Watch for Falling Decks!

This is my first attempt at "blogging" and I am a little nervous. I have decided that this will be my therapy because:

1. It is free!!
2. I am feeling a little post traumatic stress
3. I enjoy reading my friends' blogs

I guess I should start off with my story or my current situation. Right now I am on disability and unable to work. But, I am getting ahead of myself... it all started on June 26, 2009. It was a beautiful early Summer day. I was at a lake enjoying a fun day with coworkers and knew that I would be having even more fun later that day because it was my best friend's husband's birthday. What could go wrong on such a great day you ask? A collapsing deck, that's what. The birthday party was at my best friend's house and we were cooking out. Everyone was on the back deck of her home and then CRACK! it suddenly fell about 20 feet. I landed in the dirt and immediately knew that bones were not as they should be. I lifted (or tried to lift) my right leg and it was dangling in places that do not have joints. Not good. I also knew that something was wrong with my back and was worried because I could not feel all of my body parts.

The police/firemen/ambulance came and I was the first to be lifted out of the dirt. They put a neck brace on me and strapped me to a board and then onto a stretcher. Then it was off to a hospital with my best friend in the ambulance with me. She was next to me on the ground and also knew that something was amiss with her back. They told us they were taking us to a level 2 trauma center and that was further confirmation that things were not good. I am not sure if it was hysteria or what but I was cracking jokes all the way to the hospital. I was more worried with making my friend less upset then I was worried about myself. We arrived at the emergency room and things there are a bit of a blur. They were doing an ultrasound on me to make sure I had no internal injuries/bleeding and they set my right leg to try and sooth the swelling. Then I had to have a CT scan which was not as bad as I thought it would be. Once they set me up in my room, they told me that I was in the ICU... WHAT?! "Am I dieing??" was all I could mutter to the nurse! She assured me that I would be fine but that I was in critical condition. She told me that my right leg and ankle appeared to be broken in several places and that my back was also broken but they didn't know to what extent. I had an MRI the next day... worst time of my life! Never. Want. To. Do. That. Again. Then they confirmed that yes my back was broken and that it would require surgery. Then they whisked me off to have surgery on my ankle. They did that surgery first because every time they moved me, it would shake my leg and cause excruciating pain. Several days later I was able to have my back surgery. During that procedure, one of my lungs collapsed... I guess they were right, when it rains, it pours!

After 2 weeks in the hospital I was released. I came home and started a long process of rehabbing. I did physical therapy for a month and a half on my ankle. I have almost gained back all mobility. I had to wear a "turtle shell" brace to restrict movement in my back. I recently was able to stop wearing that and am now in physical therapy again to build up endurance, strength, and mobility. It has been almost 4 months since the accident and I have had my ups and downs. One would think instead of saying "Why me??" you would think "I am so lucky that I did not get more hurt!". Some days I think the latter and some days I think that it isn't fair that I was hurt more then anyone else on the deck and some people only got bruises (damn them!). But I do know one thing for sure, I will be a better person once I get through this!