Neil and his titanium hardware!

The first picture below pretty much sums up how our trip coming back from Utah ended...not like we planned!

We went to Utah and spent a month. Neil started the first week of our trip with us in Utah and the last week. Kirsten and I stayed for a month! What fun! ... That will be another post! :o)

We left 11/11/11 from Utah to head home. A date we will long remember! We made such great travel time we decided instead of driving half way home and spend the night we would push to go home. We made it almost to Cle Elum, WA and hit an awful snow blast! We had a bite to eat in Yakima and it was clear, gorgeous and thought we could be home in 2-1/2 hours. Well...that didn't happen!

We were on our way to Ellensburg and then Cle Elum and an arctic blast of snow blasted the mountain. I was upset with the snow and road conditions. We thought about staying in Cle Elum and then two minutes out of Cle Elum and big road sign flashed, "Pass Closed".

It's 9:00pm and we turn around and go back to Cle Elum and pull up into a Best Western Hotel. There is a few inches of slush and snow and we park. Neil gets out and I hear this low voice calling...'Diana'. I didn't respond as I thought maybe somebody had the same name. I hear this low voice say...'Diana'... and I look out my window and there is Neil laying full body length on the pavement on his left side. I spring out of the car and carefully walk the 10 feet to where he is laying. The door entrance is another 10 feet away. It's slippery and slushy. He said he could not move his leg.

Wonderful people helped and went inside and told the gal at the desk a man is injured and broke his leg and can't move and to call 911. 15 minutes later an ambulance pulls up. I had brought a blanket, gloves and hat to Neil. They brought two other blankets and a cushion pillow for his head. He lay in the slush and water for 15 minutes before the ambulance arrived. Meantime, Kirsten is in the car clueless as to why I am not in the car with her. I left the car running to keep her warm. Needless to say, my anxiety level is through the roof and the ambulance drives off with Neil and Kirsten and I are check into the hotel. There is no way I can drive in the storm. Neil tells me to check in and stay put. The ambulance driver gives me a map to the hospital and assures me they will take excellent care of my husband and asked if I'd like to give him a kiss before they take him away. Of course I give Neil a kiss! He was so good-natured and told the paramedics 'he thought he'd drop in for a visit and inspect their concrete which had a psi of 4,000 and was very hard!' Chuckle! :o)

I know I took a picture of the hospital where Neil stayed in Ellensburg and of him in bed. I don't know what happened to those pictures??? The Kittitas Hospital in Ellensburg was superb! 10 star rating! They were so wonderful and what a blessing the night the ambulance got there the doctor and two nurses were LDS (Mormon). I had called the Ellensburg LDS church and asked for two men to go to the hospital and administer to Neil. They did. Neil's surgeon was awesome!

Neil had surgery on Saturday around 11:00a.m. It was almost two hours. They put a titanium rod down his femur. His femur was not broke. He had a deep fracture in his right hip. They had to put the rod down his femur to anchor the cross bar and screws to his hip. He cannot bear weight on his right leg for one month so the bones can heal and wrap around the metal. He can only put 10% weight on his right toes. He will get an x-ray in a week and see how he is mending.

Kirsten and I left on Saturday morning from Cle Elum to drive the 20 minutes to Ellensburg to be there in time for Neil's surgery. We spent the next three nights at a Best Western in Ellensburg that was 5 minutes from the hospital. The surgery went great! They let us come home the following Tuesday so I could drive Neil back over the pass before another snow storm was to hit the pass again. I had to take him straight to a rehab facility for one week so they could work with him with physical therapy and learn how to take care of himself.

This is the care facility teaching him how to strengthen his shoulders and upper arms so he can use a walker to get around.

More weight lifting.

There are weights behind the chair similar to the ones in the pictures above and he's pressing bars down and the weights go up.

Using bicycle exercises for his arms and shoulder strength.

Pictures LaRue, Matilda and Adelaide made for Grandpa.

In his room on his computer.

The front of the facility entrance in Puyallup, WA, 15 minutes from our house.

Kirsten watching her dad.

While Neil was at the facility I was at home and decided to cut 3 to 4 inches of Kirsten's hair off as it was getting too long.

I curled it the next day so she would be pretty for her daddy.

Neil's home! Kirsten is sitting with her chair buddy-daddy! :o)

I gave Neil a hair cut lat night! He needed one badly!

Neil was in the care facility for 1 week. He worked really hard and they were pleased with his progress. He was so glad to get out of there! He learned a lot and worked hard to get out but said that the food was going to kill him! No taste and didn't like a lot of it.

I am so grateful for the wonderful care they gave him and all they did for him. There was no way I could have taken care of him had he come straight home from the hospital. He can't drive for a minimum of one month until he can weight bear on the leg. He will have a therapist come to the house twice a week for at least a month. He works on his own exercises at home on his own. His work is undertanding and he is working from home for a month!

We are all doing well. Kirsten is glad to be out of hotel life and home and have her daddy home. She was a little confused about what was going on.

Neil has been extremely good natured and helpful and has not complained at all! He's been such a champ! :o) I am holding up well and I am glad this whole ordeal is fast fading behind us. I will never travel again in a snow storm! I don't like snow, to be in it or travel in it. When the snowflakes fall, I stay inside the house!

I have to say my anxiety level was extremely high for the first few days of the accident but I'm back down to earth and will be a great nurse/wife for him! I've taken care of Kirsten all these years, so I am somewhat prepared. Most of all I am so very thankful for the Lord's blessings, priesthood power and prayers and love from all.