God's Grace

Its has been an interesting week thus far. Monday started the countdown to my final days at Blue Shield, the 9th being our final day. It was decided that I would stay home the following week and completely overhaul our entire house, spring cleaning, washing every dish we own and doing every single piece of laundry I could find. I would also spend the week looking for another job, thus leaving my schedule open for job interviews. Our finances would not suffer because Nate was still working and I would receive unemployment. In the meantime, I would continue work on our kitchen previously started, to lessen the workload for the coming week week. Plus, we have been looking at houses with the plan to try to buy relatively soon. Big, grand plans.

Apparently God has another ideas.

Yesterday Nate took a ride down with a ladder from 15 ft in the air. He was using an extension ladder, with supposed "slip-proof" feet, attempting to access a box on a rather high shelf. He was, by his own admission, supposed to find another person to help him access the box by using a fork lift, but there was a ladder nearby for accessing the shelves and he believed it to be safe. His work is now claiming that he must have put the ladder at the wrong angle, but Nate has worked for 5 years in construction and I know that he is VERY safe when it comes to ladders, so I do not believe this to be a stupidity accident on his part. Regardless of the reason, the feet on the ladder "allegedly" slid away from the shelf he was accessing and dropped, along with Nate, to the ground. He landed on the ladder with his left arm trapped between it and himself. The result of this accident was a very nasty cut to his arm (and various other abrasions to his face, wrist, arm and body).....

(The abrasion is worse than it looks, its a bad picture taken with my camera phone..)

.... damage to his cell phone, which was also trapped between himself and the ladder.....

(again, crappy cell phone picture, most of the LCD is cracked...)

..... and last, but not least, the fracturing of both bones in his left forearm.
(x-ray)


To be honest, I am very, very, very grateful that the damage was not more serious than it was or worse. I truly believe that God was taking care of him because he fell very fast and hard and there could have been much more extensive damage to his body, or more than just a break to his forearm. Its a MAJOR blessing that he didn't break his fingers, wrist, leg, etc. And, as you can see in the x-ray, the fractures are clean and still lined up perfectly, so he doesn't have to have any corrective surgery or plating. We also didn't originally have to go the emergency room. The only reason we ended up there was due to the fact that the accident happened so late in the day that most of the offices were closing. By the time we were finished with the initial admission, x-rays, and final diagnosis by the admitting doctor, the orthopedic office was closed, so the emergency physicians had to fit him for the wet cast. The entire process was rather quick though, considering. We got to the hospital around 4 p.m. and were over at my parents for dinner around 7 p.m..

His final diagnosis wont come until Thursday, when he gets fitted for his cast and then Friday, for his final visit with the admitting doctor. In the meantime, we have to keep his arm stable and immobile so that he doesn't damage the bones further.

Unfortunately this means some difficult financial times ahead for us. With my job ending Friday, we will only receive my final paycheck and my severance check. Which will help. but its not enough for monthly bills. We will not find out for sure whether or not he can even return to work anytime soon until Friday. Whether or not he can return effects the size of his paychecks for the coming weeks. If he can work, it will sizably diminish the amount of his checks due to the lack of ability to work overtime. BUT, if he cannot work, he can apply for disability through the state, so we are looking into that as a possibility. So, please, to any friends who read this, pray for the healing of his arm, pray for patience and sanity for both of us as he is stuck at home and I have to assume ALL household responsibilities while he is incapacitated, for wise financial decisions and for my continued search for a suitable job.

In all of this though, I am very grateful that it was not worse and I am happy that he will be home for a while with me after my final days at Blue Shield. This will be the first time, in a long time, that we will be able to see each other for more than just two hours an in a single day.

My only complaint: The wet cast smells like rotting yeast. :oP