The Much Anticipated Explanation

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to wake up and realize you were paralyzed? Have you ever thought, "Gee, I hope I can wake up in a hospital today and when I see my Dad the first thing he will say is 'Do you know who I am?'!"? Have you ever seen any kind of punctuation like what you just read at the end of that sentence?! Well, now I can say I have seen all three; I didn't ever particularly wonder those things before December 2005, but I have now lived through them. That's right, I make sentences with funny punctuation!

But in all seriousness, who wakes up in the hospital with a ventilator/respirator in their mouth and thinks "Well, I look ok with no body parts missing so I must be alright. This thing is annoying. I'm going to pull it out!" No thought of "What if it's keeping me alive because my lungs/body aren't working?" nor "Why is my right side paralyzed and my left hand tied to the bed?" nor even "What am I doing in the hospital with all these IVs and machines hooked up to me?" Nope, not me, it was a simple "I'm going to pull this thing out of my mouth." I then had to half-sit up so my left hand, which really was tied to the hospital bed railing, could get close enough to my mouth to pull out this ventilator/respirator. Of course, that became much harder when I had it half the way out and realized that it was connected to a Gastrointestinal Feeding Tube running down my throat and into my stomach and, wait for it, the "feeding ball" (for lack of a better description) was still inflated in my stomach and very painfully coming back up. For the record, let me just state to everyone that you do not want to pull one of those things out the 'hard way' as I did. I can still tell, even now, when I swallow what it did to my throat coming out!

Let me take it a step back and tell everyone who may or may not know how I got in this position (supine and paralyzed in the hospital with everyone wondering if I would remember my own name or ever move again). In November of 2005 I was 25 years old. Many people, if you asked them then, would have said that I was a very mature, responsible adult making my way in life with all the wonderful blessings the Lord had given me. However, while taking a family walk the day after Thanksgiving, in a moment of teenage boy 'test of manhood' type of thinking, I challenged my Dad to a race. Since we were already walking backwards to talk to my Mom and sisters behind us, we decided that it would be fun to run the race backwards! (Note to anyone reading, don't try this at home or anywhere else for that matter!). My Mom, wonderful and beautiful and smart woman that she is, insightfully observed while calling out to us "Be careful, someone is going to fall and hurt themselves." Rather than paying strict head and attention to my Mom I was thinking about how I could see my Dad off to my right side and he was in front of me (which when you're running a race backwards means I was winning). The next thing I saw was the aforementioned interior of my hospital room in the ICU. My favorite insight from my Mom during my hospital stay, in relation to the fall I should say, was that she told me my head "bounced like a basketball" on the asphalt. So when the prophets and apostles and scriptures say listen to your mothers, they mean it! I could have saved a lot of time, heartache, and money if I would have done a better job listening to my wonderful, amazing Mom.

As you can tell I'm actually all better. Most of the people reading this blog will have seen me or talked to me since the accident and so will know that I'm only as brain damaged as I have always been (does anyone remember the Bill Cosby routine about brain damaged kids? It's hilarious!!). Though I have tried to make this retelling as humorous as possible severe head trauma, subsequent stroke as a result of that trauma, a medically induced coma, three months of speech and physical therapy, and the fears and worries of all my family and friends are not laughing matters. I want to close with this testimony of the power of faith, prayers, and the priesthood. For those who think that medical science has all the answers or think that God is not watching out for us I must emphatically tell you that you are wrong. Through the faith, prayers, and fasting of so many people and through the priesthood blessings given me by my father and others I not only pulled through the accident but made a complete recovery with no serious side effects! The Lord and our heavenly Father truly do watch over and protect our lives. Thank you to all for your thoughts and prayers during that time. Thank you for the support you showed my family. Thank you for your love. Thank you.