Happy 4th of July!

Dear All,

I have finally gotten around to downloading those pictures and I can now delight you all with the story of my accident! =D

As you all know this part of Texas has been getting a LOT of bad weather due to our friend Hurricane Alex. We have had non stop rain for the past week! I've actually really enjoyed it. A thunder storm is one of my favorite things.

Since we have been getting so much rain everything around here is flooding like crazy! Our gully rose from below my knee level water to way over my head level water in just one day!

Our creek has also been rising. It began rising the morning of July 2nd. And so my story begins.

Mom and Angelica left the house and headed to Houston for and Ortho appointment early Friday morning. Before they left Mom and I were discussing the creek. It had risen quite a bit since the night before and she was getting a little worried about it. She jokingly gave me instructions to get all the kids to the roof if the water came into the house. As she walked out the door she told me to call her in an hour and let her know if the water had risen any.

Before I go on here is a picture of our creek taken from our back door.



So they left and we all at the house went along with our every day routines. I was messing around on the computer when I realized I needed to go and check the water level. So I excitedly jumped up from my chair and trotted out the back door. I had forgot to put on my shoes so I was keeping an extra sharp eye out for snakes. Olivia and I had found one in a puddle in our front yard the day before.

I figured my feet would be safer if I stood on a log to view the water. I couldn't see very well so I decided to head down the hill to get a closer look. I jumped off the log to begin my descent. I landed on the ground and felt a strange dull thump in my left foot. My first thought, of course, was "Please don't be a snake!". I picked up my foot and frantically began looking for any movement in the grass. I couldn't find anything.

Now feeling a bit of a sting I shook my foot around in a puddle of muddy water to cool it off. And there I saw it. Not a snake but still the culprit of my injury...


The jagged top of a Mason jar.

Knowing that I was in a bit of trouble I raced to the door and called for Olivia to bring me a towel. Not knowing that I was hurt she lallygagged into the bathroom and then lallygagged back to the door. Knowing that I was hurt I yelled at her to hurry up. I stepped inside the kitchen to wrap my foot up in the towel and then both Olivia and I realized that I was leaving behind bloody footprints.

With my left foot wrapped in a towel I hopped my way to the bathroom. I went straight to the bathtub and began running warm water over my foot. The bottom of the tub was coated with blood. I called for Olivia to bring me another towel because i had already soaked that one with blood. I also had her bring me the phone so I could call Mom.

By this time my foot was aching and I was sobbing. And Mom wouldn't answer her phone. I tried calling her several times but I didn't get an answer. Poor Olivia still didn't know what had happened to me and I was to hysterical to talk. I finally calmed myself down enough to sob out what had happened. She attempted to call Mom again while I wrapped my foot in a new towel. Still no answer.

I decided to call Nolan (my knight in shinning armor) and ask him what to do. He too tried to call Mom but still no answer. I knew I was going to have to go to the hospital so Nolan had to leave work and come get me. While I was waiting for him to get home I called my Aunt Jennifer. I don't even remember what I said to her. I just needed some one to talk to.

It seemed like hours but Nolan finally got home. About that time Mom FINALLY called back. She had turned her phone volume down when she was talking to the Orthodontist and had forgotten to turn the ringer back up. I don't remember who answer the phone or what was said but she was going to meet us at the hospital. Again I wrapped my foot in another towel and this time let Nolan and Olivia take a look. They both acknowledged that I would have to get stitches. So they helped me up and I hopped my way to the truck.

Nolan jumped into the driver's seat and we took of in a mad dash for the Lake Jackson Hospital. To make our circumstances worse our dear friend Hurricane Alex decided to try us with a blinding rain. We could hardly see the road we were driving on. All the other vehicles were constantly flashing their lights so they could be seen through the rain. I thought I'd die in a car crash before I'd get to the hospital.

About half way there the truck began to feel a little funny. It was lurching. Our gas tank was empty. Luckily we were just two minutes from a Buc-ees but unfortunately we weren't lucky enough. The truck stopped right as we turned into the Buc-ees' parking lot. I wanted to ball my eyes out. Obviously having been in this situation before Nolan knew if he restarted the engine we could pull up enough to get to a gas pump. Before I knew it we were on the road again.

Nolan turned on the radio in attempt to get my mind off my foot but I couldn't help but think about the puddle of blood sitting around my foot inside my towel. I could feel it swish around my foot every time we drove over a bump.

We eventually arrived at the hospital. Nolan drove me up to the emergency entrance and ran inside to get some one with a wheel chair. It was pouring rain and I got soaked as I was wheeled into the hospital.

They immediately took me into triage and took a look at my foot. As the nurse unwrapped my foot I could see all the blood on the towel. It was awful. She threw the towel away in a waste basket and wrapped my foot up with a bandage.

The nurses also took my pulse and temperature, which was 101.9. I had to answer several questions about what happened to my foot, when it happened, etc. Then they wheeled me back into the lobby and to the front desk where I had to register. Then to another desk where I had to give all my information over again. Finally Mom and Angelica showed up. Mom helped me finish filling out my info. Then I had to wait several minutes while they cleaned a bed in the ER.

Finally they wheeled me past the giant double doors and into the Emergency Room. There I was greeted by three happy smiling faces. My RNs - Nurse Kyle, Nurse Jarret, and Nurse I never caught his name.

They helped me out of the wheel chair and onto the bed. From here my memory is a bit foggy but I will tell it to the best of my ability.

Nurse Kyle and Nurse NCHN (never caught his name) unwrapped the bandage around my foot and had a look. The blood had soaked through the bandage and I was spilling blood all over the ER bed. They wrapped me back up and said they would be back in a minute. Next I remember Nurse Kyle and The Doc, Dr. Anderson, coming into the room. Doc was going to take a look at my foot. As he removed the bandage blood shot from my foot all across the room. It was disgusting but quite funny watching the two of the duck and dodge away. They were both quite proud of their quick reflexes. After the Doc had a look he wrapped my foot back up and left to attend some other patients.

About that time some paramedics rolled in elderly lady on a stretcher. I don't know what was wrong with her. I could hardly see her through the opening in my curtain wall. She was moaning and sounded like she was in much pain. I believe it was her back that was hurting her so bad.

Nurse Kyle came back into the room to give me a Tetanus shot. I was slightly freaking out inside but was still trying to keep my cool. He informed me that it was nothing to worry about and that the worst part of the procedure was going to be when he had to give my foot a shot. But I was still nervous. See, I've never had a shot before.

He disinfected the skin on my upper arm and then turned to get the shot ready. I took a deep breath and braced myself. Then I felt the tinniest poke on my arm. He was finished. HA. Shots were nothin'!

Then he got the IV ready. I was a bit nervous. I think Nurse Kyle could tell so he decided to lighten the mood by cracking jokes. Hehe, they didn't really help. He told me not to worry; he'd given IVs before. This was his second time! Hehe, I didn't think him too funny. When the jokes didn't work he decided to teach Mom and I the history of Port Lavaca (where he's from). He examined both my arms trying decide which arm to stick me in. he chose my left arm because it had better veins. He tied a rubber ribbon around my arm and flicked my arm a couple of times. Then in went the IV. It hurt more than the shot did but it wasn't too bad. Nothing to be nervous about.

After that was over one of the nurses brought in a blue gown and laid it over a chair. They said the Doc wanted x-rays of my lungs to make sure there was no infection. I knew there was no infection in my lungs and refused the x-ray. Besides, I wasn't about to take off all my clothes and were that little blue night gown!! They said if I didn't want to then I didn't have too.

Now I had to wait for the Doc to come back. He was having quite a busy day at the hospital. I waited for what seemed hours. My foot was in agony. I couldn't position it any way to make it comfortable. Mom rubbed my leg to ease the pain as I sat watching my IV bag drip.

After forever ol' Dr. Anderson came back. It was time to get started on my foot. First he made me roll over and lay on my stomach so he could see my foot better. Again, I was nervous because this time I was face down and couldn't see what was going on. And without warning the Doc stuck a needle deep into the cut on my foot. I wanted to SCREAM so bad. I jerked my foot away and buried my head in towel on the bed. Nurse Kyle told me this is the part he warned me about earlier. Heh, I coulda guessed. But Doc wasn't through. He stuck the needle in my cut again. And again. And again. Ten times he stuck my foot with the needle. I've never felt such horrible pain. I was crying in my towel and gripping the sides of the bed.

The shots were to deaden my foot so he could clean the wound. My foot felt as if it were asleep. I hate that feeling. He cleaned out the cut with water and Bedidine. I couldn't see or feel what he was doing but Mom says he filled a syringe with water and stuck in down inside my cut and washed all the dirt out. She said the syringe was about two inches long and he could fit it all the way into my foot! That's a deep cut.

After it was clean he was able to take a closer look at it. He let Mom take a look at it too. He said I had cut an artery and that was why it bled so bad. The cut was also so deep that my tendon was visible. He made me move my big toe so Mom could see my tendon move. The glass jar had just missed my tendon. Had it hit a little over I would've had to have surgery! Also, the fat that pads the bottom of a person's foot was hanging out of my foot. Dr. Anderson had to push it back inside my foot.

Now all he had to do was stitch me up. My foot wasn't quite as numb as I would have liked for it to be and I could still feel the needle touch my skin. I could also feel him tugging the string through my foot. It didn't take him long to finish though. It took seven stitches to close the cut.



After the Doc left a nice lady nurse came into xray my foot and to make sure there was no glass left inside me foot. Why they took the xrays after they sowed me up I'll never know. She took about three different pictures and then wheeled her big machine out of the room. My xrays came back clean.

Nurse Kyle came back into the room to clean my foot up. He said he wouldn't give me a pedicure but he would get the blood off my foot. He cleaned me up and wrapped my foot back up. He gave us a bag of supplies so we could doctor my foot at home. He said we were good to go and then left the room. Mom and I just kinda sat there for a minute trying to figure out how I was going to get out of there. Kyle popped back in the room and laughing at himself asked if I needed a wheel chair. Of course I did. He left to get one and Mom left to pull the van up to the hospital door. Kyle wheeled me outside and waited with me until Mom got there. Then I got into the car and headed home. It was now around 6:00 in the evening. I had arrived at the hospital sometime right after Noon.

I was absolutely starving so Mom and I stopped by The Local to get a sandwich. Only I couldn't enjoy it because I had to go to the bathroom SO bad. We didn't know what to do because I couldn't walk. We spent a few minutes trying to figure out a place that had a bathroom right inside the door. Don't you just love Jack-in-the-Box? I hopped my way inside and to the bathroom. Hehe, everyone was staring at me. I figured out why once I got inside the bathroom and to the mirror. I looked like a train wreck! My hair was awful, I had no makeup on, and my clothes looked ridiculous! Oh well, I didn't care. I had to go to the bathroom.

Then I was back in the car with my sandwich on my way home.

Until next time,
Juliana.