Thursday, August 13, 2009

Iron Man Rusty and Renegade Renee

My sister Renee's husband suffered a terrible fall two weeks ago. He was trimming a tree and cut his own safety rope and fell approximately 30 feet to the concrete street. It's a miracle he lived. He shattered both of his heels and broke his back. They say that he should be able to walk again in about a year.

Renee gave birth to their fourth child just two days after this horrific accident. Rusty wasn't able to be there. Renee has been so resilient in holding it all together with a newborn and three other kids who had their first day of school today. She has been running around like crazy taking care of everybody. I wish I could be there to give her some rest or figure out how to clone her. She said she is doing great. She just needs to be cut in half so that she can stay with Rusty and take care of her kids at the same time.

Needless to say, I can't get them out of my mind and my worries and my prayers.

Rusty had his first surgery today. Here is the X-ray of his hardware.



Man, I am never gonna mess with Rusty again. He will have two killer weapons in he arsenal. That metal is gonna be like Wolverine. Don't get him mad or it may come shooting out.

Renee and Rusty have been amazing. I am so proud of their resilience and even more proud of their good attitudes.

I asked Rusty how he was doing last week and he told me, "I'm great. If I could just get out of this bed." You know the man is amazing if he is still able to play jokes on you while being confined to a nursing home facility.

He crank called me three times asking if he could take a survey. I about tore his head off for wasting my cell phone minutes. He then called my house phone and I naively hung up on him again. It wasn't until he called from Renee's phone that I even figured out what he was up to. What a jokester. He needs to do phone impersonations for a living. Crazy guy. He does the best Domino's Pizza voice.

The lyrics to a song come to mind, "I get knocked down, and I get up again, ain't nothin' gonna keep me down."

7 comments:

ShEiLa said...

I can hear the tune...
I get knocked down... I get up again... oh yeah I am singing right along.

My friend Carli husbands trevor fell 40 ft through a skylight...* months later he is looking at another surgery that should help with the pain in his feet. His limp is not that noticeable.

I feel for your sister... but if he wasn't alive... it would be worse.

Sad story.

Congrats on the new arrival... she has got a lot on her plate.

ToOdLeS.

Lori said...

Holy cow. What a miracle that he survived.

Lindsey Rose said...

I am so glad they are in such good spirits. We pray for them often. You know I would help with anything if you still want to go!

Yvonne said...

Wow, what a guy and what an amazing woman.

I hope he does well with his surgery and recovery.

Anonymous said...

I am so glad to see an update about them. Will keep them in my prayers. Glad he can still joke around, sounds like he is in good spirits then?!

Klin said...

With their attitudes I'm betting he won't be waiting a year to walk. Good positive attitudes speed healing.

We will keep your family in our prayers, too.

Mel said...

I love Renee & the rest of you guys! You are all amazing & I don't know how Renee does it! I need to have her give me lessons of how to be calm & how to keep it together! Love you!!!!