Got the news this morning that Jeremy has made it out of Afghanistan and is now in Germany. He's being evaluated there and will go into surgery again tomorrow for a more thorough cleaning of his wounds and an MRI to check out his spine. I'm so glad that he's made it there, and I'm absolutely positive that he's in good hands; practically all of the injuries those doctors deal with are trauma cases, so they have A LOT of experience and are fantastic. Hopefully we'll find out within the next couple of days where he'll be returning to, and we may even get the chance to talk to a doctor or nurse in Germany. We'll just have to see.I realized looking back on my posts in the last few days that I may have given the impression I'm angry about the lack of information we've received. I want to let everyone know that I don't feel that way. Not knowing exactly what happened and what the extent of his injuries are is frustrating, but I understand why that is the case-- the doctors are busy saving lives, and while me waiting for a couple of days to hear what's going on isn't going to change what happened or Jer's condition, the doctors taking breaks to answer questions can literally mean the difference between life and death for some of their patients. I know the army is doing everything they can to keep us informed; I'm very glad that they have their priorities straight.
A big thanks goes out to the Mary Bridge Audiology department today, who squeezed us in at 9:30 in the morning for an emergency hearing aid repair, and to Olympic Pharmacy in Gig Harbor who is not only rushing to put all of Connor's ordered equipment together (a bath chair, floor positioner, feeding chair, and toilet modifier) but on top of that refused to let us pay for our sixty cans of Pediasure. Thank you also to all of you who have offered to help us get settled in wherever we may end up-- you've got about a 50% chance that I'll be taking you up on your offer, depending on where it is that we go.
I'm feeling a little more grounded today-- got up this morning, took a shower, blow-dried my hair and put some makeup and jewelry on. I've found I feel better if I know I look decent; putting on makeup feels kind of like I'm donning armor. I'm just not putting any mascara on right now because I don't have any that's waterproof. I'll have to make a trip to the store.
It's funny: I'm hungry all the time right now, eating like a horse, (I'm having half a rack of pork ribs, three baby artichokes and ice cream for dinner tonight) and not exercising, and somehow I've managed to lose about five pounds. I guess all the adrenaline is kicking my metabolism up. Despite its evident success, I would not recommend the Get-Your-Husband-Half-Blown-Up Weight Loss Program as a good idea for anyone, no matter how desperate. Seriously.
Tomorrow's my birthday, and since Jer will not be Fed-Exing me a goat as planned for my birthday present (The cats will be so disappointed!) I'll have to figure something else out. I'm thinking a cheap laptop might be a really, really good idea so that I can continue to keep in touch with people wherever we are. This blog seems to be a really effective tool for keeping everyone informed about what's going on. Saves me a whole lot of phone calls.
I was looking forward to meeting that goat, dang it.
I'm also going to head down to Pike Place Market. I have respite care the whole day, so I'm going to walk to the little yixing teapot store downstairs in the market and pick one out. Jer always gets me a teapot for our special occasions, and while this birthday is not going to be my best, it's definitely going to go down as one of the more memorable ones so I think it warrants a teapot. I'll have to take a picture so he can see what he got me.
Lots of people have offered to spend the day with me, which I'm grateful for. I haven't decided yet just how much company I'm going to be up for; I'll let you all know, probably at the last possible minute because I'm just considerate like that.
As a final thought-- can you imagine what it would have been like if Jer's arms and hands had been damaged and not his legs and feet? How would I have pushed two wheelchairs? How the heck would he talk to Connor, who needs sign language and doesn't lip-read that well yet? And we would have been in serious trouble if it had been his eyes, as I am a super messy person and leave crap all over the house, never in the same place twice, and our child is non-verbal so we'd have that whole communication problem again, just in reverse. And Jer's head and torso contain all sorts of fiddly body parts that seem to be pretty important for, you know, living.
Thank goodness he injured something relatively unimportant in the scheme of things!
~Jess
photo credit goes to Lucie of LZH photography
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7 comments:
You are amazing, Jess, finding optimism in all of this. Love ya for that!
Good to hear that you have maintained your sense of humor and your positive outlook in spite of all that has transpired. You are something, my friend.
I'm in Chicago, if you are heading anywhere near here, I'll be available to help you in anyway I can.
Love to you all.
You have me chuckling and I happen to think feet and legs are very important. Still, I wouldn't be in the business of competing body parts for loss. ;)
Looks like you have a good handle on how to spend your birth anniversary. I always say - celebrate life, not age.
I'll be coming back to read how the coin-toss lands for where he will be transferred. Germany is a good place for him to be right now.
Praying for your family,
Barbara
So glad to hear you're doing well! You're such an incredible person, to stay positive through all this, and that's why I know you'll be OK. I know I'm all remote and far away, but if you need help with ANYTHING I can do, just let me know. I can send u a recipe for whenever u do get that goat at least :-D
-Jing
August 15, 2009
My dearest Father God, to whom through Jesus Christ we pray, thank You for this day that You have made.
Father; we know that Your Word instructs us that wherever two or more pray for something in Your Name that You will be present. Therefore Father we hereby humbly request that You intervene and heal Jeremy McGuffey immediately and permanently from the injuries he suffered this week while defending our freedoms, freedoms many of us tend to take for granted.
Father, we know that we live in a fallen world and, given the same, that these types of things can and do happen but, we also know that You reign supremely and can turn anything bad into something good, which is what we are asking for here.
Thank You Father for comforting Jeremy’s immediate and extended family during this time of extreme distress for them and for providing them with the avenue to approach You with their own petitions.
Father, we ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son, Amen.
(From friends of the McGuffey’s since Jeremy was a little boy growing up on Taylor Street in Cedar Hill, TX)
oh, man. no goat??
you are incredible, jess. i wish you as happy a birthday as you can muster, take time for yourself in any way that works for you. do whatever YOU need to do.
i asked my girls today if they would make get well cards for jeremy. my litttle one, kendall furrowed her brow and told me in no uncertain terms that we would send him band-aids for his boo boos.
i'm wondering how much jeremy's hospital buddies would rib him for a box of pink hello kitty band-aids as they seem to be the only ones in the house. hmm, perhaps a trip to the drug store is in order.
please know how many hearts hold you close today.
love.
I'm very, very disappointed about the goat as the blog posts about Loki, the goat and apartment living would have been priceless. Ah, well.
You are so right about Jeremy - things could have been so, so much worse. Jeremy could have married a woman without a sense of humor. Ugh.
I have a friend whose husband was in a terrible accident in 2008 when his legs were crushed by a crate that fell from forklift. He wasn't expected to live, let alone walk. Well, I saw him walk into my dad's church a few weeks ago. I'm not saying it hasn't taken a hell of a lot of work for him to get there, but he got there. And Jeremy will, too.
I second Lin on the amazing part.
I work 10 mins from O'Hare so count me in as part of the Chicago support team.
Continued blessings especially on your birthday.
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