Alright, here goes another attempt.
You may have seen the pictures on Facebook. You might have heard I was hit by a car. Maybe you haven't heard anything at all. Regardless of the above situation above you find yourself in, I would like to set the story straight and put some rumors to rest. I feel that it's about time for an explanation.
As mentioned in an earlier post, I was hired back as an employee this summer at Amangani Resorts in Jackson Hole, WY. (Shameless advertising...) On the same mountain as this resort, are privately owned homes, that often ask for our services as a matter of convenience to the home owner or the guests they invite to stay at their residence. This may seem like useless information, but it is actually the background to this particular experience.
On the afternoon of July 3rd, I was with some co-workers making visits some visits to the above mentioned homes on some routine maintenance "Check-ups," if you will. Less than 45 mintues away from clocking out for a weekend full of 4th of July activities, I recieved a call over the radio, that a garage door at one of the homes would not close. I opted to respond to the call and headed down to the home to check things out. When I arrived, I saw that one of the cables, connecting the garage door to the motor that raises and lowers the door itself, was lying on the floor. Knowing that this was not "Normal," I investigated the other cable on the opposite side of the one lying on the floor. To my dismay, I found the other cable in a jumbled mess. Wanting to carry out my instruction to close the garage door, I recalled that a garage door can be lowered or raised manually, as I had seen it done many times before at my own home. I walked outside of the door, placed my hand underneath the door, and began to situate my feet, in order to slowly lower the garage door safely to the floor. However, I grossly underestimated the weight of this particular door. Placing my hands on the door was enough movement to set the door in motion. Before I knew what was really happening, 1500 pounds of masonite and redwood came crashing down. I wasn't able to react fast enough. Fortunately, the momentum of the door pushed most of my body out of the way. Unfortunately, it was moving too fast for my feet to find a way out and I found myself pinned underneath the garage door. My feet had been crushed.
Reacting instinctively, I pulled on my right foot out from beneath the door and began to work on my left foot. But my left foot would not budge. I soon realized that luckily, the garage door had pinned mostly the shoe of my left foot, and I slipped my left foot from the shoe, to freedom. I was relieved to find only a small bruise on my big toe nail on my left foot, but my right foot was seriously injured by the crush. I used my radio to call for help and in a matter of minute, the General Manager was at the residence and he rushed me to the ER. I was relieved the find out that I had miraculously escaped any breaks in any of the bones of either of my feet. However, an orthopedic surgeon soon enterned the room and began to unfold to me the extent of the damage done. Apparently, the force and pressure of the garage door crushing my right foot has dislocated every bone in each of the toes of m right foot, and in order to prevent arthritis or other future problems, they would need to be pinned surgically. This was not all. The force of the 1500 pound door has caused such extreme swelling in my right foot, that a condition called comparment syndrome was setting in. Essentially, what this means is that the muscle swells so much, that it begins to cut of blood flow to the remainder of the foot, dangerous to the survival of the tissue not receiving the blood. To solve this problem, two fasciotomies were in order. (For those who are not familiar with the medical jargon, they needed to make two surgical cuts on the top of my foot to allow the swelling the continue beyond its normal swelling point, which would allow the blood to flow to the remaining tissue and toes.)
I woke up from surgery to find myself looking like similar to wolverine, as I now had five pins sticking out of the ends of my toes on my right foot. After a rough week of recovery in the Jackson Hospital, the doctors determined that they did not have the resources in Jackson to continue treating my foot injury and plans were made to send me to Salt Lake City, UT, to see more specialists and be exposed to a wider variety of possible treatments.
And that is where I have been for the last three weeks. On a daily basis, I am being treated by hyperbaric medicine. The hope is that the oxygen rich environment would aide in the healing process and encourage the tissue around my toes to heal properly. The incredible thing is, we have seen amazing things happen as my foot took on the healing process. The human body is truly incredible, however, after three weeks of treatment and a month after the injury, the extent of the crush has fully revealed itself and clear demarcation is present. The garage door simply crushed my foot to the point were all the blood vessels serving my toes exploded and were not able to rejuvenate. What does this boil down to?
Tonight is the last night I will have all 10 of my toes. Tomorrow morning, August 5th, 2009, I will enter once again into the operating room to have what is called a transmetatarsal amputation. Essentially, they will remove all 5 of the toes on my right foot and take away as much of the dead tissue as necessary to provide a health healing environment.
For some, this might be too much information, for others, this might not be enough. At this point, I don't have all the answers. What I do know, everything happens for a reason. I know that things will work out for the best. I want to take a quick minute and thank everyone for their prayers, fasting, their love, and support. It means the world to me to have such a large support group and such good friends. I appreciate it all. And because of you, I know that this is just one of those things life throws at you, that I will learn to live with, and won't let it slow me down. Afterall, I feel really blessed. It could have been much worse, and people have endured much worse. I think we all take a turn at this.
You should know, that I am doing well and I feel great. There will be more to come as the story unfolds.
I hope that this was enough to put some rumors to rest...
