Happy New Year?

I had a plan for this typical New Year Post. I was going to post all my resolutions for the year 2007. I even had them already typed up, ready to paste over here with a little paragraph of some sort.

But, things have changed. On 12/30 after my last Christmas post, at around 11:15 pm my cell phone rang. It was my husband, he had been in an ATV accident. He said he was "hurt bad". He was at our little weekend cabin in the woods of Massachusetts. The ambulance was on its way, I loaded up the dogs with water and food, ran up to the horses and threw out about 3 full bales of hay and topped off their water tank, then jumped in the car and had to drive across town to find a gas station open.

I arrived at our neighbors in Mass. at around 1:00 or so and picked up our friend Timmy, then we raced to the hospital, were we found Vic in the ER, with his clothes cut off, and an ER doctor shaking his head. They decided to transfer him to Pittsfield to a Level 1 Trauma Center.

To make a long story short, my husband broke his back, his leg, and some ribs. He was in the hospital for 2 weeks. On Jan. 2, he had a thoracic fusion surgery to repair his back with titanium rods. After he recovered from that and was stable again, he had surgery to repair his leg with pins and plates on Jan. 11. He was released on Jan. 13 and is home now, in a makeshift "suite". He will need to wear a back brace for 3+ months, and will also be non-weight bearing on the broken leg for 8-12 weeks. So he hops from the bed to the chair, and the chair to the bed, and that's about it.

So, my New Year wish (not really a resolution), is for my husband to heal fully, and our family to get back to the boring, hum-drum daily life we have grown to enjoy.

I would also like to thank all our wonderful family and friends, who have been there for us through all this. My mother-in-law for watching the kids every day while I made the 4 hour round-trip to the hospital to sit with my husband;, my parents for helping me with grocery shopping, banking and moral support; Lyman for feeding my horses each night after work, filling my barn with hay, and organizing and GC'ing the "crew" to build the wheelchair ramp and other misc. work that needed to be done to bring my husband home; to Loni for taking the kids for a few weekends to give the MIL a break; of course to Jan for sitting with me in the waiting room while Vic had his back surgery, for calling me every day to keep me awake on the drive home, for cooking meals for us, and of course her unending moral support; of course Timmy too, for all his help and support; and last but not least, the "crew" that came last weekend, to build the ramp, take down the Christmas tree, fill the woodshed with wood, fix my barn door, rearrange furniture to make room for the "suite" (Lyman, Kevin, Fred, Joe, Paul, Dave, and I'm sure I'm forgetting someone that came later after I left for the day); Oxford Paint and Hardware for donating the materials for the ramp; Seymour Lumber & Supply for donating tarps for the guys to work under in the pouring rain. Also, I don't want to forget to thank Bobber for his insight moral support; and Tracy for calling and dropping off essentials in the midst of her own family health crisis'; Rita and Jen for yet more meals; Jasmine, Lesley and Ann for the gift card; and the rest of the family for their monetary support (thanks Aunt Ann, Ellie, Uncle Richard).

The help and support we have received is humbling and heartwarming.