Hospital stay

Due to the doctors concern with my heart condition and the increase risk of infection, they kept me for a week in the ICU, monitoring vitals closely. There were staples starting from the bottom of my open heart surgery scar and continued clear down the length of my abdomen, wrapped around my belly button and ended just after. The first time I sat up I made sure the staples didn't go flying out, leaving my torso wide open for all those organs to spill out. Yes, even at 13 years-old my imagination ran wild at times.
I do remember my bishop (ecclesiastical leader) and his counselors coming to visit and bringing with them a Blizzard. What a kind gesture.
Unfortunately, most of the time I was so horribly nauseated that I didn't want yummy things such as ice cream with giant candy bar chunks or the ginormous cookie basket wrapped with yellow ribbon. However, my siblings were definitely the recipients of all tasty things and enjoyed themselves quite thoroughly.
I specifically remember one night that I could not sleep. In all my time in the hospital it had to be the most difficult night. The nurse came somewhat promptly after the giant 'help me immediately' button was pushed. She listened intently as I cried about how sick and horrible I felt, that I just needed my mom. In minutes my mom flew through the hospital doors. Relief. After that the memories are quite foggy, but she calmed me instantly. Sometimes all you need is your mommy!

When the time came to leave, the time also came to remove those staples. From my belly. So all my organs could spill out. I. Was. FREAKING. Out!
Aunt Sandy was in there, with my mom, and they both were prepared to rip the metal from the skin with crazy-looking scissors (staple removing scissors as the nurse said in a very professional, calming voice). Only few staples were stubborn, but for the most part, those two ladies became experts in a matter of seconds. Left along each side of the scar were little dots were the ends came out. And my organs even stayed in!

Once home, I got settled into my parents room on the bed with a movie. And then within just a few hours things started to turn a bit sour. My mom ran a bath for me to soak my legs saying, "A nice warm bath fixes almost everything!" Well...it usually does. Unless you end up with Clostridium Difficile or as it will be lovingly referred to as A Horribly Foul Infection of the Intestines - C-diff.
Read here:
C. difficile infection can range from mild to life-threatening. Symptoms of mild cases include watery diarrhea, three or more times a day for several days, with abdominal pain or tenderness.

Now that we have gotten really comfortable with one another, let's just say that I got C-diff really, really bad. As in life-threatening. Things progressively worsened over the next few hours, which meant that my mom forced me back to the hospital to find out what was going on.

Once diagnosed the doctor admitted me promptly back to another room, in the ICU, where the stay lasted another week.
Much to my disappointment.
If you have ever stayed in the hospital, the nifty shape-shifting beds, funny bed-pans, and interesting food is only exciting for about three hours tops, and then home seems like a distant memory, so far away, yet only two miles down the road. A place where people giggle and join hands singing about that twinkling little star up so high in the sky. Where families eat all of your goodies because you can't, and enjoy a peaceful night rest in complete darkness and silence.
Home.
I want to go to there.

The second stay was much harder than the first, only because at that point I missed my family more than I imagined possible. I missed their noises, their comings and goings, and especially the feeling of being in that place of comfort.

The time finally came to return back to my home, finally having recovered from C-Diff (A Horribly Foul Infection of the Intestines). I was about fifteen pounds lighter but all-in-all so incredibly blessed and grateful to be living and breathing. To have experienced a miracle of God that spared every life in that accident. Where ten out of eleven people were ejected and several received scrapes and bruises and no one died has absolutely nothing to do with luck, because there is NO such thing as luck. There are only blessings of God and miracles of God. And this accident was both. A divine blessing. And a miracle. And I feel fortunate and grateful to this day that I was given the opportunity to experience something so powerful and life-changing, as scary as it was at the time, looking back these eyes see just how prominent God's hand is in each and every one of our lives.

Some interesting facts:

Here is a list of the injuries of those involved in the accident:
crushed foot
broken collar bone
2 broken legs
2 broken backs
broken elbow
compression fracture of the back
massive cuts from glass and bruises
lost tooth (never found)
cracked pelvic bone
hairline fracture in neck
coma(head injury) with no feeling or movement in legs (this returned after accident)
lots of bruises and scratches
ruptured spleen

Three were thrown out the windshield. Seven thrown out the back window.

Farmer recently removed barbed wire fence and plowed up the fence line.

Per the woman watching in the oncoming car, 2 bodies were thrown in front of the rolling suburban. One of the boys watched as it came rolling towards them. It came to its side and immediately stopped before crushing both of the boys.