Travis and I have finally moved into our first apartment and enjoying life day by day.
We started to move in on August 10th. We packed all of our wedding gifts and all of my stuff into the back of the truck. And right when we put the very last box in there and went inside to take a quick break, I heard a big BANG! I said, "What was that?" and Travis says, "Thunder!" and I said, while running outside, "All of my stuff is gunna be ruined in the rain!!" and before I could say Arizona summer, it was pouring! I was just so frustrated because the whole morning is was bright and hot. and BAM! RAIN! so we had to quickly look around for a tarp and call around the town and nothing. So I, just trying to save some things, threw some blankets on top for the time being. Eventually we just had to go next door to Aunt Jenny's and park the truck under her car port. But we finally got a tarp and some bungee cords and off to Safford we were.
We arrived to our new apartment and unloaded all of our stuff. Took a little while but we got it all done. The apartment is upstairs and the stairs are old, questionable, wooden slabs. I feel like Indiana Jones on the bridge of doom!! But we did great. Travis and I got everything inside and set to go eat, because we hadnt really eaten anything all day and it was about 6:00 in the evening. Our neighbors/landlords are a new married couple that just moved in too. and they got a new tv. So they just gave us their old one. It was a pretty big one and in a good enough condition. So Travis picked it up and carried it over to our apartment. It was about 150 pounds, but Travis is strong and he got it there just fine. And just as he is setting it down on the slippery and dusty wood floor, it became top heavy and he had no control over it, and it dropped on his right big toe!! 2 seconds passed (longest 2 seconds of my life!) and he starts to scream, yell cry, and grabbed his toe. I look down and there is blood all over his toe, foot, shoe, and the floor. Travis says, "I think I have lost my toe!" and then says, "I dont know what to do!" and I said back, "Well I dont know what to do either!" He takes off his shoe, hobbles outside to the porch and lays down. I look at his face and he is dripping sweat off his chin and crying. He takes his hand off his toe and I take a look at it, to see the damage. I then realized he still has his toe, its still connected, but he has a MAJOR cut and the toe nail is history. Travis utters, I need something to wrap this with. I immediately remembered that we recieved a first aid kit from Sister Cook and it was packed somewhere in the spare bedroom. I run back there, I stare at over 25 boxes probably, and think to myself how the heck am i going to find this first aid kit? and decided well i have to start somewhere. I go to the first box, open it up, and voila! First aid kit right there on the top. I know someone was guiding me at that time. Holy smokes!! I run back out to the porch, open the first aid kit, and literally throw things everywhere frantically trying to find some guaze or something helpful. I was so frantic, I never found it, even though it was in there the whole time. So I just ripped out a big bandaid. He wraps that on good and tight, and then graps the medical tape and wraps his toe with that for the pressure. His toe was bleeding everywhere all over the place. I call my neighbors that gave us the dang tv to come over and help us. They got there and didnt know what to do, just like us. But they did give us a glass of water and I gave Travis some of my Aleve in my purse. The neighbors had to go to the store, so they just left the door open if we needed anything. Travis then decided to call his sister, Kara. Shes currently working full-time as a nurse. She convinces us to go to the ER to take care of it. While he was talking to Kara and crying pretty hard, because he knew we wouldnt be able to pay for anything, I grabbed a small box, and my pillow so he could elevate his foot, ran over to the neighbors and stole some ice cubes and a baggy and put that on his toe as well. I had decided at that point, in my head, that we have to get some medical help and attention because he was loosing so much blood. It had been maybe 2 minutes since he had wrapped his toe and there was already blood running down the back of his foot and onto my pillow. I started to get really nervous because of the loss of blood. Kara then talked to me and told me to get him to the hospital and to not worry about the money. That is not as important in this situation. So I grabbed my purse and his phone and wallet, locked the door. Grabbed a paper towel from the neighbors, gave that to travis to wrap around his bloody toe so it wouldnt get the truck all yucky and stuff. And by the time he had walked from apartment 1 to apartment 3 ish, the paper towel had soaked up with blood and was dripping on the ground. lovely! I ran down those crazy stairs got the truck ready for him to get in, he wobbled down the stairs, and dripped blood on every other step. (those blood sains are still there.) ;)I set my purse down so that I could help him into the truck. Ran to the other side, scooted up the seat haha, and drove as fast as I could get myself to the hospital. Good thing Travis was still conscious enough and knew where the hospital was. We parked near the ER, and i then realized i left my purse at the apartment complex. I told Travis and he told me to go get it, but i couldnt get myself to just leave him. But it started raining and i didnt want it to get stollen either. So he hobbled into the ER and I drove off to the apartment. As i pulled out of the parking lot I said, "oh shoot!" I realized I had no idea how to get back to the apartment! So I said a little prayer, cried, and just drove on faith. I almost got it all right, i turned down the wrong road once but somehow got back onto the right road. Then there was a power line down and only one lane of traffic going. so i sat there for 3 minutes just freaking out. finally got to the apartment. and PHEW! my purse is still sitting there. not wet at all, dont ask me how, and not stolen. I then drove back to the hospital. walked in, and noticed that Travis was so extremely happy to see me walk in. (he later told me it was because i took longer than he was expecting, and it was the cuz of the construction, i didnt even think of that. He was worried i got in an accident or something.) He was sitting in a wheel chair and the nurse had taken off his bandage and put his toe in something to clean it. The nurse was impressed with his wrapping. haha. She said he would legally have to be admitted into the hospital because of the excess amount of bleeding. He tried to explain that he didnt want to go in if he didnt have to because we cant afford a bill like this right now. But she told him not to worry and we will get some help, but his toe was the worry at the time and he needs some medical attention. She finished cleaning it, and we were wheeled back to a room. We sat in the room for FOREVER until an actual doctor started working on him. he did have a few nurses come look at it though and write some notes up and stuff. His toe is just drip..drip..drip..drip bleeding this whole time while waiting for a stupid doctor. I was still worried, but Travis finally said well if they were worried about the bleeding they would do something about it because they know what theyre doing. so I had to tell myself to stop worrying about it. haha. finally he had an X-RAY and they came back and told him he had a broken toe and a fracture where he cut his toe. The doctor finally looked at the toe and made some observations and what not. the Nurses came in and got the room ready for surgery. They had to clean his foot again because of the long wait he had and all the bleeding that had occured. he had not moved his toe at all since he dropped the tv on it. He got up on the table/bed. The doctor put his toe to sleep, and Travis did not like that at all. He later said that was almost just as painful as the original drop on his toe. ouch! His toe finally went to sleep. They poured iodine on the toe, he immediately started cutting off his toe nail. and I was gone. I could not and would not watch anymore. I mean i now know what basically happened during that 30 minutes or so. He ripped off the toe nail, cleaned it. cleaned the toe. stiched up the cut. and sewed his toe nail back on for protection. then wrapped his toe with a tube gauze. Gave him some vicadin and a vial of some and a script for more. Gave him simple instructions of: keep it dry and clean and take off this gauze in 48 hours and make up a follow up appointment with your normal doctor within a week. The whole time Travis was crackin jokes and making everyone smile and laugh. It kind of made me tear up a little. Watching my good little husband keep a good, positive attitude and cheering us up (especially me, i was very worried) Just with his conditions he was still good 'ol Travis. I just love him so much! When the doctor was done Travis said, "Thank you from the bottom of my toe!" hahahah! gotta love him. anyways. we walked out of there at about 10 at night and he originally dropped the TV at about 6 ish. so what a night! we were starving and so we went over to his brother, Trevor's, house. Jana made us dinner and of course, Travis wanted to play games. nothing stops that kid from games!!!! seriously. We played some games and had a good time. We had a rough night that night going to sleep and staying asleep, but made it.
Its now about a week later and he is doing TONS better. We had some painful nights and a few accidental bumps on the toe, and problems taking off the gauze due to the excessive bleeding, but for the most part recovery has been well. No infections yet! He went to the doctor a week later and he took out the stiches. he also wondered why the original doctor didnt put him on antibiotics, but gave him some. He is supposed to stay off his toe from 4-6 months for full recovery of the broken toe, and the cut and the missing toe nail and what not. poor Travis. I just taught him how to play frisbee right before and he is just itching to go play too!! He is supposed to soak his foot in epsom salt 2 times a day and he just has to keep a bandaid on it. Everyday we see huge improvements on his ouchie and we are just so grateful that it wasn't worse! he is a tropper and helps as much as he can around the house. What an experience but it was been a huge learning experience for him and for me and we have grown together in large amounts and I am grateful for that as well.
We finally moved in the rest of Trav's things and the last of our stuff left in St. David. We have turned on utilities, got our mailbox, got our new bed (that is so extremely comfy!), and im working on getting my new social security and drivers license with my new name, etc. We have been very busy in the last week, but have got everything done.
Travis starts school on Monday. He is doing Nursing at Eastern Arizona College. and we are still working on finding a job for me, but hopefully our prayers will be answered here shortly.
I am working on making this aparment a home. Have cleaned and cleaned and cleaned till my hands and back are ready to go out! But I have made some huge improvements and getting a lot done. Just take one thing at a time. Still lots more to do, but its enjoyable for me at least. cleaning, organizing, decorating, and lots more. We finally bought groceries and I can finally cook some good meals!!
Hope this wasnt too much of a bore for whoever made it all the way to the end. But updates are updates, and this just happened to be a little more lengthy than others.
More updates are on their way.
we love you all!!
