Urgent Prayer Request

*Warning, these pictures may gross you out. So if you get sick easily, DO NOT LOOK at the pictures.


The past 8 days has been a nightmare for my family. My sister has been through so much and is still trying to heal. Thank God, her Dr apt went ok last week. Wednesday, Houston fell at school and cut his eye causing us to get sent to Baptist Hospital to Memphis Plastic Surgery Center to get stitched up and this weekend my dad fell off a ladder in the barn and broke and fractured his ankle.

It all started when mom called me Saturday and told me dad called her and said he fell off the ladder and was on the ground, but had called Granny to come to take him to the hospital. If you know my dad, you know he does not go and has never been to the hospital in the past 56 years of his life. I called him and he said he was in alot of pain and they were on the way to the ER.

Back up to when Granny went to get him. He had broke his foot the day before when 2 bulls were fighting and they knocked him down and stepped on his back and foot. He was sore but had climbed the ladder in the barn to stack something on the rafters. He was 6 foot up and had leaned the ladder against the wall. It slid to the side and when it did he fell. He tried to catch himself with his broke foot to break the fall and when he did, he broke his Talus bone (it supports your weight) into 3 pieces and many small pieces were shattered as well. He laid there until my grandmother came and they had to call my uncle b/c he could not move at all. They put him in the Tahoe and headed to Germantown Methodist Hospital. When they got there, they noticed blood on his pants leg. He was taken back and they cut his pants and took off his boot, which was full of blood and found this............

He is a diabetic, so his skin is very tender and his bone shattered through his skin. They called an orthopedic surgeon to perform surgery within the hour. Dr. Giel came/performed the surgery and stated if he had called 911, dad would have been airlifted to the MED, because his injury was so severe.

He went into surgery for over 2 hours and we waited patiently with family in the surgery waiting room. Finally, his Dr came out and told us it was a very bad fracture to the ankle and needs more surgeries. It was so bad, that it would never be the same. He also said the Talus bone is the main bone that supports your weight and he had put pins in it as a temp fix and bolted them to a cage-like structure around his leg to stabilize it. He said it was so many tiny pieces of bone he had to clean out during surgery. Dad was also scheduled for surgery the next day and again next week. Dr Giel said he would take the studies to a foot expert and if they couldn't help, he would be sent to a trauma specialist at the MED to fix the fractures. We were also told that the worst case was a possibility of amputation since he was a diabetic and high risk of infection. The other case was he would have an arthritic ankle forever. They took him to recovery and did a CT scan on his leg before bringing him to a room.

We were given a room number after 4 hours waiting and went to wait on him. He was brought in on a stretcher and was still heavy sedated. After a few minutes, Houston went to hold his hand and he opened his eyes. The 1st thing he asked was, "Is my leg still there?" It broke my heart to hear him ask that. He knew, the Dr had told him before surgery that was a risk. He began to gibber jabber about his cat "Mr. Paws" when he heard Cat Scan, but I got Houston to ask him some questions and he seemed to know what had happened earlier and was so excited to see Houston. He even remembered the preacher coming in seconds before he was taken back and praying with him. Around midnight, we left to head home for the day.

The next day we went back to stay with him. He was pretty out of it and was in severe pain. He had a pump hooked up with pain meds,was getting shots and taking pills but was still in alot of pain. He pretty much slept the entire day as granny/pop and Tim and I stayed with him. Mom had spent the night the night before, so she went home for clothes and Holly had gone back home to get some things done. His surgery was canceled for this day b/c his wound was clean during the 1st surgery. With it being in the barn, the DR thought he would have to go in again and clean it out. Luckily his pants and boot protected it from debris. He had so many visitors, but kept fading in and out. Mark Norris, the TN senator is a good friend of ours. He called me when he saw my post on fbook and was landing on a plane from Phoenix and he was at the hospital within 15 minutes. Dad began to look at him, acknowledged him, but them started talking about not being able to go dancing?? Funny what they say when they are doped up. By then, it was almost 9pm and we left to head home. Thank God, my aunt had taken Houston home with her to play with her son and he had a ball being with them. He wanted to see his Paw but got bored after a few hours at the hospital. We have had so many people volunteer to keep him and help us out and we appreciate everyone right now for your kindness.

This is the cage like structure on his leg. It has been bleeding through pretty bad until today and mom said it had slacked up, she also said he slept pretty good and said he was more alert. Mom went to work around 7am and Holly stayed with him until my grandmother could get there from her Dr apt around 11am. Dr. Giel and a physical therapist came in this afternoon and made him walk with a walker to the nurse desk on his good leg. The Dr said once he can walk down the hall, he will get to go home.

He was also given 3 options. 1 and 2 require many many surgeries to try to repair the fractured ankle. *Remember he is high risk for infection due to his diabetes. Option 3 is Amputation, which we were told in the beginning. He has some serious thinking to do as if he chooses option 3, they will amputate his foot plus all of the area that the cage covers plus some. He wants to talk to his regular Dr who is a family friend of ours before he chooses anything. If he chooses the surgery, he will go home and a surgery will be scheduled at the MED trauma unit. After the surgery, he will go to Campbell Clinic for checkups.

Dad's decision will affect many people and may change his life forever. Please pray for the Lord to guide him in the right direction as to what He wants him to do.