September 30, 2009
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No.. that’s not a golden, upside down shroom.. it’s what’s left of a bullet removed from my brothers arm, complete with left over meat and bone stuck in it. While I was in California, my brother had an accident. He was unlocking his gun from it’s gun lock in his car (patrol car) and the cable caught on the wire and discharged into his left hand. He’s left handed. It traveled thru his palm, wrist, and lodged about half way up his forearm. He’s lost the feeling in 3 of his fingers… however periodically they burn with pain, spasm etc… They grafted in a synthetic nerve in his carpal tunnel I believe.. has got a few pins in the bones, some pins are holding in ligaments or something of that nature.
He’s recovering best he can. It happened August 24th, last week he was told he’s allowed to move finger tips. They’re expecting he’ll get feeling back once the nerves have a chance to regenerate. He’s out of work for 8 – 10 or more months tho. Workers Comp tho, since it was work related.
Before I continue, let me create a key… Brother 1 = Oldest Brother Brother 2 = Middle Brother & Brother 3 Brother closest to my age and the one who was injured.
I’ve always been closest to Brother 3, but we still rarely talked. Oddly enough this seemed to help us become a little closer. I didn’t fly home early from the trip when I heard of his accident. He didn’t want me to, there was nothing I could do and I had no money to change plans. When I did get home, I went straight from the airport to his house to see him. Oddly enough, he was planning on moving into his new house the same weekend I was moving up to Illinois. He obviously couldn’t pack on his own, so the first 3 days I was home, I spent at his rental house, helping him pack his clothing, clean, etc. He didn’t have a LOT to move, since his rental was furnished, but he’d used the basement for storage, took us about 10 hours to clean it properly. I was exhausted. But, I helped. I was over there from 8am – 7pm. Brother 1 came over once for about 30 minutes, oh and for 2 hours to scrape the vinyl tiles from the bathroom. 2 hours. … that’s it. Brother 2 did help on a few days, helping fix the bathroom floor, but he owes him help anyway. So Brother 3 was very appreciative of my help.. was weird. He kept thanking me. Had to keep telling him to stop, he’s family, that’s what we do. And he’d tell me he loved me when I called to check on him before I came over and when I went home. Was the strangest thing. Just remembering it makes me cry, a good type of cry tho.
When I told him about my move about 3 months ago, he offered to take time off to help me move. Brother 1 made several lame excuses when I asked for his help (after which my Sister in law gave him the riot act, so he ended up offering to help me.. good thing in the end since Brother 3 couldn’t help anyway). Even Brother 2 offered to take off work to help. Brother 3 is the only one who’s said he’s proud of me… he said out of the 4 of us siblings, I was the only one brave enough to make such a big change. I literally couldn’t speak after that.
Anywho… Brother 3 is recovering slowly, he’s in his beautiful new home, right next door to my home in North Carolina. My mom would have been very proud of him, also I’m sure she be over at his home taking care of him. And I know I feel a tiny bit of guilt knowing I’m not able to do that for her. But I know mom would be proud of what I’m doing and understand.
I get to go home sometime in October. My boss wants to go home before it gets too cold to travel. So me, her and another co-worker who made the move up to IL from NC are going to rent a car together, and drive down to NC. Since I don’t have a bed in my house and stuff, I’ll be staying with my sister in law/brother 1/nephew. They JUST moved back into the home that was being rebuilt after the fire this week (and they’re right next to Brother 3 too). I’m looking forward to seeing everyone, my nieces and nephew but especially looking forward to seeing Brother 3. Weird feeling that.
Did I confuse you?
Comments (4)
Nah, I was confused before I got here. Wait… how did I get here?
See why my little leg thingie isn’t a big deal? Comparatively speaking, it’s a speck.
Glad to see that you and bro #3 are even just a little bit closer. I feel that I can safely surmise that he has thanked you so many times because this incident has brought him a bit of perspective.
Epiphanies come in different forms for us all, and certainly on no regular schedule.
Holy hell! What a sad, unfortunate event for your brother. Here’s to time off for healing though – the stress-free environment surely makes it easier.
I like what’s been revealed for you. Awesome feelings about family
you’re right, that is what family does. good family anyway.
Glad your brother #3 has you and others to help him heal.
It is good that you care for your brother this deeply. Family is important. My sister and I have had a falling out over the years, but now things are so bad, we are beginning to realize what we are missing out on and the last year have been trying to make things better. That said, I think it is really cool that you can sacrifice time for your brother like that.
On a side note, looking at the photographs I’m really amazed. The stitching is nice and clean and that brace should only leave scars where it was screwed into bone. They doctors really did a good job considering what happened and the trauma the whole arm went through.