Too Much Sorrow

I can see that bouquet did some good, there. This disturbance in the force is pretty pervasive, isn't it. But we'll get through. We always do.

Now I'm sending the bouquet out once again, this time to a little country in Europe. And I hope you all can send your prayers, your positive energies and good thoughts, out there too.

This one is for Walter's daughter, A. She's the one who had the wonderful little grandbaby they named after Walter. My ex-step grandson.

Even more, this one is for her husband, Carl.

Carl was driving home from work today. He was sitting at a big intersection, waiting for the light to turn from red to green. It did. He drove on.

And was promptly t-boned at high speed, right on the driver's side. The impact thrust the door halfway through the front seat, up to the stick shift, smashing Carl's body to pieces.

His car smacked head-on into a lamppost. The front end of the car shoved into him, breaking his leg.

The airbags deployed, saving him from head injury. This was a very, very good thing.

It took six hours of surgery to put him back together. Luckily, he was near a major hospital with a fine trauma center. Walter knew the second-in-command in Surgery, from when Walter was the administrator of the country's only cancer hospital. So he was able to keep close tabs on things over the phone.

Carl's injuries were:

Collapsed lung
Shattered collarbone
Several shattered ribs
Broken femur, compound fracture (where the bone comes out of the skin)
Dislocated shoulder - ligaments etc. all torn up
Shattered spleen

After 6 hours of surgery, they say he'll be okay. He will survive. He'll need about 2 weeks in the hospital, then he'll start rehab. They'll see how he recovers and then decide whether to put him in the rehab hospital or send him home for recovery.

His lung is reinflated, and it's fine now, working well. Chances are he had to get a chest tube, which if you've ever seen it done, you'll know this is a horribly painful procedure. His collarbone was broken into a billion pieces, and took forever to pin back together. The shattered ribs took a long time too. The shoulder will need a lot of future work. The rotator cuff is all messed up, lots of ligaments and such are torn up.

The femur was, at least, a clean break, and he didn't bleed out from the femoral artery, which is wonderful. However, talk to someone like me about a compound fracture and we get the willies. That's a real good way to get infected, having your bone exposed to the air.

The spleen they just took out, like they do. You can live without it, it's done all the time; but it's part of your immune system, something you'd rather hang on to if you can.

He's extremely lucky to be alive.

His wife is a very strong woman. She's been through a great deal, and handled it with poise and grace and dignity.

But this?

She went to pieces, some. She wanted her daddy there. She asked if Walter could come.

And he can't go. No passport and no money.

I burst into tears at this.

She's better now. Carl is out of surgery, and she's staying at the hospital with him for now. She's better, she's calmer now.

These folks have had more sorrow by their early thirties than many people experience at twice their age. They are resilient.

They'll be all right. They'll bounce back. They always do.