Monday April 9, 2012 was a typical morning in the Watts' household. I headed off to work knowing that Dave was right behind me. My In-laws were still in town from Easter but they too were getting ready to head out to make the journey home. While at work I received a call from a good friend of ours who stated his wife just passed by an accident on Route 50 and she was pretty sure it was Dave's work van in the accident. I really wasn't sure what to think about this...so I just called Dave to see if he would answer the phone. No answer....Texted him, no answer...then I got a call from a Salisbury number and my heart sunk...I knew it would be a nurse from the ER in Salisbury and it was. She informed me that Dave had been in a serious car accident but he was awake but had some serious injuries and at this point all she could tell me was it was his legs. Not what you want to hear...quite frankly the only thing I wanted to hear was no injuries...guess that wasn't an option.
Thank God my Mother has been around...she droveme to the hospital. Longest ride of my life (although it's only 30 minutes). Getting to the ER they set me and my mom up in a private waiting room and informed us that Dave was having a catscan done to determine the extent of his injuries. When the Doctor finally came to see us (which also seemed like hours) he informed me that Dave's major injury was a broken hip and they wanted to operate immediatly to get the hip back in the socket and stabalize him. He said the surgeon would come down to talk to us but we could go see Dave. He prepared me for the extent of his looks and injuries and informed me that they sedated Dave and had a breathing tube in him because the pain was unbearable for him. If you know my husband, you know he can handle a lot of pain...so I can't even imagine how bad it had of been for them to haave to sedate him.
Dave was banged up pretty bad...it was so hard to seem him like that...neck brace, breathing tube, IV's, bandages, just a lot going on basically. Dave was twitching really bad and it was so hard to stand there and look at him. Our Pastor and his wonderful wife came to the hospital along with our good friend Joe. Our pastor prayed over Dave before they took him to surgery and we were all escorted to the waiting room to await the outcome of his surgery. By this point Dave's Mom and Stepdad were with us, and sister on the way. It must have been several hours of waiting before Dave was out of surgery. What do you do with yourself while awaiting the results of a major surgery for the love of your life? Well, I was deffinitly in shock and seemed to do best occupying my mind. I even called and cancelled my hair appointment scheduled for the following day. It's amazing when you're in shock the things that you do.
Dave's surgery went well. They put his leg in a traction system. This keeps the hip from popping back out until they can do the final surgery to repair the hip. The put a pin through his bone inhis upper leg and this is connected to a pully system with a 5lb weight on the end of it hangig off the bed...Crazy...My poor Love ws in such pain. They were able to take him off the breathing tube after surgery and he was moved to the intensive Care Unit to remain until after his next surgery on Wednesday.
It seemed like forever before I was able to see him. He was still pretty out of it from all the medication, but he turned and looked at me and said "There's my wifey". He asked what happen, and asked several questions over and over again as he drifted in and out of sleep. He spent some time with his family before everyone headed home for the night. I stayed at the hospital with him overnight.
Looking back now (a week and two days later) I think I am finally grasping what has happened. I am so thankful that the Lord saved my husband's life. It's crazy when you look at pictures of the accident it's shocking to think he has no upper body injuries. we think the Lord wapped his upper body in his arms. I thank the Lord for that every day. Dave is banged up but will heal. He's not paralyzed, he still has his legs, and within a few months he'll be walking again.
Praise the Lord.
This isn't a good pic, but you get the picture
From across the highway
Dave in ICU..god Bless him
