Angela's Blog

Hi All-

Last night was a bit restless but Ang got about 5 hours of sleep from 8pm to 8am.  She was going in about 30 minute stints.  We talked a lot and snuggled. It was wonderful.  We talked about kids for a while and she told me that there was nothing more than she wanted more than to be the mother of our children. Queue the tears!  I was completely overwhelmed by her statement.  This experience has been so frightening and I have often questioned whether or not this would be a possibility.  My wife has the most amazing, kindest heart.  She is so driven and Spirit-filled that my doubts continue to fall one by one.  She continues to ask me to pray with her.  Prior to this experience, Ang and I always talked about praying together more.  It breaks my heart to know that an event such as this is the motivator that I needed to do so, but nonetheless, God is shaping us all and I am thankful.

She continues to use the bathroom with assistance.  We only had to change her once between last night and this afternoon.  Way to go Ang!!  It amazes me that something so little is SO big for her and our family.  We continue to cheer her on and provide.

This morning was completely surreal.  A supernatural calmness came over Angela this morning and she was quiet for almost an hour.  She was like a child that doesn’t feel well.  She pulled her blanket up to her neck and snuggled with her stuffed animal penguin.  When our friend Fred came by she was very shy and pulled her blanket over her head.  We encouraged her to take these moments for herself.  It was easy to see that her mind stopped racing and she was peaceful.

Ang had PT and OT later on in the afternoon today.  She got pretty fired-up during OT since they continue to work on the range of motion in her fractured left arm.  She had several choice words for the therapist and a couple of “you’re number one” salutes for him.  I held her hand during the session and she took the brunt of her frustration out on my arms. OUCH!  She repeatedly asked me to let go of her hand, which I of course said no in order to protect the poor guy. She asked again and I asked her why.  She said, “So I can punch him in the face!”  Her response was pretty in-tune with her level of agitation but we all got a good laugh.  She squeezed her left hand again!  She is also complaining of more pins and needles sensations in the left side of her face, left arm, and leg. As I had mentioned before, this is a good sign.  It means that the nerves are not dead.  The only bad thing (which is also really good) is that when the sensation subsides it will transition to a general sensation of pain.

PT went well.  They had Ang stand up a couple of times.  If it wasn’t for her left leg being weak she would be doing it all by herself I think.  She is extremely motivated and full of energy.  Ang has a hard time sitting still for 15 minutes so I can’t imagine how the last month feels for her.  They did more E-therapy on her leg and she continues to improve even when she is tired.  She continues to improve in her ability to articulate her needs, pains, and preferences.

We were supposed to be scheduled for ST later in the day, but instead Ang is going to be headed back to Harborview.  Needs to be done, but Ang will miss her next “swallow test”.  The pins in her wrist are quite painful and are possibly infected.  The skin has begun to grow back, but it is growing over the pins. Hoping that the x-rays will indicate that the pins are simply ready to come out…  I think that the surgeons went with this approach because they felt that Ang would not be moving around / making as much progress as she is in such a short period of time.  Obviously they do not know my wife!  The ortho team was not available to see her until next Thursday so she will have to head to the ER and wait to be seen.  Please pray that she does not become over-stimulated by the event and that the doctors will see her as soon as she arrives due to her complex type of injury.  Her mom is with her and I am on call in case anything comes up.  Hopefully she will be nice and tired when she gets back to Park West and she and her mom will get a good nights sleep.

I also got Ang’s belongings back from the collision detective this afternoon.  It was very difficult to go through the things that she had in her backpack.  Had to throw away most of the clothes because she had food in her bag that went everywhere.  

Please continue to pray for continued healing, rest, and more peaceful moments throughout the day like the one she experienced this morning.

More to come-

Josh