scenes from a hospital

the father-in-law waiting patiently for news from the operation.


paul's wife (jessica) also tries out the waiting room recliner.


"mr. ten penny" waking up from the anesthesia.


three days later, gimpy displays the culprit of all the hoopla.

so this is what i did this weekend: i spent some time at providence hospital, due to a really unfortunate accident that you will now hear about.

on friday, my poor buddy paul accidentally shot himself in the leg with a nail gun while on a construction project. the 10-penny nail went completely through his femur, so it hurt pretty bad when he lowered himself down three stories of scaffolding. his boss ruined paul's work pants by ripping them open, threw him over his shoulder and put him in the truck and hauled butt to the hospital.

fortunately, the nail missed any arteries, so he didn't bleed to death in 20 minutes, which was nice. they took a bunch of x-rays, and then worked on removing the nail. paul says it hurt. actually, he told me this process was the most excruciatingly painful thing he has ever endured which, if you knew paul, would really mean something. paul is perhaps the toughest cookie i've ever known.

paul immediately underwent surgery to insert a metal rod inside of the femur, from knee to hip with pins at both ends. this will allow him to walk right away, without a cast or anything. i got to the hospital while everyone was waiting for him to get out of surgery. i have to say that the family was amazingly not-freaked-out during the whole thing. we prayed a little, but mostly just talked and joked around passing the time.

what you don't know is that his wife was in the same hospital in august to remove a ruptured appendix. or that his father-in-law was also there twice last year for surgeries after a motorcycle accident broke his pelvis, messed up his face and nearly killed him. and just two weeks ago, paul rolled his 4runner. one might think that maybe these people just get used to everything blowing up around them.

but i think it's more like seeing God take care of His own when they are going through it. seeing paul ask one of the nurses how her day was going (when obviously his day might qualify as anyone's worst ever), just exemplified the kind of Godly character that i suppose gets developed when you go through these kinds of trials with the right attitude.

kind of makes me want to stop being a such a crybaby when i don't have enough cash to afford fast food.

anyway, he was discharged sunday and i was glad to be part of the extraction team. paul is now hobbling up and down the steps at home, getting ready for the four-to-eight weeks of rehab. workman's comp is taking care of the bills.