Grateful just seems like an inadequate word sometimes

To say that I am grateful to be alive really seems like an inadequate statement. Maybe an immeasurable sense of gratitude for the life that I am blessed to have. I start each day by thanking my Heavenly Father for each day that he gives me. I have done that since my heart collapsed over 6 years ago. I have always appreciated how precious life can be. During the past six months I have literally come close to death on two occasions. Many of you know that I broke my leg in January 2012. It was a pretty decent break. I now have three screws, a plate and a broken drill bit in my right leg. I fell at the top of my driveway as I was getting ready to bring Ana to seminary. I don't remember tripping on anything, I wasn't running and I was dressed for the weather. All I remember is my feet going out from underneath me and hearing a pop sound. When I looked at my leg I could see that my foot was dangling about 90 degrees to the right of where it should be. Not good. Jeff brought me to the hospital where it was determined that I had dislocated my foot and broke my leg in three places (a tib/fib fracture) not to mention the now torn ligaments as well. I was in a great deal of pain and I was a baby. I asked the nurse if I could have some form of pain med before they tried to take my boot off, it was THAT bad. They did and was able to save my snow boots. They thought of cutting them off but I had asked for them to take them off as I had just got them as a Christmas gift. Once they got the boot off they determined that they would need to reset my foot before they could get further x-rays for the surgeon. They had to sedate me to reset my foot. When I awoke the nurse said it was good to see me as "we almost lost you". Nice. I had told Jeff to go to the training which we were hosting and to leave me at the hospital. I figured I could handle a broken leg given all of the many much more serious surgeries I have had. I had a friend there with me. I called her to meet us there because Jeff would not leave me there alone. Ann Woods is as close to an angel as you can get here on Earth. Who knew that a broken leg could become life or death? I have to remember this in the future as my body doesn't do anything simple any more. I know my health is challenging to say the least. I am grateful for some of those challenges because it has help provide an understanding and appreciation for my life - as crazy as it is sometimes. Last month we were moving and things were going well and on-time. Everyone was working at a good pace and things were falling into place. I had just gone to the new house with a group of people to help unload the truck. After unloading, I took my dad and some kids with me to pick up pizzas for everyone for lunch. Five minutes or so after leaving the house I started getting itchy and then broke out in hives. I continued driving to pick up the pizza. I took a couple of children's Benadryl as that is all I had in the car with me. It didn't work. Thankfully my dad was there and he was able to drive home. The hives and itching got worse. My throat and face began to swell. To say that I was itchy is an understatement. I described it to my dad as 5000 fire ants crawling through my body from the inside out. YUCK! I called home and asked for someone to find the medicine bag where I had packed my meds and to have the grown-up Benadryl ready when I got there. When I got home, I managed to make it from the car to half-way down the driveway before I had to sit down. I told Jeff what was going on. I managed to get some more Benadryl down but by that point I was not feeling very well at all. I passed out and then had a seizure of sorts. Thankfully Jeff and my sister-in-law were there. Tis is a surgical tech. If you have to have a seizure it is good to have people with some form of medical training. Apparently they lost me. I had no pulse and was not breathing. From what I am told, Jeff had to give chest compressions to bring me back. I woke up with someone's fingers in my mouth as they were trying to uncurl my tongue which had curled up and was blocking my airway. (this is where the draft ends) Looks like I wrote this on August 6, 2012 and never posted it. I opened this blog address and saw it as a draft. I am still very grateful to be alive in this crazy world (09/05/2016). The "seizure of sorts" was found later to be an allergic reaction to peanuts. I have ate peanuts, almonds, walnuts, etc all my life. On that day I became officially allergic to them. Life can change in an instant! That was the first time I ever had a ride in an ambulance. By the time the ambulance showed up, Jeff and Tis had revived me and brought my reaction under control. I am blessed