We've had a lot of people asking "What happened?" and we've heard there are varied stories floating around to where some people are wondering which one is the truth. We're not huge fans of repeating the same story over and over again, so I'm going to post some details -from my viewpoint- here for those who are curious.
In a nutshell, our family experienced 2 surgeries this week. (3 if you count the grand-dog's, lol). And we came uncomfortably close to being the widow & fatherless.
The first surgery was scheduled. Arianna got her wisdom teeth out Monday morning.
You never know how someone is going to respond to 'going under the knife' when it's their first time. When our firstborn got his wisdom teeth out, I was prepared to take care of him for a whole week. I had all kinds of soft foods prepared for him and cleared my schedule to wait on him hand & foot. Well... he came home and sat on the recliner for a couple hours, then was up & about again. I was shocked at how far oral surgery had come since I had my wisdom teeth out. Son # 2 was also a piece of cake. I don't remember anymore but he thinks he had his surgery on Friday and went back to work Monday. Therefore, I was lolled into believing that the drugs they use now days to put you to sleep are much gentler on the body than what was used back in my day, and young people now days bounce back super-quick.
Ummm... not always. Taking care of our daughter post-op was like a walk down memory lane. She responds to anesthesia exactly like I do. And there wasn't a whole lot of bouncing being done this week. She took all the care I was prepared to do the first time around and didn't have to do. The 3 days she asked off of work was not enough. I'm sorry my genetics caused her such a rough week. 🙁
Just when she was finally well on her way to recovery and I thought I was finished playing nurse...
Friday morning I had just woke up when I heard a loud "BOOM!" First thought- that was close! what was it? I jumped up and looked out the windows but didn't see anything. The neighbors were loading up a work trailer so it entered my mind that maybe they dropped something [although upon further reflection- it was definitely an explosion, not a clattering sound]. Before I could do much else, Josh dashed in the house calling out "Mom, you're going to have to take dad in! He's been hurt." I didn't even know Josh was here; he had come over to change oil in his vehicle so it was inside the shop where I couldn't see it from the house. I don't remember exact details, but I think he told me a barrel exploded and caught 'dad' in the neck. I asked if he's sure we don't need to call 911. Richard had walked to the house by that time and said he doesn't want to wait for the squad, let's just go. I was scrambling to get presentable when I glanced at the window and saw Richard walking back to the shop. I was confused about why he was going back to the shop if it was as serious as our son's tone of voice implied. As near as we can tell, he was in shock because he went back to the shop and started cleaning up until I was ready. Fortunately Josh was here and saw what he was doing; he reminded Richard he needs to keep his heart rate down because he's been injured, and got him back to the house.
As I dashed out the door I told Arianna "I don't know where we're going or when I'll be back." On a scale of 1 - 10, that doesn't rank very high as good communication, does it? Unknown to us, she didn't know for sure what was going on, but could only guess it was bad if a man who never goes to the hospital is going. It also never dawned on me that we left her completely alone to deal with her fears. But at that point I was still very sketchy on the details myself and wasn't sure if we were headed for Urgent Care and some stitches... or the ER for a full-blown emergency.
Richard & I jumped in the van and took off toward town. At first I was trying to be careful about driving smoothly and not hitting bumps, but then he informed me I better "step on it" so I made my fastest trip to town ever. Being early in the morning, traffic was lite. He filled me in what happened while I drove. [I'm going to include some details here that we didn't piece together until later.]
He was cutting the lids off old waste oil barrels with a plasma cutter -planning to haul a load of scrap for recycling. He's done it many times before without incident. Unknown to him, this one barrel contained some gas fumes. As far as he knew, except for a little waste oil remaining in the bottom, this barrel has been sitting empty for 4+ years, so who would've thought. As soon as he started cutting into it, it started bulging. He only had time to take a step back -and apparently turn slightly to the side- before it exploded. Josh saw it bulging and was afraid it was going to blow, but by the grace of God he glanced away just at that second and didn't see it go or his dad get hit. He did see the big fireball and his dad on the ground 8 ft away (we had been telling people it blew him 4 ft, but they stepped it off since). For a split second both Josh & Richard thought that maybe he didn't get hit, but then Richard reached up and felt blood on his neck and Josh got a glimpse of ...how can I put this that it won't gross out the squeamish?... filleted flesh. Richard had the presence of mind to immediately grab a handful of clean shop towels (like heavy duty paper towels) and apply pressure to his neck. The doctors were impressed with his quick action; he lost very little blood at home and enroute to the hospital. As near as we can tell, the top exploded off the barrel and hit him first on the cheekbone and his shoulder, and gashed open his neck from below his jaw all the way around to his spine as it went spinning around him -the surgeon said it looked like something rolled around his neck, as opposed to slicing straight through front to back. Josh found the lid 25 yds away. I can't wrap my mind around the kind of force that can blow a grown man 8'.
I tried to keep Richard talking while I drove to make sure he was staying conscious, but he never even felt lite-headed. He kept telling me he doesn't have any feeling in his ear. I hadn't seen the wound at all - I don't remember if it was Josh or Richard that told me I shouldn't see it- so I didn't know how bad it was, which helped me stay calm. I just concentrated on driving fast and keeping him talking.
When we got to ER, we had to wade through all the paperwork. I know there are proper procedures that have to be followed, but they didn't get excited. In their defense, with the shop towels around his neck, you really couldn't see anything was wrong. When we finally finished paperwork, the receptionist told me to take a seat and they will call him back shortly. I only sat for maybe a minute and I couldn't stand it anymore; I went back to the receptionist and told her he's bleeding pretty much. She picked up the phone to call someone but a nurse came for him then. First they put him in a regular bay but when the ER doctor tried to take the shop towels away to "see what we've got here" and got squirted... oh, the look on his face! He clamped the towels back in place and said "Umm, come with me". He hollered for a nurse as he escorted Richard to the trauma bay. In no time flat, he had medical personnel swarming Richard like ants! NOW they started taking us serious. This wasn't a scratch on the neck. We heard the words "This is trauma" and "possible surgery" several times, all while the doctor stood there applying pressure to keep the bleeding under control. He told us an inch either way and we wouldn't be there. I only got a partial glimpse of the wound; every time they let up pressure or tried to examine it, it bled like crazy. And it was super painful for Richard to have the surgeon poking around in there and packing it with gauze (3 trays of it!) Morphine to the rescue.
They started prepping him for surgery. The anesthetist came down to meet him. How very fortunate we were that all he had that morning was a cup of black coffee. Can you believe even a little thing like no creamer was a plus? So many ways we can look back and see God directing our steps and working for our good.
While all this was happening I was trying to stay in touch with our kids, but I was so very grateful for our DIL who was filling in the gaps for me, making sure Richard's family finds out and the kids each get coherent information. The hospital chaplain also popped in to check on us a couple times. We wish we would've had the presence of mind to thank him.
When Richard was taken up to surgery, the surgeon took me to the waiting room before he went up to OR. He said to expect about an hour, depending what they find when they get the bleeding stopped. For the first time I was alone and it started to hit me what could've happened. Either that or not having anything to eat or drink yet made me shaky. I had grabbed my bag of crocheting on my way out the door but I was too jittery to do much of that. I was given a card with Richard's patient number on it and a color code; there was a big screen on the wall that I could follow his progress thru surgery by checking the color of his number. Whoever came up with that system is a genius.
We as Mennonite people are so blessed with support. Our DIL's mom was on her way to a cleaning job near the hospital so she swung by McDonalds and got there fast with a sandwich & sweet tea for me. She stayed with me till the surgery was over. Even though it was Track & Field at school, Richard's sister and her hubby (who is our deacon) came to sit with me during surgery. And then our DIL Ang got a sitter and came to be with me, too. It means a powerful lot to us that they took time out of their day to make sure I was taken care of. Honestly, I didn't even have the presence of mind to pray for Richard during surgery, but a lot of other people were covering him in prayer for me.
Richard went in to surgery at 9:15 and it was almost exactly an hour till the surgeon came out to let me know how it went. He asked if I wanted to see pictures. Yes, please! He took time to show me in detail where everything is located. That was the first we knew his gash was a mere 1/4" from the jugular and 1/4" from [I can't remember the name but the major artery in the spine], as well as coming in close proximity to the carotid. He said we are incredibly lucky with the exact location of the wound. We believe that it wasn't luck. Somehow I picture a guardian angel standing beside Richard with his fingers on Richard's neck during the explosion saying "only from here to there, no farther". His wound tore through the muscle in the side of his neck but missed everything vital. The surgeon explained why he used staples to close the wound instead of stitches. He complimented us for doing all the right things like applying pressure; he said even if there would've been more blood loss our story would have turned out very different. He said the fact that Josh was with him when it happened makes Richard a very lucky man. We felt bad that Josh had to see it (some things once you see it can't be "un-seen") but at the same time very grateful. He was wanting to change oil for several weeks already and it just never happened- now we know God wanted him here Friday morning specifically.
Richard was admitted overnight for observation. I was totally expecting him to be groggy when Ang & I got to his room, but he was fully awake and cracking jokes about wanting a steak and getting a discount for making his own incision. When I expressed surprise at his alertness, his recovery nurse said he came to recovery like that. Life just isn't fair! Some people can be so perky post-op but others of us... We kept waiting for the surgery meds to wear off and the pain to start kicking in but it never did. Amazing! His body took such blunt force trauma but his pain never went above a 3 post-op. He has yet to take a pain pill.
He got so much company. The first ones came shortly after he was settled in his room and in the evening his room was "packed" for 2 hours solid. It tickles me that the last visitors said when they got off the elevator the nurses pointed to his room and said "follow the beaten path". 😊 Most of his family and our church's ministry team came, plus others. Ang stayed with me the entire time through his surgery, recovery and admitting. Once he was admitted, Ang drove home, picked up Arianna and brought her in to see him -to relieve her mind. Bless her! We also got a tremendous number of texts, too. We felt the love!
This pic makes me laugh. It looks like Avery is so sad & sympathetic for Grandpa's ouchie but she's actually unhappy about being made to sit on Grandpa's bed.
Richard was the talk of our local hospital. Every new nurse and patient tech that came in would say "We heard about you! You are one lucky man." Most of the medical personnel had seen the surgeon's photos and were marveling with us how close it came to being fatal. Secondly they were talking about how he doesn't have pain and didn't need any pain meds. Incredible testimony to the grace of God.
I stayed the night at the hospital. The reclining chair they brought in for me was not comfortable at all. I got about an hour of sleep. Normally snoring isn't my favorite nighttime symphony, but as I laid awake I just worshiped God and thanked Him for a living, breathing husband.
Saturday morning the surgeon came in and removed Richard's dressing. The incision was dry and he was pleased how it looked. Frankenstein-ish, but he wanted to leave it open to the air. The incision is almost 7" long, with 18 staples. It was 3/4" at the shallowest and 1" at the deepest. The worst spot was in the back next to the spine, where the muscle was shredded. He discharged Richard with no restrictions.
One of the first things Richard did when he got home was walk down to the shop and look at the barrel. This is the culprit that nearly took his life.
We can't spend to much time dwelling on the what ifs. He's been sleeping quite a bit and his hip is sore from where he was slammed to the ground by the blast, but otherwise he is doing amazingly well for someone who just about lost his life. We as a family are all feeling so thankful for LIFE. For more time with this man.
God still has a plan for Richard's life. We want to be faithful in living out whatever that plan is. And we're praying someone was pointed to God in hearing about our miracle. We've been listening to praise music. This Michael W Smith song is our testimony for Friday-
There is strength within the sorrow
There is beauty in our tears
And You meet us in our mourning
And You meet us in our mourning
With a love that casts out fear
You are working in our waiting
You're sanctifying us
When beyond our understanding
You're teaching us to trust
Your plans are still to prosper
You have not forgotten us
You have not forgotten us
You're with us in the fire and the flood
You're faithful forever
Perfect in love
You are sovereign over us
You are wisdom unimagined
Who could understand Your ways
Who could understand Your ways
Reigning high above the Heavens
Reaching down in endless grace
You're the lifter of the lowly
Compassionate and kind
You surround and You uphold me
And Your promises are my delight
Your plans are still to prosper
You have not forgotten us
You have not forgotten us
You're with us in the fire and the flood
You're faithful forever
Perfect in love
You are sovereign over us
Even what the enemy means for evil
You turn it for our good
You turn it for our good
You turn it for our good and for Your glory
Even in the valley, You are faithful
You're working for our good
You're working for our good and for Your glory
Your plans are still to prosper
You have not forgotten us
You have not forgotten us
You're with us in the fire and the flood
You're faithful forever
Perfect in love
You are sovereign over us
You're faithful forever
Perfect in love
Perfect in love
You are sovereign over us
Sovereign Over Us lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group
