Ending the Year with a Bang

In the end, all that matters is that you are alive...

December 31st was turning out to be like any other day. I was stuck working both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day so I had not planned on much that weekend. Artie was also working both nights so I wasn't feeling too bad. He, of course, was splitting a shift which would allow him to still have a chance at doing SOMETHING if he wanted to on NYE. 

It is about 3pm and my co-workers and I had just finished lunch when the phone rang on the unit. I got to it first and to my surprise, it was Artie. He never calls me at work. Red flag number one! "Call your sister" is all he said. I knew something was wrong. He wouldn't tell me anything other than to call my sister. My cell phone is now ringing nonstop, so I check it and the most dreaded text ever was displayed. "Homer has been in a very bad car accident. He is at TMC in the trauma unit." Being the very imaginative human being that I am, I pictured a million and one things. Shaking, I left work to pick up my sister and headed down to Memorial Hermann in the medical center. Luckily, he was ok. Managed to shatter an ankle along with some bumps and bruises but nothing too serious that surgery would not be able to fix. Car is totaled but that is the least of my worries. Material things can be replaced but one's life is all too precious.

 

Poor brother had a few bumps and bruises...

:-/ 

 Today, January 10, 2012, brother underwent an open reduction internal fixation surgery which meant he had some instrumentation put in his ankle. Three screws went in like a triangle to try and catch all the fragments. Brother had a comminuted fracture which basically means his bone shattered into many parts. There were some bone pieces that were not able to be fixed with the screws but they said it would be impossible to have them aligned with any hardware. Serious time in rehabilitation and physical therapy will be his key.

Brother prior to surgery

Road to recovery, let us begin....