Attitude Adjustment

So Thursday was quite an eventful evening! We were getting ready to go to the much-anticipated Nu Skin Christmas Party, which we look forward to every year. They were having a nice sit-down dinner this year, and they give away fun prizes. I was driving Malea to my mom's in Springville (there were no kids allowed) and Keith was going to meet me up at the McKay Events Center in Orem. We drove separate so that he could stay longer (they do all the prizes at the end, and it was going to be kind of late for Malea to stay at my mom's). I was about a mile down the road when I got a frantic call from Keith saying he had slipped on the ice outside of our apartment and he thinks he broke his ankle. To be perfectly honest, I didn't really believe him at first. He does things like that to me all the time, so I was sure he was kidding. I finally asked him, "are you dead serious?" And he said "YES!! Turn around and come back home!" I turned the car around, and even STILL I had the thought, "if he is kidding I'm going to be really mad." Sure enough, I got home and there he was in excruciating pain sitting in the car with his legs hanging out (mind you, the temperature was like single digits last night, so that didn't help either). I helped him get into my car, then we headed off to find an Urgent Care. The first frustrating part of the night was that we thought there was an IHC Instacare in Provo, so we headed to where we thought it was and it turned out to be an IHC Home Health Care. So we called some family to see if they could look up online where the nearest one was. Turns out the closest one was either Orem or Springville, so we headed off to Springville. I called my mom and she and my step-dad met us there so that they could take Malea......she hadn't had any dinner and I wasn't sure how long it was going to take at the doctor's office. She could tell that something was going on, and that it was a stressful situation, so I thought it would be better if she went to my mom's anyway.

The doctor came in and felt around on his left leg. He asked Keith some questions and decided that it would be best to take x-rays. After the x-rays, the doctor came back in and said that it wasn't broken, but that it was sprained pretty bad and he would need a splint and to use crutches for a couple of weeks. I have heard that sometimes you are better off with a break, because a sprain can take a long time to heal. He gave Keith a prescription and then we were on our way. Needless to say, we weren't going to make it to the Christmas party.

OUCH!!! Poor Keith!
(This was about 2 days later)

Since then, and especially the first couple of days, I have had to do pretty much everything for Keith. He can use his crutches, but it makes everything a lot more awkward and it is just easier for me to do everything. I'm going to have to take him to and from work, because he can't drive a stick with one foot. I don't mind taking care of him, but it is just kind of stressful. Throughout this whole thing, I have had a hard time keeping a good attitude. I was finding lots of reasons to be frustrated about the whole thing. Not only did we miss the Christmas party, but it was now going to put a damper and the rest of our holiday season. I'm going to have to do most of the Christmas shopping/preparation. I was really looking forward to doing some Christmas shopping together. He wasn't going to be able to walk around and deliver gifts to our neighbors, etc.

Then I started to realize what I was doing.....feeling sorry for myself. I had so many reasons to be grateful, and I was overlooking all of those things. Here is a list of good things out of this whole situation:

1. It could have been a lot worse. There are plenty of people out there who are in the hospital right now or dealing with other afflictions that are in a lot worse shape than he is.

2. We have family close by for support. When the whole thing happened, my mom and step-dad were there to take Malea from us within 15 minutes. It made the situation a lot less stressful not having to worry about Malea.

3. We have Insurance. I'm sure we will still have some bills from the appointment, having to get crutches, x-rays, etc., but it would have been A LOT more if we didn't have insurance.

4. Keith can still work. He is at a job where he can sit so he won't have to take time off work to heal. There are many jobs out there where an injury like this would prevent him from being able to provide for his family.

5. Cell phones. What would we do without them!

6. Wheel chairs/crutches. When we got to the doctor's office, the front desk girl brought out a wheelchair so that Keith didn't have to try and hop in to the office. It made things a lot easier. We left the doctor's office with crutches, and they have been Keith's major mode of transportation.

7. Malea was so cute about the whole thing. The night it happened we got home and as I was putting her to bed she looked up at me with a concerned face and said, "Daddy?" I was like, "Daddy is okay honey, he just got an ow-ee but he will be okay." Then she said, "Okay," and laid her head down. What a sweetie!

Even though this whole situation is frustrating and inconvenient, I need to be grateful for the positive things and try to have a positive attitude about it. I can't let this ruin my Christmas. I need to remember that it will be fine and that we will still have a great holiday. I just hope that Keith has a swift recovery and that things get back to normal as soon as possible!