An Update on Benjamin

 

Russ, Tricia & Benjamin

It's been over a year ago that Benjamin was severely injured in a terrible accident.  I don't want to replay it all, but you can go HERE to read about it.  He's made lots of progress since then and has been back at work for months.  He does, however, need another surgery on his right foot.  The reason is that the nerves and tendons on that foot have pulled tight due to the injury resulting in a curling of the toes.  With the toes curled up, he walks on them and this causes pain, especially in his work boots.  At the end of the day, he's in pain, and this causes him to walk with a limp.

We've seen a surgeon at LOS (Louisiana Orthopaedic Specialists), and Benjamin has surgery scheduled for early December, if it all works out with his job.  We pray that this will be approved by his place of employment as he needs to have this done after having it put off for a while.  Another reason to do it is because he's met his deductible for the year.  The surgeon intends to cut open the bottom of his foot and do some work releasing some of the nerves and tendons and then work on his big toe as well.  This surgery will require 3 months in a boot and he'll be non-load bearing and won't be able to drive.  He'll be back in rehab once he's load bearing again.

To be honest, it's more than we were counting on and with a longer recovery period than originally thought.  It's easy to get a little discouraged, but when I do, I think back to the night of September 4 last year when we didn't know if he would survive and if he did, if he'd be paralyzed.  God has enabled him to make a phenomenal recovery.  Praise His Name!  The surgeon told us that after recovery "his gait will be improved."  His doctor told him that he'd run again, and I am counting on that to happen by God's grace.  It's in God's Hands and we trust Him.

A Life Changing Event

I don't want to get too personal, but tonight I might.  Sometimes it helps to just lay it all out there.  My posts may be a little intermittent for a while and I want to explain.  Sunday night late after 11PM I was out walking.  The moon was bright and the stars were twinkling.  It was finally cool enough to just relax.  For over a year, I have made it a goal to walk at least 10,000 steps a day.  By doing that I dropped about 20 pounds and have kept it off.  I feel better.  It is invigorating.  Late Saturday night I was walking and listening to a podcast.

At 11:15 PM an SUV pulled into our driveway - driving way too fast.  I walked up to the vehicle and a woman got out.  I said, "Hey."  She said, "Are you Benjamin Sonnier's dad?"  Time stood still.  "There's been an accident," she said.  I didn't know what to do with myself.  Things went into slow motion.  It is one of those late night calls that every parent hopes they never get.  And here it was.  "He fell from the third floor of a parking garage.  His legs are broken and he is in bad shape, but he is responsive."  I asked her to follow me inside.  (I think.  Everything was real blurry).  I yelled for Tricia.  She came running out of bed.  "What? What?"  I repeated the news.  She cried.  We hugged.  We prayed.

The police called and told us what ER they were transporting Benjamin to.  We jumped in the car and drove the 45 minute drive to Lake Charles, crying and praying in repetitive cycles until we arrived at the hospital.  The medical team was assessing the situation and preparing a transfer to a hospital in Lafayette, LA that had neurosurgical staff on standby.  We drove on to Lafayette, an hour and a half away.  We arrived there and the news once x-rays and MRI's were done told us this:

1. Both lower legs broken - tibia and fibula on both legs, the right one a compound fracture,
2. Skull fracture,
3. Fracture of the lower back, sacrum, pelvic area

Yesterday, he underwent surgery on both legs, placing rods in the bones of both legs.  This morning, he underwent a seven hour spine surgery in which they placed two rods and screws to effectually build scaffolding around his spine to keep the L2 vertebrae from pushing into his spinal cord.  Tomorrow morning he will undergo another surgery to put screws in the pelvic region.  The neurosurgeon told us the spinal surgery went well, but that this is a life-changing event for Benjamin.

The good news:  He is alive!  He has no brain injuries.  He is not paralyzed.  We have a strong support network of family, friends, church members and prayer warriors that surround us with love.

The challenges:  He has a long road of recovery ahead of him.  He is young, though, and in good physical shape.

It is a miracle he is alive.  We grieve, yet at the same time, praise God.  It is one of those times that you wish you could switch places with your child.  I woke up this morning like any other morning and then suddenly realized that this occurrence was not a nightmare.  It is reality.  The upcoming days, weeks, and months loom large in front of us.  I can't dwell on that.  One day at a time.  

This morning before heading to the surgical waiting room, Tricia and I read from Jeremiah 32.  We've been reading through the Bible together.  The context is about Israel, their disobedience in following false gods, God's resulting chastisement, and then it speaks of God restoring Israel and fulfilling His promises to them.  In verse 44, God speaks specifically of 'the territory of BENJAMIN' and that He would restore.  God was telling Israel in verse 27, "Is anything too hard for me?"  It all has to do with God's restoration of Israel, but it was beautiful to read.  The name Benjamin just popped off the page.  

Merciful Father, would you restore our Benjamin?  We know You are in control and we depend upon You.  We don't know what tomorrow holds, but we know Who Holds tomorrow.

A Dead Chicken

We throw our chickens a big bucket of rice to eat first thing in the morning and then again in the evening.  The chickens rush around, scratching, pecking, and eating.  Once they are done they meander out to the pasture to eat bugs, worms, tender grasses and other morsels to eat.  They also scratch through cow patties to find undigested grain or seeds to eat.  That doesn't sound appetizing to you or me, but a chicken loves it.  Then the hens convert all that gross stuff they eat into the delicious eggs with deep yellow colored yolks that we love to eat.

Our laying hens have long life spans.  They don't have to be worried about us butchering and eating them, because we grow Cornish Cross meat birds for that purpose.  They don't have to worry much about predators because the dogs around the perimeter keep the raccoons and possums at bay.  Hawks and owls seldom bother them because they've learned to be very watchful and when they see one circling overhead, they run quickly to the barn for shelter.  We do lose a few roosters, but that loss is due to fights between roosters competing for their place in the pecking order.  Mostly, they live happy and carefree.  

At any given time, however, we have a few birds walking with a limp.  100% of the time the limp was due to them being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  That place is under the feet of an 800-900 pound cow.  A chicken that weighs around 3-4 pounds is never going to win that battle.  Cows are notorious wasteful eaters.  As they eat their dairy ration during morning the cows drop the feed pellets and/or grain out of their mouths while they are chewing.  The chickens foolishly gather around and snatch up the feed.  They are so focused on eating that they don't pay attention to the cows' feet. Or the chickens will just get in the cows' way.  Cows don't worry about what's underfoot, they just plod along en route to their destination.  Inevitably, we'll hear a squawk and a hen will limp away with a hurt foot.

Most of the time, they heal up on their own.  Sometimes, though, the injury is fatal.

RIP Barred Rock Hen

Every so often we'll find a dead hen and it is for this reason the each year we purchase some "replacement hens" to take the place of those birds who have died of natural causes or from accident throughout the previous year.  We're expecting a delivery of day-old chicks for this purpose in about two weeks.

It is sad when we lose a bird, but the bird is is not wasted.  She's buried in the garden.  As we posted in the Trench Composting Blog Post, the hen will continue providing for us long after she's gone.  In this case she'll give us some good vegetables instead of eggs.

The Final Resting Place

You would think that the other chickens would learn from their feathered friend's demise, but this doesn't appear to be the case.  Even though we shoo them away from getting around the cows' feet, they continue to put themselves in risky situations.  They get distracted, lose focus, and put themselves in harm's way and sometimes they pay a high price for making a poor choice - sort of like people.