Hospital Bloggin....

LIVE from Hillcrest Hospital.....a Baptist Hospital.

11 days ago, my father and I began a 9 mile journey to the campus of Baylor University. I was riding in the passenger seat of my father's 2006 Honda Civic and holding my 9 month old Italian Greyhound named Rudy. Our plans were to hang a few Jimmy Carter posters on the walls of my new apartment.

1 mile into our journey, a Windstar mini-van driven by a 16 year old girl inexplicably pulled out in front of our vehicle. The speed limit was 55. My dad was cruising at 50. After a hard slam of the brakes, we crashed into the Windstar (T-Bone style). The Windstar flipped completely over. Our airbags exploded. My left leg tightened as my head hit the dashboard. My femur snapped in half and poked its way through my skin.

As our car rolled to a stop, I lifted my head to see my dog at my feet. Her tiny head had multiple drops of blood on it - my blood. My dad screamed out that he smelled fuel. I manually unlocked the car door and slung my body from the passenger seat to the hot cement road below.

For the next 20 minutes, I laid on the hot Texas ground as the good EMT folk painfully secured my neck and body to a hard plastic board and eventually hoisted this Big Daddy Weave onto the stretcher.

End Result: My dad sprained his wrist. The 16 year old and her parents in the mini-van escaped without a scratch. My 10-pound Italian Greyhound was not harmed and is still alive and obnoxious.

However, I broke my femur which will take 6 months to heal. 11 days after the accident, I can now walk 200+ feet with my walker. Tentatively, I will finally be released from the hospital on Wednesday the 30th. Until then, I will continue my daily 3-hour physical rehab workouts with my new Hillcrest friends - all have suffered hip, leg, or knee injuries and all are 50 years older than myself.

For the next 4-6 months, I will be homebound.

I appreciate everyone's continued prayers as I learn to take care of myself and walk again.