“Not Yet” Part 1

The part of my life that I’m going share with you all is how I did not let life beat me down, and did my best to stay positive.

On September 19, 2020, my husband purchased a brand-new motorcycle. (And yes I knew about it!) It was a beautiful bike, and I could not wait to ride that baby home!

September 21, 2020…. This is the day that would change our lives forever.  

Woody got home around 3:30 that day. It was my first day of vacation so I was already home. Woody had brought home some different windshields to try out and wanted to go ride and test them. Something felt off all day, and for some reason, I was not wanting to get on that bike, but I did and didn’t follow my gut instinct.

At 4:05 PM we sat at the three-way traffic light barely 5 blocks from our house. Almost exactly 2 days after the purchase. There were no vehicles waiting or coming. There is a curve that comes around a local pizza place that leads vehicles toward the direction we were turning. As we started turning left, we both noticed a truck flying around that curve, and I knew at that time, this is why I felt uneasy all day. I screamed, “HE’S NOT STOPPING!!!”. Woody and I both said oh shit at the same time as I watched this kid not even glance up in our direction as he barely yielded at the stop sign…. And he turned right into us.

We were just hit by a truck. I landed on the tiniest patch of grass next to a thin metal light pole. Right in front of a group of people from the Optimist Club selling mums. God laid me down where I needed to be.

Someone told me I was 3 inches away from wrapping my body around it. I tell everyone that will listen that I didn’t land, but felt someone catch me. Of course, it was probably the ground catching me! I remember waking up and screaming for Woody. When he didn’t respond… I prayed for God to take me because I was not living without him.

I remember the pain.

I remember opening my eyes and seeing one of our friends saying, “Oh god it’s Bo and Woody!”

I remember a soft older female voice talking to me, and telling me “You are going to be fine, just squeeze my hand.”

I remember opening my eyes and seeing Woody crawling toward me. I closed my eyes, and the next thing is Woody laying across the top of my body so I wouldn’t look down. “I won’t lie honey it’s really bad!” All I could say was “GET OFF OF ME” Woody’s a big guy and was putting all his weight on me.

The other sentence I remember hearing was… “Not yet”

As I have told you in my previous blog my husband is a career firefighter for the town where we live. So, as you can imagine these guys and gals who were there to help us was family.  I looked over after what seemed like hours to see my sister-in-law Amy who was helping the medics.

Amy is a registered nurse so you can see why I was so happy to see her. Not only is she family she is also medically trained. I was also grateful they allowed her in the ambulance with me since Woody couldn’t be with me. Woody got his own ambulance ride to the hospital. The medics were not able to give me any pain meds on the ground since my readings were so low. Possible broken pelvis you know! (Not broken btw!) I remember the pain was so excruciating I’m pretty sure I broke a few eardrums from screaming when they had to move my mangled leg. I was loaded into the ambulance and taken to the airport so I could be flown by helicopter to Lutheran Hospital in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Amy couldn’t go with me, but luckily, I knew the medic on the helicopter. My vitals were stable enough for them to push pain meds. THANK GOD!!!

FYI: That was the most expensive flight that I don’t remember taking! Haha!

I remember being unloaded and that was it! Next, I wake up while I’m in the process of getting a Cat Scan done!

Sidebar: if you know what Minecraft is you’ll understand, if not look it up! I have never played it, but I know what it is!

When I woke up, I was in Minecraft!! I wasn’t sure how I got there, but I was NOT going to stay green! I begged someone to get me out of Minecraft!!! I just hear, “oh she’s waking up, let’s get her something stronger!” I remember I asked for my Minecraft sword because that would make me stronger.

I then woke up in a room in the Emergency room. My brother-in-law Jamie was in the room with me. I can’t really remember what all was going on I just remember the nurse or doctor asking Jamie to step out for a minute or until they brought Woody into my room. Once Jamie stepped out, the doctor said, let them see each other and say “goodbye” just in case…. JUST IN CASE????? Oooooh ok!

When Woody was brought over in his bed to my room, he swears I was ignoring him and posting on Facebook! I have absolute proof that I was not on Facebook. (If I had been, whatever I typed would have come up as a memory the next year! So, there’s my proof Woody!!) I honestly don’t even remember being on my phone. Our daughter CiCi had been with him while Jamie was with me. Because of Covid, only one person was allowed in the room, but nurses allowed both to stay with us.

I said I love you to my child, Jamie, and most of all Woody.

Off to surgery, I go! As they were pushing me down the hall I looked over, and my brother was walking beside me. My brother Scott passed away more than 5 years ago. I asked him if he was here to take me home. Home as in heaven. He just smiled and shook his head no. That’s when he slammed his hand down on my chest. I asked him why the heck he was hitting me. All he would say is, “Not yet!”

Please check in next week for part 2!!