Tender Mercies

Still pretty swollen...waiting to see the xrays

Today we went in for Nathan's post op appointment for his ankle. We have really been praying that his foot would be in the right position so that he would get a boot instead of a cast. That way he can work on getting his motion back and then in ten more weeks when he can finally put weight on his foot he would be that much further ahead.

Waiting for them to take out the stitches

Of course you never have to look far to see someone else worse off than you. While we were waiting to go back a guy went by in a wheelchair with a boot on each foot and his back in what I call a turtle shell. We found out that he had fallen at Momentum also and had broken both of his feet and his back. We keep reminding Nathan that it could have been so much worse and how grateful we are that it wasn't.

What will the Doc say after seeing the x-rays???

A very happy day for Nathan and us! He got the boot :) it never ceases to amaze me how the Lord has a hand in every thing. Although this has not been an easy thing for our family, I feel like the Lord has sent us tender mercies. When  trials come our way the Lord is always there to help us through it. I know we still have a long way to go to get him back on his feet (literally) but, I feel like we are truly watched over and blessed while we get through this. I am so grateful for every tender mercy he sends our way!

Sweethearts 2012

Landon, I hope I don't Strike out with asking you to Sweethearts. So here's my pitch...knock it out of the park to find my name

Landon and Toni

It has been a rough few days ...Poor Nate :(

It is just after midnight as Jeff and I sit in the waiting room. Nathan has been in surgery for over two hours now. We were sitting at Landon's first baseball game when Jeff got the call from his brother Justin. He had come down from Montana and Nathan had taken him to go rock climbing out to Momemtum. Nathan was bouldering when he fell 13 feet landing on the seam were the two mats meets breaking and dislocating his ankle. He was taken by ambulance to IMC. Jeff and Justin met them at the hospital. I stayed at the game until Landon finished pitching. Nathan didn't want me to see it until they had straighten it. But I got there right after they took X-rays. It was not a good sight and terribly hard to see your son that way. They did conscious sedation while they put it back in place. Even with the meds he was holding on to the bed rails. Luckily he doesn't remember any of that part.

You can see why he didn't want me to see this...

It definitely looks much better straight

While Jeff was on his way, Brad from his work called and he told Lori, who called her brother Drew who is an orthopedic surgeon for ankles. After seeing Nathan's X-rays he took over and called the ER doc and was on the phone with Jeff. They moved him to trauma so they could speed up getting his medical care. After post X-rays and a CT scan they splint his ankle and moved him to a room until the surgery. Drew made arrangements for an OR room.

Drew came in just before ten and explained everything again to us. He dislocated and broke his ankle on all three bones that stable your ankle. One clean break on the outside and 4 to 6 breaks on the inside. Not good. They went in to clean everything and if there is not too much swelling take care of everything...plates, screws, bone graphs etc. they just called and said that they had finished cleaning and that they were going to be able to move on and finish his surgery. It will be another hour and a half before he is done.

I will write later after he is out of surgery and we learn more. It sure isn't easy to watch your children go through these trials. I wish it was me and I could take all the pain away. If it was only as simple as when they were little and you just put a bandaid on it and kissed him better.

It is Wednesday night. It has been a long two days but, all has gone well. They finished up his surgery about 2:00 a.m. He has two metal plates on both sides of his ankle and 12 screws total. He will be in the hospital for two days for antibiotics, your ankle is high risk for infection...they won't take any chances. It will be two weeks before the cast it or put it in a boot.  No weight on it for 12 weeks. It is going to be a long haul but, it could have been so much worse. 

The new hardware in Nate's Ankle