Adventures Pt 4

...at Sarah's house and beyond.
There are so many people that have been taking care of me, that I don't know where to begin. Nathan has been incredibly supportive, making time to call me often, offering to come home if needed, and letting me cry on the phone to him, but as you can see from the list below, my friends have done an amazing job.
The other canyoners (?) were very cool with me going and getting hurt at the beginning of their trip and were a big help, from the medical reservists with their helpful advice to Audrey and Sarah and Kobie helping me walk. Our Italian guides Francesco and Denis were good sports about me being a lot bigger than them...
Sarah (her name comes up a lot in this story) took me to the hospital at 10pm the day of the trip, and after we finished up at 11:30 then went to my house to take care of Stella (including massive potty clean-up). The next day she and Lizz braved my wreck of a house to fetch some things for me and take Sarah to her dogsitter, and they even neatened the place up some. Christie, Christine, Erin, Amber, the Carsons, Eva (and her mom, true Italian style), Natalia & Aurora (3-yr-old, now calls me "Owie"), Lizz, & Sarah visited me and brought me presents in the hospital.
Sarah let me move in to her house for a week and waited on me hand and foot during that time. I was kind of a wreck and in tons of pain for most of that time, and she's definitely a saint. I could write a whole blog entry about how much she helped me, but I think this "Adventures" section is getting a little long.
Gina and Lisa took Stella for a couple of days each, and the Cockrells had her for a week! (It took her 15 minutes to recognize me when I finally saw her again.)
Linda C and Linda H both made me meals that would make any professional chaplain's wife proud.
Vanessa stayed with me for a couple days when I first went home and helped me clean up the house. Lizz, Amber, Vanessa, and Angie went all-out cleaning my house before the arrival of my sister-in-law and her friend!
Amanda, my boss, has been extremely cool with me taking time to recover and being high on the job and having my leg on the desk and such.
PWOC and other friends have sent me many encouraging notes.
And now Tara and Talia are here (gimpy to healthy ratio-- 2:1) and are being so, so helplful in taking Stella outside and driving me around and doing household stuff. For the record, Tara is an excellent Italian driver and has a great sense of direction.
On Friday & Saturday I was able to ease off of my percocet completely. I feel like a new woman. No more nightmares and my short-term memory is coming back!
The harder things get, the more blessings God seems to shower upon me. I couldn't deserve them less. Many thanks to Him and to everyone who's been helping me through this.
Please pray for our wounded troops. I was waiting on the couch in the commissary the other day as Vanessa did my shopping for me (!), and there was a soldier who was also on crutches with a rocket injury. He was using the handicapped cart and doing his own shopping.