recovery.  Long before the days when Facebook makes it a little easier :-)

5.  My church family was absolutely AMAZING!  Where do I begin?  First of all the Church Administrator at the time knew to file this as a Workmen's Compensation case because I was coming home after being with a child in my ministry at the hospital.  It has meant Steve and I have not paid one penny of any of the expenses over the years!  Then my church elders committed to pay my a full salary, even though WC was paying 80%.  They bought me a laptop computer so that I could keep up with communications at home.  I had a Children's Ministry team that stepped up to the plate and covered all the basis so that the children/families would continue to have opportunities to learn and serve the Lord together.  The many visits, calls, cards and prayers were the best medicine possible. Ten years later and my heart is still touched by Bob Legan, who called and prayed for me every Tuesday afternoon on the phone.  For Bill Thoma who fasted and prayed every Saturday for 6 months! For Matalee Heflin, who at the age of 3, would call and sing songs for me over the phone. For my Supper Club friends who decorated my house for Christmas.  And too many more to list here.

6.  I am thankful for the skills and talents that God blessed Dr. Paul Freudigman with.  He didn't necessarily recognize they were from God.  But I thank God for the wisdom he had in using a Russian technique called and Illizarov Frame to save my leg.  Yes, I had to wear it two different times to get complete healing, but I am blessed with two legs and not living life in  a wheelchair.  Dr. F. did not have the best bedside manner, so I am also thankful for his assistant, Robin, who provided a more tender touch.  I have to admit, somewhere along the way in my 2 year treatment, Dr. Freudigman softened and would actually pat me on the shoulder :-)  I am thankful for all the nurses, and rehab staff that took such great care of me!

7.  I am actually thankful for rehab itself.  Sometimes it just takes putting things in perspective.  There were so many in rehab that were in far worse shape than I was.  My original roommate (before I got moved to a private room) had a head injury from being t-boned in an accident and they had to keep her in a caged bed because she was so irrational.  I made a friend named Mary who lost her battle to keep her leg and had to have it amputated.  There was a father of four (don't remember his name) whose children would come to visit him and he could not speak to them because he had had a stroke in his 30's, nor could he hug them because he did not have use of his arms.  The therapists were gentle but persistent in pushing me to do things I didn't think I could do, but were needed in order for me to gain strength and recover.  I wish I remembered all of their names. But thankful that there are people who feel called to be be therapist and the work that they do!

8.  I am thankful for contemporary Christian music!  And thankful for CD players and headphones.  Again no Ipod's ten years ago...isn't that amazing?  But the music would soothe my soul and the lyrics would help me to worship God in the midst of the storm.  I especially listened over and over to the CD my children's ministry friends made me.  At the time I was a part of a Children's Ministry Network of other children's ministers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and we would meet once a month to "pick each other's brains" and for fellowship.  They became wonderful friends.  They got together and each contributed their favorite song and put them on a CD for me and then wrote a description of why that song was important to them.  It was a priceless treasure!

9.  I am thankful for Church Mutual my workman's compensation insurance, who has really taken very good care of me!  From the get go they have given me everything I have needed to have the best quality of life.  They remodeled our house and made it handicap friendly.  Tearing up carpet and putting in wood floors so a wheel chair would be easily managed.  They remodeled the master bath so that I would have a walk in shower and be able to use my wheelchair at the vanity and toilet.  They would have remodeled the kitchen, making cabinets lower, but I didn't think that was necessary.  They put rails on my pool so that I could do water therapy.  They provided a power chair so that once I returned to work I could get around the halls of the church building easier than a wheel chair. They even offered to buy us a new van to transport the chair, but thinking I wouldn't be incapacitated that long, we denied that too (maybe our only regret).

10.  I could probably keep listing things, but I said 10 for 10 years, so here we go.  It is hard to believe in about 3 weeks we will have lived in Colorado for 5 years!!  I am pretty sure if the accident had not happened we would not be here.  For too many reasons to list here, the best being Steve and I both retired, we did choose to move to be closer to my family in Denver.  Again God has blessed me with a wonderful church family.  It is hard to hide from them my immobility as most Sundays, I am on a walker.  There isn't a time that I with them that someone isn't asking me how I am doing.  Someone is always telling me they are praying for me.  They pray that my pain will subside.  Without surgery, that doesn't seem to be in God's plan for me.  Does that get discouraging?  Yes, it does.  But I remind myself that the apostle Paul (who had a much deeper relationship with God than I do) prayed several times that his thorn in the flesh be removed, and it wasn't.  God told him "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  Paul then says, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."  I cannot do less.

I thank God for each of these 10 and so much more!  May I continue to surrender to His control and I pray that He will continue to use me in His Kingdom for His glory.