On my fourth day, my bed was moved to the window because my roommate was discharged. God provided me with a sweet Christian roommate called Everlena who was loving and interesting. The first night I heard her softly thanking the Lord for the seconds, for the minutes, for the hours, and for the day. I was amazed to hear this. She could hear me sniffing, and she said, "Miss Irene, are you crying?" I said that I was. She instructed me, "Don't cry! You pray to God!" That was just what I needed.
Part of my therapy included lying in bed with my right leg on a machine that bent my leg for me. The purpose was to increase the angle of bend. When I started with this machine, I could bend my leg 30 degrees. I had to use this two times every day for three hours each time. Talk about a boring thing for Miss Active! When I finally went home, my bend had increased to 55 degrees. With my home health care physical therapist, we got my bend to 90 degrees; I'm now at about 115 degrees.
Thank God for Capri Pants
My black boot-braces were always removed for therapy. Then I could see my damaged legs. It was not a pretty sight, seeing where the bones had protruded through my skin. I thanked God for capri pants, for I was certain I would never be wearing shorts again in public.Occupational therapists worked on my upper body movement. My arms were extremely weak. It was soon evident that my right humerus was having a severe problem. I was unable to do even the simplest tasks without great pain. It was very discouraging.
While at the rehab place, the nurse gave me Lovenox injections in my abdomen every morning and every evening. I didn't like this and didn't remember it being done at the hospital. I learned that it had been administered intravenously then. The purpose for this was to prevent blood clots due to the many surgeries I had.
Before my discharge date, the nurse taught me how to give myself injections as I had to continue this at home. She had me practice with a grapefruit. When I was finally ready, she gave me the real thing and watched as I injected myself. I stabbed myself with the needle and immediately yanked it right out because I was so shocked. I hadn't even given myself the Lovenox, so I had to do it all over again. Every time this procedure was done, I could see the long, ugly scar from my sternum to below my navel from the exploratory surgery. It seemed every direction I looked there was some type of unsightly decoration on my body.
Hardships for Irene and Jim
My pride was under attack every time I had to use the bedpan. Oh, how I longed to use the restroom like the old days. I refused to use a bedpan when I went home because I was sick of it. It made a hardship for Jim because he had to lift me onto the toilet as I couldn't put weight on any of my appendages. I soon learned to slide across a special transfer board. This was one of the most frustrating parts of my recovery process. After two months, I was finally allowed to put pivot weight on my left foot. I still needed assistance, but it was easier.
Tears of Joy
My first shower was exactly four months after the accident. I waited until I had started walking even though I had a large shower bench to sit on. The last thing I wanted was to slip and end up in the hospital again. On my first shower day, Jim helped me onto the bench and then gave me my space. I started crying as I showered. This scared him. But I told him I was crying because I was so happy.Every time I visited my orthopedic doctor, Dr. DiPasquale, I had at least 20 x-rays because I had so many areas to be watched. Two persons would lift me up onto the x-ray table. The area Dr. D watched most was my upper arm, the humerus. This was giving me lots of trouble. Almost four months after the accident, the titanium rod and screws were removed in three hours of surgery.
My Anger - God's Vengeance
With a special x-ray machine a couple weeks later, we were able to see that the broken ends of the humerus still did not line up properly in a straight line. In fact, they moved independently and in opposite directions from each other. When we drove away from this visit, I cried hard and was really angry at the driver of the vehicle that hit us. I wanted that man to pay; I wanted him to suffer. But God reminded me of Isaiah 35:4 (NIV): "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you." Vengeance was God's prerogative, not mine.A decision had to be made about my humerus - either more surgery to try to correct the alignment of the bone ends or work on having it grow together as is and do more therapy to strengthen it. More surgery meant I would have a long, visible scar on the front of my upper arm, from shoulder to elbow. The bone ends would have to be filed off and lined up, and then two steel plates would be placed on either side of the bone and screwed into position.
