Alright, I know I haven't updated in a long while and I apologize for that. However, there are reasons for my current lack of updates or putting art out. Hell, I haven't even done my wrap up of 2013 with the Art Improvement Meme like I did at the end of last year.
Since the beginning of this month things have been very hectic for me for a variety of reasons but one in particular:
On Wednesday, February 5th, early in the morning my boyfriend was at work and fell 8-12 feet from a cable tray where he was running some wire. His foreman moved his ladder on him and nobody was around so he was attempting to crawl across the cable tray to get to it. In the process of doing that, he fell down and landed straight on his back.
Due to the fall, he broke 6 ribs on his right side (one of which placed a small puncture in his lung) another grazed his spleen. He also broke his shoulder blade and collar bone on his left side resulting in what is known as a floating shoulder. Vertebrae L1-L5 in his back were also chipped but are still intact. His pelvis was also broken in four places.
Since then, he has had 3 surgeries total (the last of which having occurred this past Thursday) and he still has one more in roughly three months as to current plans.
The first surgery was to put on an external brace to stabilize his hips. This happened the Friday after he fell. That following Monday he was transferred from Gulfport at Garden Park (where he was initially) to LSU Interim in New Orleans where a specialized Orthopedic doctor could do more detailed work on his pelvis. On the 13th, he had his second surgery where the placed an internal stabilizer on his pelvis.
Now to explain to you the complex nature of these fractures, they usually don't do pelvic surgeries. Much like with ribs, they typically allow these bones to mend on their own. The fact that they had to go in and put a pelvic brace on him says something for his fall and the amount of pain he's been in lately.
I did mention a surgery this past Thursday as well. On the 20th, they took him in at 6am and started surgery at 8am where he spent a total of 11 hours in surgery on his shoulder laying on his stomach against that pelvic brace inside him. With last I discussed over it with his sister (who is a retired nurse with 42 years of experience under her belt) they placed over 30 screws in his shoulder as well as two plates.
Shoulders are typically left to mend on their own as well and they had not expected his to be anywhere near as bad and to explain how infrequently they perform such a surgery--his doctor told us that they usually only do one shoulder surgery a year. This is a trauma hospital--as such they get some very bad cases in there, so I know this man (who his sister knows) knows what he's talking about.
With all of that said, I have pretty much been living at the hospital for the last two weeks. This Thursday his sister swapped out with me and most of that time has been used to get a new spare for my car (since on the way to the hospital on the 5th my tire blew out) and acquiring food for the next trip up there as well as laundry.
At the hospital, I haven't had much peace either with nurses and doctors coming in at all hours to do everything from administer pain medication every 2 hours to checking his blood pressure every 4 hours. I've also had to feed him and help him use the bathroom as well and bring him just about everything since he can't really turn his torso or use his right arm or sit up very long for that matter.
Things have been very stressful for me and he's been in a lot of pain for all the injuries he has. His sister and I have been trying to keep up with everything for his workers comp stuff (since he fell on the job) and we're trying to get things situated so he can perform the add-on to this house that we're in. Its 11 1/2 by 40 and with three people here, we need something bigger--he can't even come home till we get something bigger that we can fit a hospital bed in that is handicap accessible. So we're trying to get some church groups together to do that for him.
After this surgery, they're supposed to discharge him from the hospital soon and he'll have to go and stay in a rehab facility till he can learn to maneuver himself in a wheelchair and get motion back in his shoulder.
If any of you would like to know more about this, please feel free to PM me or comment below.
Why I'm telling you all this:
Why I'm telling you all this:
Because this is the primary reason for my inactivity and probably continued inactivity. I will try to put out pieces when I can, but things are very hard right now with how things are. I know I have one more request to finish up and I will get around to it when I can. I apologize that it hasn't been done sooner. Its really just the nature of the beast right now. I really want to draw and write more--its honestly depressing me really badly. I barely have time to talk to any of my online friends and I don't have any in real life.
He sleeps most of the time and it gets lonely a lot of times just dealing with all of this and being up at a hospital a block from the 'hood' in New Orleans where you gotta worry about either being towed or your car being broken into.
I think that's really about everything though--I hope all of you are having a much better time this early on in the year than myself. All of you please be careful and take care of yourself. Just keep in mind that something so small as losing your grip and falling can drastically change your life and the lives of everyone around you.
I'm trying to keep strong as best as I can....
