Pictures

Warning- if you click on these pictures, it will take you to Webshots where there are other, more graphic pictures of dad's legs. Again, they are graphic. Please only click on the photo if you want to see the others. Otherwise, just don't click on it.

Here's Dad in his fashionable gown. Yes folks, he still looks great even after all this. ;)

Here's Mom & Dad, they are both hanging in there so please keep them in your prayers!

Daddy update...

On Thursday, June 28th our dad, Kenny B, was involved in an accident at work. The long and short of it is that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a part off a crane decided to break and fall on him. Skip over the rest of this post if you cannot handle gross medical details, you won't hurt my feelings.

The initial impact hit him in the chest and abdomen area and forced him to the ground. The part of the crane that fell then landed on his legs, causing his knees to hyperextend and bend the wrong way dislocating his knee caps. Fortunately, the adrenaline rush of another worker allowed him to lift this heavy piece of crane off dad's legs BY HIMSELF. Amazing. He was airlifted to Chapel Hill Hospital (which is where we all are now) where they took him in and did the first of many surgeries to come. He went in at around 8:30 or 9:00 pm and they let us know that their first concern was the artery in his right leg that had been damaged. At the time, they could find a pulse in his ankle of his right leg but not in the top of his foot which meant that the circulation was poor. If he continued to not have circulation, he could have lost his leg.

So they went in and did a vein graph. Basically, they took a vein from his left leg and put it into his right leg in order for the circulation to improve. They also went in and put pins and rods on the exterior of his legs in order to keep the knee caps in place. They also found a blood clot in his right leg, but when they opened him up, it moved and corrected itself. He has a gash behind his right kneed cap that is about 4 inches long that has caused a lot of nerve damage. All things that have troubled the doctors to no end.

At 1am Friday morning, the vascular surgeon came out and said that from his perspective, the surgery had gone as well as it could and he was positive that the circulation problem would be fixed. At 2am, the orthopeadic surgeon came out and said that they had placed the rods around his knee caps and that their part was done for now. However, more surgery would be needed to reconstruct his knees. They left him with a morphine drip that he could push a button and release as he needed. They also put him on blood thinners in order to prevent future blood clots.

At about 2:30 am, Mr. J, DK and I had decided we would head home and try to get some sleep. Then in the ICU waiting room over the loud speakers came a voice... "PAC-U Code Blue, PAC-U Code Blue." Mom's eyes got as big as saucers and she spoke up. "Your dad's in PAC-U, you're not going anywhere." So we waited to see if it was him. Fortunately, mom wandered around til she found PAC-U and asked someone if dad was ok and they assured her he was sleeping so we were all relieved. That was probably the scariest moment of them all so far.

On Friday morning, his kidneys stopped functioning properly and so he started retaining fluid. He swelled up like a marshmellow and just looked horrible. We got to start visiting him two at a time so we would lather up and walk into the Vascular ICU every so often. We had tons of guests and they brought food and drinks and were such a blessing.

They flushed his kidneys in order for them to start working better and luckily, they did. On Saturday, they moved him out of ICU and into a private room. This has been the biggest blessing because he has had more visitors than you can shake a stick at and the room has helped folks to come and go as they please.

They updated us on Saturday and told us that he had broken his back in two places. He fractured two of his vertebraes, L3 and T11. They don't know at this time if surgery will be needed, but they did fit him with a hard plastic brace that he will need to wear for a few months on his torso. Friday night he had bled pretty steadily because of the blood thinners so they took him off of the blood thinners on Saturday and put in a filter that would stop clots.

Saturday night they were able to find a pulse in his right foot on the top so that was the first of many answered prayers. His swelling in his face and upper body went down pretty dramatically and he was able to talk more and got a good nap (as did mom, finally). Being in the private room has given him more chance to sleep and there's a wonderful chair that folds out into a bed so mom can sleep. This has been the biggest help for all of us children, knowing that both of them can get their rest.

Today is Sunday and they have taken his cathader out which has been a blessing and a curse. He's had a hard time with the bed pan so this is the first of many struggles to come. Again, visitors have been arriving steadily so he's taking time to talk to all of them which is good. He's been coherent the entire time and says he remembers every detail of the accident. Says it's just a freak, random accident that could have happened to anyone.

Moral seems to be good all around. We all know that he has a long, uphill battle ahead of him and we don't know how long he'll be in the hospital or how long til surgery. I'll keep this blog as updated as possible so that you all will know what we know. If y'all have any questions, please email me or post a message on here. I will answer it to the best of my ability. Our cells work at the hospital so we can take calls, but with so many visitors, it's been hard to make all of the appropriate phone calls. Please don't be upset if we haven't called you. We're doing all that we can given the circumstances.

The Lord has blessed us with a wonderful network of family and friends and we are so blessed to have them all here. Thank you for taking the time to read this... I'll put a few pics up shortly.

SPF- Back

Kristine is having some back issues this week and has been wobbling around the house in a state of distress... so she wants us to tell her about our "back" for SPF this week. On a different take, I thought I'd show you the people in my life that have always had my "back" so here you go:

In honor of Father's Day, here's my dad. He's probably the smartest man I know and has always pushed me to do the best that I can. Happy Father's Day dad!

Next is mom, who has been my #1 cheerleader my whole life. What a woman, let me tell you. The one word I would use to discribe her is selfless and that is what I strive to be everyday in her honor.

Of course, Mr. J. He's the best thing that's ever happened to me. And he just so happens to be leaving today for VEGAS!! He's so excited.

These pictures were taken at Taste of the South, the annual charity fundraiser I helped to plan and raise money for this year. It was awesome and I am so ready for next year when we plan on raising over $100,000 from the state of North Carolina. If you want to know more, here's the Taste of the South webpage.

Well, I'm off to Detroit tonight to visit some family friends and meeting my mom, grandma and brother in Michigan. I can't wait to see them. Y'all have a good weekend!

Wild Card Wednesday

The Kept Woman has given us a letter to use this week for our Wild Card Wednesday assignment: the letter K. So here's my submission (which I really want quadroople bonus points for)

At the Korean grocery store in Fairfax, VA, Mr. J stumbles upon this sign for the "white peaches." Yep folks, it's that easy. White Peace is only $1.99 a pound. How flipping funny is that?

Now I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers, I know it's a misspelled word, but isn't it a funny one?? How's that for a WCW pic?

SPF- Brush

Kristine wants to see our brushes today for SPF so here goes:

Ok so she didn't want us to clean them but honestly, I am OCD when it comes to my hairbrush. I clean it multiple times a morning. I hate when I look at it and see long hairs hanging out so I clean it... over... and over... again. What's that? You think I'm strange? Yeah, I'm sure it is a little overboard but it keeps me sane so whatever. If my old roommate B sees this, she may wonder how in the world I have this brush considering that it's HERS and I stole it from her in college and still use it everyday... oh well. Somethings are just worth getting caught over.

So if you look closely, you'll see my brush is lying on top of my carry on luggage because I'm flying to Arkansas today! I'm going to visit my best friend R and her husband and daughter. R was my hair stylist and confidant when she lived in DC and since August, I have missed her more and more everyday (especially when I have to suck it up and pay $75 for a haircut). So you'll be seeing a new 'do on me soon and I'll be sure to post fun pictures. We're supposed to go to a lake on Sunday, fun times!

One more shameless plea... Mr. J is taking the GMAT tomorrow in hopes of getting into MBA school. Please send up all your prayers so that he does well enough to get into George Mason so that he can make enough money to support my lazy butt!! Thanks everyone!

Wild Card Wednesday

The Kept Woman hosts Wild Card Wednesday where you can post a picture and tell what it's about and if it uses the letter W, it's a bonus. So here's my contribution...

W is for What the?!?! Check out that hat. This could probably go for Dallas K's Fug Thursday as well but we'll use it here today. Mr. J and his go USA hat that G bought at the NASCAR gas station for $4.99. What a deal, folks.

Mr. J and I traveled to Raleigh, NC this weekend to hang out with Mr. J's brother G. Let's just say that Raleigh is a little too "hot" for us literally.

Upon arrival, we find out G's air conditioning has broken and it's 85 degrees inside his house. After deciding that no one should make our sweat into colognes, we move outside and opted to spend the weekend grilling out and hanging out by the pool. A good call. Over all, it was a great weekend in Raleigh regardless of the heat and humidity.

The best part? I got to catch up with my college roommates A & B who I don't get to see nearly enough. It's so funny to see each other now that we're "grown up" and have real jobs. B is a realtor so her amazingly tanned skin is a result of doing work by the pool. Kind of makes me want to reconsider my 8:30-5:30 job. A is the same person I met 7 years ago when she commented on my flower pj pants in the hall of Hoey Dorm. It's a good thing these ladies don't change, they keep me grounded in many ways.

G and his girlfriend H were the reason we drove four and a half hours into the heat. We never get to see them and we are all about being around our family lately so this was a good excuse.

It actually made us both realize that there may be life after the big city. Lately, we've been sort of "what if"-ing a lot. What if we have a baby? What if we sell our condo? What if we find jobs in NC? Ultimately, that's the goal, move to NC, sell the condo and have a baby... it's just the timing that's all a little unsettling. But this weekend was refreshing in that we realized that if we do move back to NC, we will have a life. We will have friends around. We will have jobs that may not pay as much but provide us with the same quality of life that we have now. It may not have been so monumental for Mr. J but for me, it was good. It showed me a life that I don't mind living can be closer to home than I had expected. (Mom, no reason to start packing boxes yet, it will be a little longer before leave the big city)

Here's a few more pics from the weekend:

It's been a while...

since my last post, so this one is jam packed full of pictures for you to enjoy! First of all, Mr. J's birthday was in April so we went the Japanese route and ate at Sakura Japanese Restaurant. We invited some friends along to celebrate and had a great time. Here's some pics:

The cheesy shot of us (I know what you're thinking, man that's a big smile, what can I say, we are hams when put in front of a camera)

Our friends H&C

JR&C

And the new parents, D&S. What you can't see is that seated between them is baby WE sleeping in his car seat. He was exceptional during the whole meal but I hear nights with him are a battle.

What kind of wife would I be if he didn't have a cake, right? It was his favorite, ice cream, so it was really messy when we left (sorry Sakura employees, hope you got a bite before it was all melted). Oops.

Moving on in my super post... we went with JR& C to a winery out in rural Virginia. JR's friend is engaged to the vintner (is that a word?) who works with the grapes, so we got a private tour and lessons on grapes, wine and "snot" that apparently is the leftover residue from the grapes after being mashed. To me, it looked like a great mud bath that you'd pay hundreds for in some fancy spa. Hmmmmm, I wonder if I could market grape snot...? Regardless, if you are ever in Middleburg, please visit Chrysalis Vineyards. It was a perfect little vineyard for a Sunday picnic.

With the sun shining and the clouds parting, we had a perfect day. JR fell in love with this tree and I think if given the chance, would have peed on it just to claim it as his own... yep, he's that much of a nature lover my friends.

JR&C enjoyed the cheese and wine while Mr. J and I lived it up in the adirondack chairs we took camp in. Just sitting out in the open, looking out onto the most amazing grape vines, enjoying the sun... it was a great day.

Mr. J even rolled around in the grass for a while. And by rolling, I do mean rolling...

Over all, one great day. It's still sort of funny to see Mr. J with a wedding band on. I should be used to it, but here we are six months later and it's still strange to think that we are married. Maybe one day it will hit me, but for now, it still feels like we are playing house for some silly reason. Regardless, here we are enjoying the sun.

I promise I will write more soon!