In the Blink of an Eye

It started as just an ordinary phone call...a ring, a look at the caller ID and then I said, "Hi Babe." And then the next words changed so very, very much for my family.
"Honey, I need you."
Not I need you to pick up milk. Not I need you to hold my hand. I need you to meet me at the hospital.
My husband fell 2 stories from a tower crane he was inspecting for work. Is that the same amount of time that my heart sank to my stomach? The same amount of time for a million things to go through my mind?
He says, "It is not a big deal, don't worry." So at first, I didn't. I laughed a little and called him clumsy. He didn't tell me his fall was 2 stories from a tower crane he was inspecting. Just a fall, and a possible broken leg. I thought it was no big deal. I sang Happy Birthday to co-workers, I passed around a picture of my new puppy. And then I got in my car. And then I got the call from the paramedic.
It was serious. He had bones jutting out, and he would need surgery....that night. What the hell happened?? I drove for what felt like hours to get the 10 miles away thinking a million things. Isn't it amazing how rapidly the worst case scenarios can go through your mind?
I cannot describe the feeling when I walked into the emergency room and rounded the curtain and saw my husband bleeding, horribly bruised and cut and strapped to a backboard. My god, please god, no god!!! He did not break his leg. He, in fact, broke his heel bone....in half. And one of those halves came out his ankle and out the side of his leg. I held my husbands hand while he lay there in excruciating pain.
I held the hand of the man who has been my pillar of strength for so much and felt completely helpless.
Then they wheeled him away and told me to stay where I was. I did as I was told. I watched the hustle and bustle of an emergency room. I saw another person's life end through a pink and green curtain. I saw another person's life saved through that same curtain.
And I waited.
They took xrays and found what he had done to his heel. The prognosis? Surgeries, several surgeries possibly. Pain, arthritic pain for the rest of his life. And short term, he is off his feet for 4 months. Initially it seemed like not so bad..off his feet. And then the reality sank in. He is not just off his feet. He is out of commission. His pain killers have made him too sick to eat.
He has lost blood and weight and appetite.
So he is very weak. It saps him to get to the bathroom, so he had been using a urinal in bed. The things that we all take for granted that we can do, he can't. For the first few days he was unable to bathe himself. Can you imagine what that does to a person's psyche and self esteem?
And then we think, thank you god. We are so very lucky. He could have been the person whose life I watched expire behind that curtain. He could have been paralyzed. He could have been brain dead.
He is not. He is alive, he is there for me to look at. I can still feel his breath when I kiss him. I can still have his skin to touch. I can still hear his voice. I still have him.
In the blink of any eye it all changed. It may be a blessing in disguise. It is certainly a wake up call about the fragility of life.
Blink, yep he is still here.