Day 183 - Lightning Strikes Again!

I received a call late yesterday from a very good friend I've known since high school. He did not sound like his normal, chipper self. He recently went through a bought of cancer with his throat and tonsils. Even during that ordeal of surgery, chemo and radiation, he was always in good, positive spirits. I was initially afraid he was going to tell me it was back.

Some of the first words he said were, "My dad has been in a car accident." After finding out he was alive but in the hospital, the second statement that floored me was, "He is getting the same treatment as Jan." This elderly gentleman was in a head-on collision and has a broken neck. The difference is they took him to Louisville and they evaluated him for a day before deciding on a halo with the family. When they finally put the halo on, they had a team of neurosurgeons put it on him, not just a single, unsupervised resident without a clue!

Jan's experience prepared my friend and the rest of the family for what was to come. He asked all kinds of questions and the family entered into this journey with volumes more information that Jan and I did. He said he knew what to ask thanks to our (in)experience.

Needless to say, our prayers, and I hope yours, are with them during this difficult time.

Day 182 - Six Month Rememberance

Today is exactly six months since the accident that left Jan with a type III C2 fracture. Things are nearly back to normal but only about 90%. We are still 17 days away from the next visit to the neurosurgeon.

On a sadder note, Tessa's hamster, Drizella, fell ill on Thursday night. Wednesday she was fine and seemed normal. They took her to the vet on Friday and the news wasn't good. She was 19 months old. She had a tumor behind an eye that caused it to bulge and put pressure on her jaw so that she could not eat. In just one day she lost a lot of weight and became debilitated. The vet helped her go peacefully.

This is a picture of Dru when she first came to our home in November 2007.