I thought I would title this post "Thankful Thursday" as we have so many things to be thankful for. Most importantly, we have each other, and of course, we are all so very lucky to still have Matt. Yes, I am talking about his accident again-I am reminded daily about how close we came to not having him-how easily I could be without my husband and soul mate, and Alina Jayne without her Father.
I thought an update on Matt was in order. He is doing remarkably well considering all he has been through. He saw the surgeon for the last time, who told him that 6 weeks post-op, the quadricep (thigh) muscles that were reconnected were (um, for lack of an easier way to explain non-medically)sewn together and reconnected would be as tightly connected and stable as they were going to be. The 6 week mark was last Saturday. Now that things are stable, he will be seeing another physician who will get him set up with rehab. He needs to learn how to correctly and fully use the muscles and the leg again. He can walk on the leg, but it is amazing how little things we take for granted are so difficult for him-and such milestones when he completes them. Like walking up and down stairs. We take that for granted, but he has to learn how to do this again after his accident. This is why he needs a good Physical Therapist to teach him how to strengthen the leg, and perform activities the rest of us do without giving it a second thought.
Yesterday he felt strong enough to stand on a ladder, and use his arms to pull himself into the 3rd floor attic through that same tiny opening he dropped out of when he cut his leg. I did not want him up there at all, first of all because I did not think he was strong enough, and secondly, because I was afraid it would be too stressful emotionally. However, he insisted he needed to get his tools (including the dreaded saw) out of there. I climbed part way up and looked around, and I was horrified to see how far away from the opening he was when he cut himself! I realized that after the saw cut his leg down to the bone, he actually managed to balance himself on the floor joists to get to the opening to get out of the attic-there is NO floor! It is a miracle he remianed conscious and did not fall through the ceiling to the 2nd floor below!
The area where the accident occurred looked better than I imagined (thankfully it was fairly dark when we were up there retrieving tools). We put the saw into a bag and brought it downstairs. Let's just say, parts of it were quite gruesome. I'll spare you the gory details, but I am sure you can imagine. I took some pics of it to file away-the G-rated versions are below.
Again, just *try* to tell me miracles don't happen.
In the operating room 02/21/09
On 04/08/09
The dreaded saw..............
Matt's new saw (aka the only one I'll EVER let him use again)!
