It’s been a while since I said I was going to post more frequently…But life happened. Nothing like a bad freak accident to knock you back a bit and give you a harsh reality check.
Back story:
6 weeks ago, on a Sunday, we were all at home. The boys upstairs playing, myself In the kitchen cleaning and cooking and Matt out front mowing the lawn…typical Sunday evening. That changed in the blink of an eye.
Matt was out front mowing the lawn when he backed up to go around a tree and tripped over a utility box. The utility box was not locked or attached to it’s post so the cover came undone when he tripped and Matt landed directly on top of the cover on his left side. Had he fallen three inches over in the other direction he would have been impaled by the steel post.
Matt walked in, hunched over, pale, sweaty and trying hard to catch his breath and speak. Something was seriously wrong. I said are you ok?! And he mustered the words I think I broke my ribs. I said let’s go to the hospital and just like that we all got in the car and headed to the ER. The drive is about 20 minutes, back roads with bumps and turns. It was not an easy ride for him.
We get to the emergency room and start checking him In but because of Covid, the boys and I couldn’t wait with him. Only one person with the patient regardless if you have someone to watch your kids or not. I WAS LIVID! The boys and I stayed with him for as long as we could in the waiting room and then waited a bit in the car. The boys were upset, full of questions as was I. So we headed to the store to walk around and try to think about something else.
About an hour and a half later he called me, he was ready to be picked up. ER said that he broke two ribs. Lots of rest and some pain medication was the remedy. Unfortunately on Sunday nights pharmacy’s aren’t open so we really struggled with the pain that first night.
Matt really tried to take it like a champ but the pain just got worse. Monday he was struggling but got up to work (from home in the office). About 3pm he stood up and heard a pop. He was in so much pain that I had to take him back to the ER. *So thankful that our neighbors were able to watch the boys after school. At least now I was able to be in the ER with him. X-ray showed three broken ribs, they gave him a Percocet and prescribed some more pain medication and muscle relaxers and said lots of rest. There wasn’t much of anything else that could be done. Just try to support the ribs while breathing or coughing.
We got home about 6:30pm after picking up his medication. I got Matt comfortable and got the boys from our neighbors house (they were playing soccer outside in the rain with their friend, non the wiser). I got the boys fed, did homework, showered and put to bed by 8:30. I was cleaning up, taking care of the pets, organizing Matt’s medicine and scheduling of them. Finally some sleep but I checked on Matt first. He was in so much pain. I tried my best to prop him up, splint his side, use lidocaine patches and keep up with his meds but the pain was too much.
I asked him if he was ok, he was sitting up and telling me that he felt like he couldn’t breathe and it hurt. All of a sudden he went white as a ghost, cold sweats, eyes wide open but staring right through me. He was unresponsive to me and almost like he was frozen. I called 911. I was so scared, I didn’t know what was happening. Meanwhile I’m on the phone with the 911 operator answering questions and also asking Matt to stay awake because he came to but was so groggy. Nolensville fire dept came first, thankfully they only had their lights on and not the sirens. They took Matt’s vitals, asked him questions to which his gift of gab was back. Then EMS showed up, also only lights on. Our neighbor saw the lights and asked if she could help, I’m so thankful she did.
All of his vitals were “normal” and there was no “immediate emergency” so they said he didn’t have to ride in the ambulance. I made the decision that he needed to go to the ER and I would take him because what I had just witnessed was not normal. Our sweet neighbor came over to watch the boys while we went back to the hospital. The boys were still asleep and had no idea what was going on, I’m so grateful for that.
Back at the hospital after just being there a few hours ago. Matt was pale, weak, having cold sweats and shallow breathing because of the pain. We were registered back in and sat in the waiting room. Another Patient was being called back but the same NP who had just seen Matt earlier. She looked at us and came over. She said “You do not look good” as she took his vitals. Blood pressure was super low. She said hang tight, I’m marking you High priority. Two and a half hours later we were called back.
Matt had another X-ray, EKG, blood work and a CT scan done. They also gave him some extremely strong pain medication and his body language immediately changed. He was semi comfortable and breathing better. From there he was in and out of sleep, Thank goodness. His blood pressure was still all over the place. Really high to really low to perfect. No rhyme or reason. So I sat there, for 6 hours and watched this machine measure his bp every 15 minutes. I waited for results to start trickling in, pain medication kept being topped off and Matt was in and out of conversations and sleep. EKG came back normal. Blood work showed low white blood cells. CT came back no punctured lung or any other organs, it did verify broken ribs. But it was 4 vs. the 2 or 3 they said earlier, as well as a fractured sternum and two fractured lower vertebrae. Also let us know he had developed pleural effusion, which is a build up of fluid on the outside of the lungs but just his left side.
We were give instructions via on call trama Dr. to in house ER Dr. medication additions and another top up of strong pain medication. We were discharged at 6:30am. We made it home before the boys woke up for school. Darleen (our neighbor) was heaven sent. The boys will never know that feeling of pure fear from that night because of her❤️ I got Matt to bed just In time to wake the boys up. And our morning continued just like any other day.
We had also just started the process of getting our second house in order and cleaned up to list on the market so after I got the boys off to school, I headed over to the house and stared getting stuff done. We also had painters come by as well as having the upstairs sinks replaced. All together I was up for 36 hours straight. I was just numb at that point.
So alarms going off every 4 hours for different medications, two boys in sports, a house going up for sale and a husband with broken ribs and multiple fractures. Don’t forget the pets too. I was running on fumes for a while. Worst part was, I was so scared but I couldn’t tell anyone or show it. I was terrified of what could have happened, what could happen and what was going to happen to Matt. My best friend. My better half. My home. Reality jumped up and smacked me in the face and reminded me that he is not invincible. Mortality is real. It felt like the devil was attacking us, like he was putting in work on our lives. Through the grace of God, Matt is getting better and better day by day. A few small set backs but he is pushing through.
Can you imagine, A stubborn OCD husband who is unable to help tear up and fix a deck, attach sinks drains, fix flooring or any other honey do items? Not to mention opening day of hunting season. That was a JOB in itself 😋
This was hands down one of the scariest times of my life. I thought about writing about it so many times but each time just brought tears to my eyes. I’ll never forget the look on Matt’s face that night. Never forget the fear I felt in my heart. Maybe God was saying we need to slow down, appreciate each other and the time we have together. He is my home and I’m so grateful that he is doing better, slow and steady healing ❤️