I wanted to share my husbands story... February 20th 2014 was like any normal day until 2pm. Josh, my husband was at his construction job in Richfield Utah and noticed a semi truck with a trailer needing to be unloaded at work full of steel 1800lb a piece power poles. So he decided to help unload the truck instead of being done from work for the day. Josh had looked at the load and didnt like the way it looked so he left a center strap on until the forklift could get under and tip back the forks....once the forklift had secured the power poles, Josh went up to remove the last strap when suddenly one power pole fell off directly onto Josh crushing BOTH legs and pretty much severed his right foot on site. The tender mercy with this was the bone protruding from his leg had pinched off the main artery perfectly so he did not bleed out and die on site waiting for medical help. The pole layed over both Joshs legs, the left leg was in a crevice and only suffered a sprained foot, his pelvis and hip were shatterd as well. A second pole fell from the top of the truck and hit the pole laying on top of Josh...it started to fall in the direction of Joshs upper body when all laws of gravity and physics were defied when an invisible force pushed the falling pole the complete opposite direction missing Joshs upper body possibly killing him on impact. All co workers who saw this say Josh has HURCULES Gaurdian Angels!!! That day Sally, Joshs wife got the call no wife wants to get that her husband had been crushed and was being life flighted from Richfield to Provo. After Josh arrived to Utah Valley Regional hospital by helicopter...his wife, mother and kids awaited his arrival in the E.R The surgeons worked hours on end to screw, plate and bolt Joshs leg, put back together his broken knee, and did a bipass to the foot that was pretty much severed on site. The next day the bipass did not work and Joshs body began to shut down from toxins of the dead foot... So they put him back into surgery to amputate the right leg below the knee. Two days later they put him back into a 10 hour surgery to clean up the amputation, and to repair his broken pelvis and shattered hip. They ended up having to get a general surgeon in to repair the inside of Joshs stomach that had torn away from the pelvic and hip region....he had 30 staples placed in his stomach instead of stitches. Josh also suffered severe nerve damage in his hand and left leg it was difficult for him to feed himself because of the damage and the pain it caused. They put Josh into a hyperbaric chamber to promote healing and did not time his pain medication correctly, as Josh came out of the hyperbaric chamber he was shaking profusely from pain and the pressure change of being in the chamber. Here is a picture of the hyperbaric chamber Trying to get the pain under control again the nurses worked profusely to contain his pain in the process of watching Josh writhe in pain his wife Sally was able to put the Atonement of our Savior into a deeper perspective. Another tender mercy was to be able to see the outreach and compassion of so many people from our friends to our family, and our ward family....the KINDNESS and Christlikeness was INCREDIBLE!!! Josh remained in the ICU for two weeks and then was transferred to rehab for another week...so he was in the hospital 3 weeks. They released Josh from the hospital for the weekend to go home and have him back into surgery on Monday for the repair of his madiskis and the ligaments. The night before surgery we had our home teachers come over and administer a priesthood blessing. Josh went into surgery and we expected him to be in there for four hours and to be admitted in the hospital instead he was in surgery two hours when the surgeon came out and said that he did not need to do the repairs that they originally had thought and all he needed was to have his knee scoped this was truly a miracle. Josh was able to go home that same day. Josh was happy to be home. In August all his wounds on his amputation looked like they were good enough to get moving with his prosthetic the tender mercy with this was that Josh was able to baptize his youngest daughter Ivy on August 2 when we were worried that he would not be able to get into the font to immerse his leg and did it all on one leg. But there was a pin hole size hole not healing on his leg, the doctors opened it to promote healing...the wound on his amputation had different plans....Josh began to fight for months going three days a week to wound care up in Provo resulting in a wound VAC and eventually two more surgeries. An amazing Christmas present was Josh was able to have the last of his stitches removed with no more open wounds getting the green light to go ahead to have his prosthetic once again. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO JOSH!!! Our year in 2014 was a tough year not with just what Josh was dealing with but we had multiple things within our families occur at the same time. It was definitely a year of growth and refinement. Josh is continuing to heal and determined to get on with life and keep a positive attitude by counting our blessings and being grateful in all things. Through it all we have been able to recognize and witness many miracles and tender mercies.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 00:29:44 +0000
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