TEOTWAWKI as I never thought it would be.
I am not sure where to start or what to put in this post but here it goes.
On September 17, 2013, my husband had a horrible single vehicle accident. Someone came up on the wreck and my husband was able to ask her to call me to tell me he had had an accident. I was headed to the accident and got behind the slowest driver in the world so called back to say I was coming but was behind a slow driver. This was on a two lane country road that no passing was possible. I was told he was being put into the rescue squad and so I headed straight for the hospital. I at on the exit ramp as the squad came past me with him in it. Of course they would not let me back for a few about 10 minutes which seemed like an eternity. The first thing I hear as I am walking to the trauma room he is in is that Pegasus, life helicopter, is on its way. I ask is that for him and they say yes. I am then escorted to a family room to be told what is wrong. I knew that it was not going to be good news when they took me in there. I have been in one of those rooms way too many times in my life and this was the topper.
By this time our children son, 27 and daughter 23 had arrived. They let us in the room while they loaded him on the stretcher for the helicopter ride and we walked to the chopper with them. The doctors felt he could recover from his injuries if gotten to the trauma hospital about 30 miles away. We are fortunate that the University of Virginia Hospital is so close. It took the helicopter about 8 minutes to get him there. We sat in the ER there for about 2 hours before they would let us back and tell us what was going on. He had a broken neck, his right lung was totally collapsed, his left lung partially collapsed, his right ear was missing he had a broken nose and lots of cuts on his forehead and back of head. He was on a ventilator due to the lung issues. He was admitted to the Trauma Center ICU and there we began a long road to recovery. He spent 19 days in this ICU unit. During this time I was asked many questions about what his wishes were and also the surgeries that had to be done to stabilize him. The first was to work on his neck to stabilize it. Then after 2 weeks of being on the vent he had to come off of it so a trach had to be placed. This is something we had never discussed and they told me they felt it would be temporary but when signing those papers there is no guarantee.
I can tell you that the trach is gone. He has some brain injury mostly just short term memory issues. He can tell you anything about most things but cannot remember what he did yesterday. It is getting better but is very frustrating. Once he got out of the ICU he was placed on the floor for a few days and then transferred to an acute rehab hospital for intense physical, occupational, and speech therapy. Then we ended up back at UVA as he had a serious infection. So after five weeks and one day we came home. We have now been home five days and I just wanted to let you know some things you better be sure you have in place before this type of situation. Fortunately we had most in place.
1. have a durable power of attorney in place for each other and be sure you name more than just your spouse in case you would both be hurt at the same time.
2. have an advance directive spelled out very specific. Do not think in terms of just your old age but what if you are in a serious accident of any type.
3. in the state of VA you can have a Do not Resuscitate form and a Do not intubate form signed. Once someone is intubated you are on a road that you may not want to be taken. Such as a tracheostomy and feeding tube.
4. Talk about all your wishes with your loved ones and make sure everyone understands what you want.
5. Make sure your will is up to date.
6. Do not waste you sick time as you never know when you are going to need it. Thank God he has over 6 months worth.
7. be sure you have money that easily accessible. and several thousand. As you will be eating in a hospital cafeteria and perhaps staying in a hotel close to the hospital. So having some cash tucked away at home or in your purse or wallet and either a debit card or credit card to use. As people do not accept checks anymore.
These are just some of the things that we had in place and if we had not I do not know how we could have survived this ordeal. We still have many months of recovery but we will be okay because of his sick time and our farm.
The old adage to save for a rainy day is very important because you just do not know how long that rain may last.
I hope this makes you stop and think and be sure you have things in place. Of course I would hope that most of you have done this since this is a forum about being prepared.
