Tuesday, August 17, 2010

I'm Back!

I can't believe it has been almost 4 months since I last posted.  There has been a lot happen in that time so I will try to give you all the news.
May 5th around 11 pm I was getting ready for bed and was walking out of my bedroom into the kitchen when all of a sudden I lost my balance and before I could do anything I was flat on the kitchen floor face first.  The way I fell I hit my forehead with all my weight on the tile floor which kind of snapped my head back.  Now, I have had two surgeries on my neck, one being a fusion, so all I could think was 'what have I done to my neck?'  My husband came roaring up the stairs and there I was on the floor bleeding all over.  Turns out the force of the blow cut my forehead, actually there is a dented spot there now.  He and my nephew, who was staying with us, got me up off the floor.  The cut had pretty well stopped bleeding and I was able to move okay and felt okay so I convinced them I did not need to go to emergency.  My husband bandaged up my head and everyone went to bed.  About 2 hours later I woke up and was having some trouble breathing so I got my husband up, told him I needed to go to emergency.  By then my breathing was very labored, sounded like a bad asthma attack.  We went to emergency which is only about a 5 minute drive from our house but by the time we got there I no longer was breathing and was blue.
DH ran into emergency hollering for help, people came flying from everywhere, he ran back out to the van and lifted me out by himself (I am not exactly a light weight) and put me in the wheelchair and they whisked me off, cut off my clothes, and put any airway down my throat with great difficulty.  Once they got me stabilized off I went by ambulance to Calgary where I spent 2 weeks in the Foothills Hospital.  8 of those days were on life support in ICU.  I was one happy puppy when all the tubes could be removed.  Turns out that when I fell and my head snapped back it caused a bleed which over time formed a huge mass behind my airway and eventually pressed on it till it was closed off.  One of those really weird things that you would have no way of knowing until you can't breath.  I don't remember arriving at the hospital, in fact I don't remember anything until later the next day.  God was so good and He was with me every step of the way.  I had no fear, never panicked when I couldn't breathe and I know that was all by the grace of God.
It was so good to get home again.  Only thing is a couple of days later I ended up back in emergency with a massive blood clot in my leg so spent 3 more days in hospital for them to get me on blood thinners.  It has been a long haul but thanks be to God I am doing extremely well and slowly getting my strength back.
My family, the splitcoast members, and my church have been absolutely fantastic.  I have been so blessed.
I would not recommend this experience to anyone.  But I can give God all the glory for His watchfulness over me and for providing all the incredible Drs. and nurses that brought me back to health.  I serve an amazing and wonderful God!
Tomorrow, I will post some pictures of cards I have made recently.  Again, thank you for all the prayers and support.

Blessings,
Faith