Well, we are back from our family reunion. It was a great event that Betty and I both enjoyed. It was great to see all of my Bradley kin folks. Most people there knew what had happened to me, but many of the finer things were not always known. I straightened out most of their "factual" stuff with what really happened. Most of them THOUGHT I fell through a sky light. This is what was told to Betty at first, but Shane went back to this place and looked at it. The sky light was CLOSE to where I fell, but it was not broken but the roof right above it had a big hole in it where it opened up with weight on it. The roof was not in good shape!
Many people of this family were very supportive of all of us here. Many of these cousins and my Aunt came to see me at the hospital. I do not remember seeing them, but they were there FOR ME. Janet said her and Karen sat is the room for a couple of hours and counted the freckles on my arms just to create conversation to me. They knew I could not respond or open my eyes, but they did this so I could HEAR their voices. Several others told me they came by, too. Most of this I did not remember, but their support for ME AND MY FAMILY was great. Several others have been reading this BLOG and loved being able to follow my progress this way. Many told me they checked it EVERY day. This group of people also said so many prayers for me. God listened and helped me come back. The hospital told me I would be in a wheel chair for 1 year and a walker for two more years. My one year anniversary of the accident in almost here, but I am without the chair and the walker. This is another instance of God pulling me up. One cousin that I was hoping to see could not make it this year. Jo, if you see this, I still need a hug! Lori told me that you wanted to come so you could see and talk to me, but sometimes things work out that way and we have to keep our head up and move forward. The notes you send me have always meant so much to me. I never really had a sister, but as close as we were as we grew up, you and Lori always helped me out by keeping me "out of trouble". You two were like sisters to me then and I will always remember this! Yes, this family only gets together like this once a year, but the love is always there! So many of them were pulling for me. These thoughts helped pull me back to life. It was not just family people praying for me, but they were a large part of my recovery. Many people made me happy when they told me how good I was moving around, even though they know what still hurts on me. Larry said he would check my BLOG every day and was very appreciative of having these updates on my progress. Kay and Johnny told me that Megan was so good at writing what was going on. I have heard this before and it means so much to hear it again. She has always had a way of expressing things in words and puts these thoughts together so well.
Another note that I shared at the reunion was a surprise to all that were there and congratulations come on this news too. I gave them all my new nickname that I now have. I am going to be called Grandpa soon. Megan is going to have a baby in February. All of this time, I thought there was a good reason Gods helped me out like He did, but I thought it was to see Tiffaney graduate college and Megan to get married. These were both great events I was thankful to be here for, but this new piece of news made me SO HAPPY.
Life is good and life is great! My Grandpa set a FINE example for me to follow. He was always the sweetest person with the most patience of any one I have ever seen. My Mom was excited about me using her Father's name, too. I was hoping for this reaction, but was not real sure.
Thank you God for pulling me through all of this and allowing me to be here for all of these important events. I have pains every day, but I wake up breathing on my own. This makes EVERY DAY a great day. My right elbow seems to be getting worse so a trip to the doctor seems to be due. I can not take this pain for too long. It usually will hurt for a week or two, but goes away before I do anything, but this has been present for a couple of weeks and seems to be worse than before.
I am so sorry this is so long, but I had a great week-end and loved seeing all of these people. Until I write another update, I love you all so much. If you were not mentioned above, it is not do to lack of love to you. I just did not want to write a book here. Thanks to all of you for your support towards me.
Mark 6/29/08 at 4:15AM and I AM GOING TO BED NOW!!!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Sunday, 6/22/08 and I am still breathing
Another week has come and gone. This is OK because I am still here and still breathing on my own. We went to a wedding yesterday of one of Megan's friends that I have known for so many years. It was good to be able to see a lot of people that I have not seen in a while. Several people there asked me how I was and how my condition is improving. It feels good to me to know that there are so many people in the world that care about others. My accident was not a secret so many people know a little about what what happened and how close I came to being gone. It still scares me when I think about how close I really was. Thanks to so many people praying for me, God helped me to still be here.
Today is my brother's 50th birthday. I called him this morning and talked to him a little bit before his cell phone kicked off on a signal. I also got the opportunity to call his daughter, Jennifer, today, too. She and her wonderful husband, Tommy, seem to be doing well. Tommy is trying to get into medical school and seems pretty high on his hope to get in. This is a difficult thing to get in to, but with the attitude he has on this subject, he will be good. I know a lot of people try to get into this, but people with his drive and determination are our best answer.
We have been trying to do some repairs around the house lately. It really amazes me how hard these things are to me. I used to be able to do these things so easily, but now my body can't take this much stress any more. I am hoping this will come back with time, but certain actions and movements still hurt. My right shoulder seems to get most of this pain. I do not have the reach I used to have, but my determination to succeed will keep me moving forward. Certain things are not going to work right. I can not work off of a ladder anymore. Heights used to not bother me, but now, as soon as I get off the ground, I get nervous. I think this is God's way to make sure I don't re-create my problems. I will hire someone to do the things I can't do and move on with life. Another one of God's wishes! Be safe and be myself.
Betty wants to know what I want to do to mark my one year "anniversary". I guess she thought I wanted something to do special to mark this time in my life. You loose several months of your life, pains that won't go away, things you can't do anymore and my kiss with near-death and she wants to celebrate it? I mean, that this was an important day in my life, but I don't remember most of it. The way Shane tells the story still gets to me. When he got to me, he thought I was ALREADY dead. I was not breathing or moving at all. Then, I started coughing so he knew he needed to get an ambulance. I guess the coughing was from my broken ribs puncturing my lung. I don't know because I was not alert enough to tell you. I thank God EVERY DAY that he was with me and knew what to do. Do I need to CELEBRATE this date? All I want to do is to thank God from the bottom of my heart for sticking with me through all of this.
It's funny, Shane also told me that he called me "Mr. Safety" all day because I was worried about gloves and glasses to protect us. If I could have found a cloud close enough, I would have been tied off to it, too. Safety has always been an important part of my life and don't know how I could have ever figured out this old roof would not hold my weight. I can only thank God for making this fall such an important part of my life. I was always a big FAN of His, but it is so much stronger today because of this incident. I ran into a guy at work this past week and he was so glad to see me walking and doing so well. I explained where my pains are and what makes them worse, but he told me I was so lucky to even be able to walk. I realize this quite regularly and am thankful I am still here. Only God and many friends and family members praying for me got me through all of this.
If you are one of the people that still reads this, I wish to thank you for your time and your concerns about me. I think most people have quit reading this in the last few months and some will check on it every once in a while to make sure I am still writing. I keep saying I need to stop, but then I hear people are still looking. My inputs have gotten down to about once a week now, but that is because I don't take the time to explain the places that still hurt just like they did last week.
It is all part of life and 7/7 is just ahead. Should I "celebrate" the fact that God decided to leave my on this planet? For the bottom of my heart, my love to each and every one of you that still reads this. We have a family reunion next weekend near Fort Worth, so I will not be writing again until AT LEAST next Sunday. All of my family wants a hug from when they see me. This makes it a GREAT day! I am so glad they were all behind me on this.
Mark 6/22/08
Today is my brother's 50th birthday. I called him this morning and talked to him a little bit before his cell phone kicked off on a signal. I also got the opportunity to call his daughter, Jennifer, today, too. She and her wonderful husband, Tommy, seem to be doing well. Tommy is trying to get into medical school and seems pretty high on his hope to get in. This is a difficult thing to get in to, but with the attitude he has on this subject, he will be good. I know a lot of people try to get into this, but people with his drive and determination are our best answer.
We have been trying to do some repairs around the house lately. It really amazes me how hard these things are to me. I used to be able to do these things so easily, but now my body can't take this much stress any more. I am hoping this will come back with time, but certain actions and movements still hurt. My right shoulder seems to get most of this pain. I do not have the reach I used to have, but my determination to succeed will keep me moving forward. Certain things are not going to work right. I can not work off of a ladder anymore. Heights used to not bother me, but now, as soon as I get off the ground, I get nervous. I think this is God's way to make sure I don't re-create my problems. I will hire someone to do the things I can't do and move on with life. Another one of God's wishes! Be safe and be myself.
Betty wants to know what I want to do to mark my one year "anniversary". I guess she thought I wanted something to do special to mark this time in my life. You loose several months of your life, pains that won't go away, things you can't do anymore and my kiss with near-death and she wants to celebrate it? I mean, that this was an important day in my life, but I don't remember most of it. The way Shane tells the story still gets to me. When he got to me, he thought I was ALREADY dead. I was not breathing or moving at all. Then, I started coughing so he knew he needed to get an ambulance. I guess the coughing was from my broken ribs puncturing my lung. I don't know because I was not alert enough to tell you. I thank God EVERY DAY that he was with me and knew what to do. Do I need to CELEBRATE this date? All I want to do is to thank God from the bottom of my heart for sticking with me through all of this.
It's funny, Shane also told me that he called me "Mr. Safety" all day because I was worried about gloves and glasses to protect us. If I could have found a cloud close enough, I would have been tied off to it, too. Safety has always been an important part of my life and don't know how I could have ever figured out this old roof would not hold my weight. I can only thank God for making this fall such an important part of my life. I was always a big FAN of His, but it is so much stronger today because of this incident. I ran into a guy at work this past week and he was so glad to see me walking and doing so well. I explained where my pains are and what makes them worse, but he told me I was so lucky to even be able to walk. I realize this quite regularly and am thankful I am still here. Only God and many friends and family members praying for me got me through all of this.
If you are one of the people that still reads this, I wish to thank you for your time and your concerns about me. I think most people have quit reading this in the last few months and some will check on it every once in a while to make sure I am still writing. I keep saying I need to stop, but then I hear people are still looking. My inputs have gotten down to about once a week now, but that is because I don't take the time to explain the places that still hurt just like they did last week.
It is all part of life and 7/7 is just ahead. Should I "celebrate" the fact that God decided to leave my on this planet? For the bottom of my heart, my love to each and every one of you that still reads this. We have a family reunion next weekend near Fort Worth, so I will not be writing again until AT LEAST next Sunday. All of my family wants a hug from when they see me. This makes it a GREAT day! I am so glad they were all behind me on this.
Mark 6/22/08
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Saturday, June 14th and still alive and moving
Well, another week has gone by and I am still here. All is good for me so far. I took a couple of day off of work this week to get some stuff done around here, but it is not an easy task for me, yet. I can tell you one thing, I sleep well at night after days like these. I took the shutters down and tried to re-paint them. I picked out a nice shade of green or so I thought. When I painted the first one, it was a LIME green. They were a dark forest green and I thought some a LITTLE lighter would be good, but I have yet to figure out WHY they have this color. It was not even close to the shade on the paper sheet and I could not imagine anyone every using this color. Boy, what a mistake I made picking this shade out. Betty said she wanted them black instead. I painted the first coat of them but they still need a second coat. I also have been working on the posts along the front porch. I replace about 2 feet on the bottom of each a while back, but never finished them before my accident. It is a lot tougher on me now to get these right, but I am working on it. One of Tiff's friend's husband came over and did some work on Friday. He spent some time filling holes with caulk and a lot of time removing old caulk and replacing it with new. I knew better than to get to some of this using the ladder. I am not real comfortable with that yet. I know if I lose my balance and fall, my broken tail bone would let me know. If it was real bad, my pelvic area would be a bad thing to re-break. Off the ladder is the best thing for me right now.
We had a memorial service today for Betty's brother, Russell. Her Mom and one sister flew in for this and the were two brothers and one sister there. Bill had two of his kids there and Pat had two of her sons there. All four of my kids were there. Megan and Matt left from there to go to Dallas to see his family for Father's Day. Breanna came into town for being there and made it special to me since this is Father's Day. I would say, with all the family, there was probably about 20 people there. Some had some good things to say about Russell. It is great to hear these stories from the past and we will all remember him as a sweet, loving person. I had only met him two or three times, but he was always so nice to be around. Now his is with his father and with God. If it is your time to go, what better place to be there with God. RUSSELL, OUR LOVE WILL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU.
I feel like someone has beaten me with a bat after these last few days have gone by. I used to be a lot better at this stuff, but now it all hurts. But, at least I don't have to live with these LIME green shutters.
To all the Father's out there, have a great day tomorrow. I told the girls and Matt that I already have my Father's Day gift because I am here and walking with only a very slight limp. How could I be happier? Not possible!
Love to all of you. Your friend for life.
Mark 6/14/08
We had a memorial service today for Betty's brother, Russell. Her Mom and one sister flew in for this and the were two brothers and one sister there. Bill had two of his kids there and Pat had two of her sons there. All four of my kids were there. Megan and Matt left from there to go to Dallas to see his family for Father's Day. Breanna came into town for being there and made it special to me since this is Father's Day. I would say, with all the family, there was probably about 20 people there. Some had some good things to say about Russell. It is great to hear these stories from the past and we will all remember him as a sweet, loving person. I had only met him two or three times, but he was always so nice to be around. Now his is with his father and with God. If it is your time to go, what better place to be there with God. RUSSELL, OUR LOVE WILL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU.
I feel like someone has beaten me with a bat after these last few days have gone by. I used to be a lot better at this stuff, but now it all hurts. But, at least I don't have to live with these LIME green shutters.
To all the Father's out there, have a great day tomorrow. I told the girls and Matt that I already have my Father's Day gift because I am here and walking with only a very slight limp. How could I be happier? Not possible!
Love to all of you. Your friend for life.
Mark 6/14/08
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Saturday, June 7 and still moving forward
Another week has gone by and I am still here. I had two replies to my last entry and it makes me feel good to know people that I love are still checking on me. One was from Sallie and Scott Keaton. They have always been checking and responding. The second one was from my niece in Florida. She wishes, like I do, the distance between us was not so large. The price of gas makes this trip so hard and airline tickets are outrageous because of fuel prices, too. She wants to come see us and I would love to have here and her family here. This is one of those people that has always been special to me. I think she was about 12 when I first met her. Her and her sister were always so well behaved and polite. I told Betty that when we had kids, this is how I wanted them to be. Seeing kids behave like this was a good thing for me to see and learn from since I was so young at that time.
I ran into a guy at work last week that I have not seen in a while. He was real concerned about how I am feeling and was glad to see my improvements. He followed my progress through this BLOG and was glad that it helped people like him keep up with my progress. He was concerned that I might not ever make it back or ever be able to walk again. He wanted to hear what actually happened in my accident. I don't mind telling the story but try not to talk about it unless someone asks. Not everyone can handle these details and it still gets me to think about it too much. Many people know some of the details, but the facts about it really brings their thoughts together. It always makes me feel good when people are concerned enough to talk to me about it. This guy heard I fell through a sky light, but I did not. The sky light was close to where I fell through at, but the building we were on had a weak spot in the roof. I don't get on roofs any more and heights still bother me, too.
I am still here because God wanted me to be here. I thank him for that all the time. I appreciate everyone's concerns and prayers for me. I don't know how many prayer groups I was in, but the count is not the important thing. The concerns for my health and future is the important part. If I was part of your group prayer, Thank You from the bottom of my heart!
The Bradley reunion is only a three weeks away. I am looking forward to this event. The concerns and prayers from this group was great. There are many of my "family" members that followed my progress in this BLOG, too. I hear from many of them from time to time and I know the prayers were there, too. I look forward to seeing all of them again.
Love to you all.
Mark 6/7/08
I ran into a guy at work last week that I have not seen in a while. He was real concerned about how I am feeling and was glad to see my improvements. He followed my progress through this BLOG and was glad that it helped people like him keep up with my progress. He was concerned that I might not ever make it back or ever be able to walk again. He wanted to hear what actually happened in my accident. I don't mind telling the story but try not to talk about it unless someone asks. Not everyone can handle these details and it still gets me to think about it too much. Many people know some of the details, but the facts about it really brings their thoughts together. It always makes me feel good when people are concerned enough to talk to me about it. This guy heard I fell through a sky light, but I did not. The sky light was close to where I fell through at, but the building we were on had a weak spot in the roof. I don't get on roofs any more and heights still bother me, too.
I am still here because God wanted me to be here. I thank him for that all the time. I appreciate everyone's concerns and prayers for me. I don't know how many prayer groups I was in, but the count is not the important thing. The concerns for my health and future is the important part. If I was part of your group prayer, Thank You from the bottom of my heart!
The Bradley reunion is only a three weeks away. I am looking forward to this event. The concerns and prayers from this group was great. There are many of my "family" members that followed my progress in this BLOG, too. I hear from many of them from time to time and I know the prayers were there, too. I look forward to seeing all of them again.
Love to you all.
Mark 6/7/08
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