Thursday, July 4, 2013

Before and After... A New Life (part 2)

The title comes from me feeling like our life is now and forever more set into two categories.. before the accident and after. It is still surreal how easily one moment in time can truly just change everything.

In my last post, I gave some of the details of the injuries we survived. Three of us are mostly back to normal. Abbie is a little different. Abbie suffered an  atlanto-occipital dislocation injury. It is also know as an internal decapitation. OUCH!! Wikipedia says this: This is generally fatal, since it generally involves nerve damage or severing the spinal cord. Thankfully Abbie's accident was not fatal and did not severe any part of the spinal cord.

Here are a few pictures, in order, of Abbie...
Before the accident 




My poor baby!! This was at the scene I believe. 
Abbie is wearing a non invasive halo. Thank God they didn't have to put the screws in her skull
Riding a therapeutic bike at the Children's Center.
Whiskey the dog came for a visit.       



















This next photo is when Abbie was getting out of the halo into some new hardware. The man you see pictured, Jonathan, is amazing. He helped Abbie with love and kindness, even when she was cranky! He came to see her numerous times while she was at the Children's Center, fixing her brace, trying his best to make her comfortable. He is simply a gift from God.

Abbie and Jonathan, the OU orthotist
The new brace. She looks happier here than she has in months!

Dressing up as Dr. Who for a friend's birthday party. She sure was excited. She still has her brace on here, and looks larger than life :) But in reality she has lost close to 10 lbs throughout the whole ordeal. 



YES!! Yes, this is Abbie with NO BRACE!! PRAISE THE GOOD LORD. 12 weeks later, the brace is off. Her neck is healing. She has been set free, with only a few restrictions. 



Abbie's amazing recovery is not over. She still has far to go, but the miracle God has performed through her is just evident. Look at her long giraffe neck :) You can't see the scar because it is in the back of her neck. It's about 5" inches long (that's what brothers are for... measuring the scar! HA!)

Sometimes it's hard in our lives to stop and really think about the things we have to be thankful for. I challenge you to do that today, right now. Because truly, in the matter of moments, your whole life can change.. for the better or worse.. and maybe a little bit of both at the same time. I, for one, am so grateful that I had God with me throughout this whole process. And the best part is... He will continue to be with me forever!!






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