Showing posts with label accident. Show all posts
Showing posts with label accident. Show all posts

Monday, August 2, 2010

Smiling Despite the Pain

Yesterday, Faith cut her little toe. Rob was in the back room with Faith and I was in the adjoining bathroom taking a shower. Rob had put Faith on the floor beside the door so she could talk to me while I was in the shower.

Faith was yelling, "Mommy can you hear me?"

I yelled back, "YES!"

Then when I got out, I put on my robe and opened the door. Faith got so excited and starting giggling.

"Did you have a nice shower?" She asked.

She was acting like her normal cheery self so I was surprised to look over and see bright red blood on the floor. Immediately, I bent down towards her to find out where she hurt herself. I saw blood on her toes on her left foot. I called Rob over and we tried to wipe the blood away so we could figure out where she cut herself. It wasn't until Rob and I started fussing over her that she realized she had hurt herself.

While Rob picked her up and held her, I went to get bandages and other first-aid supplies. The blood kept coming and we were accumulating a pile of bloody bandages. I found she had cut herself on the bottom of her baby toe so I applied pressure to try to stop the bleeding. Faith looked a little panicky but she wasn't crying.

From what we could tell, it looked like when she was kicking her feet around she caught her baby toe on something but when we tried to figure out what she sliced her toe on, we couldn't see anything sharp. Finally, I was able to stop the bleeding and put a band-aid on her little toe, which was a feat in itself since her baby toe is so tiny. Last night, it started bleeding again in the bathtub so I doctored it up again and this morning it appears to be healing.

Faith didn't even cry when she cut herself. If she hadn't been bleeding, we would have never known that she hurt herself. Rob and I concluded that she feels pain everyday, especially with the high tone in her legs. To her, a cut on the toe is nothing compared to what she goes through on a day-to-day basis. This makes me sad for my daughter. At the same time though, I feel even more proud of her because despite the pain she feels, she still has such a bright, cheery attitude. And this, I believe, is because she knows she is loved so much by so many.

Monday, March 29, 2010

A Poopalogical Emergency

So there I was on Saturday at a women's prayer breakfast thoroughly enjoying the speaker when my friend's cell phone starts ringing. I briefly wondered if it was my husband. I had left him home with Faith. Moments later I find out that yes indeed it was my husband. During a song in the middle of the speaker's presentation, I sneaked outside to the hallway to give him a call. He didn't sound panicky or anxious, he was just wondering if I could get home as soon as possible. I told him the speaker was almost done and we would try to rush out as soon as we could.

As I made my way back to my table, I wondered what was happening. He had said Faith was fine and he sounded fine so why would I need to come home right away? I tried not to fret about it and tried to focus my attention on what the speaker was saying. She had an incredible testimony about how God's love healed her after several catastrophic events in her life including having an abortion, getting arrested for shop lifting, her twin brother's suicide and her husband being away for five years while she raised her kids ages 6,5 and 4.

I felt compelled to stay for the closing prayer and then we were outta there. We rushed ahead of the nearly 600 ladies in attendance and made it out of the parking lot without having to wait very long. As Sandy and I sang "Mighty to Save" along to the radio, I still wondered what could possibly be going on.

I rushed upstairs, flew through the door and found a relatively calm husband with a little girl on the bathroom floor lying on her blue foam matts, no clothes on, covered in towels, happily watching a video on her PlayStation portable. Then Rob explained, "she got poop everywhere and needs a bath."

THAT was the emergency?? That Faith pooped? Okay, so granted Rob was not feeling well and Faith was having diarrhea because of the antibiotics she was on and yes she did get poop on the living room floor, on Rob's clothes and on her clothes. I can see why my husband, who was not used to these messes, felt a little overwhelmed by it all. Clearly, he had forgotten those four years when he stayed home with Faith and dealt with this sort of thing all the time!

I guess I was thankful that it was nothing worse - that it wasn't an actual emergency. With this thought in mind, I proceeded to start up the washing machine, get the poop stain out of the carpet and last but not least put my daughter in the tub!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Our Little Car Accident

Late last week, Faith and I had a little accident in the Hyundai. We were going north on Washington, which is a very busy street especially around 5:00 p.m. I was trying to get to Avenue C and then make a left in order to get home but we only made it as far as Avenue B.

We had just gotten done with Faith's physical therapy appointment and getting her hair cut. It was after five and I knew Michelle (respite care) was due to be at our home at 5:30. I was in a bit of a hurry and then I got distracted by a pedestrian who was trying to decide where to cross the street. I watched him for a bit then when I looked back in front of me all I saw were bright red brake lights. I hit the brakes but it was too late. CRASH! Right away I looked back at Faith and she had a look of surprise on her face. I asked her if she was OK and she said she was. I was so thankful that instead of being buckled in a regular carseat, she was buckled into her adaptable carseat that offered her extra support. (We were able to make the purchase thanks to the Great American Bike Race).

I followed the van I had just hit around the block and we found a place to park. We both got out of the vehicle and he sort of had a half-smile on his face. I was so relieved he wasn't mad. It was a company van, a 2008 Ford, and the only damage he received was a little scratch on the hitch. Then I looked at the front of my car. My poor little Hyundai. The right bumper was a mess. Easily $2,000 damage. The guy looked at me and said, "well that's why we have insurance." He made the call to the police, we talked a bit then got in our vehicles and waited. I explained to Faith that mommy had a little accident. She sort of tensed up at the word accident so I quickly explained that everything was okay and that we just had to wait a little bit for the policeman. She asked, "what's a policeman?" I told her he was someone who helped people and he made sure people followed all of the rules.

While waiting, Faith repeatedly told me she wanted to go home and I wondered how Rob was doing. I knew he would be worried. I did not have a cell phone so I couldn't call him. Meanwhile, at home Michelle has arrived and Rob told her he was convinced we got into some sort of accident and that all he could think about was Faith crying in the backseat. He even called Julie (our hairdresser) to ask what time we had left her shop.

Finally, the policeman arrived and took a report from me and the other driver, got all of our information and then proceeded to give me a ticket for following too closely behind. It seemed like he felt bad for giving it to me, like he said, that's how everyone in Bismarck drives." I didn't care about a ticket, I was just thankful my daughter was handling everything so well.

While we waited for the policeman to write everything up, the song, "Praise You in the Storm" by Casting Crowns came on. As I listened to the words, I looked back at Faith and said, "Let's thank the Lord that we are both all right. I then began to thank Him that we had hit such a nice driver, that there was no damage to the other vehicle, that the policeman was so nice, etc. It was amazing to me that I felt such peace in that situation. At one time I would have been so angry with myself, frustrated and on the verge of tears. But I was just so very thankful that Faith and I were both okay and nothing else really mattered.

Finally, we got on our way and made it home. Michelle came out to meet us and she said, "Rob's convinced you to into some sort of accident." Then I showed her my bumper. When I did see Rob he gave us both a big hug, he was so relieved. I asked if he was mad about the car and he said, "No, of course not." He was also relieved to hear that Faith was fine through it all and we told her over and over how we were so proud of her for being such a big girl.

Another thing I am thankful for through this whole ordeal is that we have such a wonderful insurance agent, who is a friend of ours that also has a special-needs child. After giving her the accident information, my phone call gave us a chance to have a nice conversation about our daughters and that if we were ever feeling down that we could call one another anytime. What a huge blessing! Thank you Lord for your goodness, the peace you provide, and for continuing to take care of all of our needs.