9 Months

Wow! I can hardly believe it has been 9 months, I feel like the year mark is closing in on us fast. Josh is still going to wound care although the wound vac has been discontinued permenently he still has a tunnel that is healing slowly. It should only be a few more weeks now until it fills in. He has been back to work for about a month now. He has had some days he is able to work 8 hours,but he has yet to make a full week of it. He has to be real careful not to over due it or he suffers for it for a few days. Yesterday he over did it and when he got home he slept for about 3 hours. Then this morning he would not wake up for anything. His alarm was going off and I was jabbing him. I thought he got up but I guess he accidentally shut his alarm off. It started to get light out and when I noticed he was still sleeping it took me jabbing him about 5 more times before he would even come to. He didn't make it very long today at work, he came home around lunch and went straight to bed and is snoring away. I don't know how long it will take before he can work 40 hours a week again. I know he pushes himself as it is, I guess it will just take time.

Last night we spent some time with a friend of ours who works at the hospital and new the details about Josh's accident before he new it was Josh they were talking about. He said that when they were describing to him what had happened and about the response team and what they had done so far they told him they didn't expect him to make it though the night. He was there when they came to get Josh for his second surgery so they could try and stabilize him and agian when he died that first night. He didn't reccognize Josh at first, but figured it out when he saw me. He said he felt just awful thinking that Josh was probably not going to pull through.  It reminded me of how scary it all was. He has come a very long way. He still has a long road ahead.

We have been slowly adding to the progress of the addition. Not much to report except the plumbing is finished! We have one side of the new roof connected to the old but can't do to much more until the heating and air conditioning is done. Josh has pulled a little wire but he really doesn't have the energy to do anything after work so he will do a little each weekend. My dad comes over almost every day and works until it is to hot out. He is amazing, I am so grateful for all of the work he has done.

Well that is our update for now. Josh is still snoring loudly while the kids are busy making and eating cookies. I have been cleaning out the boys room today which is a huge joh, not because they have a ton of stuff but because they never get rid of anything including garbage. What use would one have for broken flip flops? Empty gum wrappers and water bottles? I love it when it's cleaned up but I usually have to go in and do it myself about every other month. Mainly so they don't see all of the things I push in the trash. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. I really hope that we can find a time for a short camping trip, we all REALLY need to get away and have some time to enjoy each other with nothing else to worry about, just family.  Well until next month, Love to all Denise

8 months

So it has now been just over 8 months since Josh's accident, they have said that at one year he will be as good as he is going to get. I have decided life will never be normal again, like it was that is. This last month Josh has been busy with wound care, he keeps talking them out of using the wound vac but they have put it back on several times. He had an infection in the wound and they found a fairly deep tunnel toward the top that had to be drained. He has been back to work and then off again then back, then off. It has been very frustrating for him overall. This last week he has done a lot of healing. This morning when I changed the dressing the incision part looks really good, it's just the hole at the top now that needs to fill in. I would say it is about 3 inches deep right now. Tunnels kind of take their time, it is slow but still moving forward. For now they are keeping the wound vac off. Josh has once again talked all of his doctors into letting him go back to work, this time it will be full time minus wound care and doctor appointments. It will be good for him, I just worry that he will over do it. It was only two weeks ago that he was sent home for such behavior. He is still without a lot of the strength he had before. I now they will watch out for him, and I appreciate that. Josh will not be just like he was before at one year, I don't know if he will be even at two. Things are just different, I guess we just need to find our new normal. Physically, mentally, emotionally, things are different. We are still adjusting and will be for some time I am sure. Overall things continue to move forward, one day wound care will be done, that in itself will be very nice, as much as we like the people there. Tomorrow will be another try at going back to work. Praying things go well for him this time.

This last month has brought much progress on our addition, thanks to my dad and a some guidance and help from my brother. My dad and I have finished the framing of the walls. A couple of weeks ago we put the trusses on with the help of my brother. Everything that is up is sheeted, now we just need to do the build back to connect the two roofs. It is going to be so very nice. One bad thing though is I didn't know we would need a separate unit for air/heat in the new area. I guess I thought what we had would work for the new part too. Did I mention before that I am not a builder, although I am getting pretty good with the nail gun! Anyway once we get that figured out we will out of funds, so we will either be on hold or start using the Home Depot card. So hard to do since we have had it paid off for awhile now. But things will work out, even if we use it to at least get the bedroom done and wait on the rest. I long ago bought just about everything for the bathroom except any tile. We also had a good friend donate some shelving wood, so maybe it won't be to far off to get our closet and bathroom done as well. My help was gone all last week but I had the whole family out ripping off stucco from the back wall. It was a lot of work but kinda fun. Josh also nailed up some boxes for the lights and plugs. It is getting pretty hot out now but I hope we can at least finish up the rest off the roof soon so I can send any extra wood back, who knows maybe we will even have enough credit to get some doors, every little bit helps. Well I hope that June goes a little smoother with healing and work for Josh. We really appreciate everyone who still prays for our family. Thank you also to everyone who asks how he is and is there to help him in any way. Much love, Denise