Staying Healthy When Life Gets Hard Part 2

Chapter 2- Getting Hit Whilst  Turning Into Your Driveway 

That Summer of 2015 was one we will never forget. At the end of July, our younger son was rear-ended. He was waiting to turn off the highway into our driveway. He was slammed into by a distracted driver pulling a tractor at full speed. He was knocked unconscious as his car was pushed down the highway and stopped in a cornfield near our house.  As if in slow motion, we found ourselves running to his car to see if he was still alive, and praying he would be able to  walk as the ambulance came. Although he didn’t know what had happened, he was able to speak with us.  We prayed over him as the ambulance came. Dazed and confused, he walked out of the car to the ambulance. He had a major gash to the back of his head, and a obvious  concussion.

We now knew the full strain of taking care of your aging parents, and your older teenagers at the same time. We were Gen x’ers in full sandwhich generation mode.  At this point, we were surviving with much prayer hour by hour.

My father-in law was getting worse. He thought he was in a war, and that bombs were going off. In confusion he was hitting my mother-in law at times, crying like a child at others. He was running out towards the highway with a rake thinking he was going to battle.

On a really bad day, my husband had to wrestle his father into our van to get him off the highway and back to the house. He was a vet but we weren’t able to get him a bed at the VA hospital as they were full.

Repeated calls to the police for help,  and taking him to the hospitable in an ambulance, did not return any relief. No one had a bed for him. We called in hospice for help. Unfortunately, he had to be sedated for everyone’s safety. We were just glad that no one especially him had been seriously hurt. We were in the midst of handling the  aftermath of our younger sons concussion,  finding him a new car, and facing the uncertainty of  Terre’s dad’s condition.

To Be Continued…