Dec 24, 2019 3 min read

I’ve spent two nights at the emergency room in the past week. One evening was for my husband, who was cutting apart an old vehicle and had a 30-pound piece of metal fall on his foot. The swelling and bruising would have been enough of a reason to have it checked out, but add in his diabetes, and I was inclined to take no chances.

He, on the other hand, didn’t think he had time to waste on it, and fought going for nearly two days. By that point, he could barely walk and was more miserable than a frost-bitten apple.

Also, his foot was more purple than flesh-colored.

Once he finally agreed to go and I got him there, they did some X-rays and determined nothing is broken. Still, they want to watch it to ensure proper healing because of the diabetes. (Cough, cough, I knew it!) He is now spending more time elevating his foot than he normally would, but less time than I would like.

Compromise is one key to a successful marriage, I suppose.

The second evening at the hospital was due to my daughter wrecking her car. She took a turn too fast, she thinks, and plowed head-on into some trees. The force caused the car to spin around and then roll over.

She remembers crawling out of the car and being helped by a passerby to the closest house. Those people allowed her to use their telephone, and she called her dad and me. We were there in short order and saw that she was banged up but appeared to be OK.

Her dad went to look at the car while I gathered her up and put her in my car. A friend of hers had stopped at the scene, and he took her dad home for the supplies he needed to remove the wreckage while I headed for the hospital with our daughter.

She had abrasions across her hips and a few small cuts on her hands. She had a goose egg on her forehead. Her ribs hurt to the point of painful breathing, and her leg hurt like crazy.

Triage determined that her ribs were of primary importance due to her inability to breathe normally, so they whisked her off to X-ray while I completed her registration. Then they took us to her room while they planned the rest of her treatment.

Several more sets of X-rays for her chest and leg and a CT for her head wound all came back clear. She had no concussion and no broken bones. The belief is that the soreness and many of the abrasions were the result of her wearing her seat belt. (Of all the things I have advised her about in her life, I am so very glad she has chosen not to ignore the importance I placed on seat belt usage.)

I am infinitely grateful to God for her health (and life!) being intact, especially when I see the damage to the car. I’m now a believer in Christmas miracles, because it is absolutely a miracle that she walked away with only bruises.