Wednesday, March 29, 2006
In a blink of an eye...
It's so bizarre how in a blink of an eye, something that was routine, becomes near fatal.
My heart is just broken. The unthinkable has happened to my friend's husband. A little background...they live up in Alaska. Erika is a teacher and her husband, Justin, is a wildlife state trooper. He's a pilot who flys around to regulate the land in Dillingham, AK. I got the follow message from Erika the other day, and I have not stopped thinking about them.
Justin crashed in his airplane on Tuesday, 3/21, around 6:30 pm. He was overdue at our cabin, so his dad, who was up there with his own airplane, went to check on him. He came upon our plane, tail in the air, nose burried in snow, mostly burned and still smoldering. Chuck, his dad, was a wildlife trooper like Justin for 25 years. Those guys are frequently called on to conduct search and rescues. He's seen crashes like this before, and knew better than anyone that it was unlikely Justin could have survived.
I can only imagine the feelings that went through him when seeing the wreck. He wanted to get down there and see Justin, help him if he could, keep him warm. But it was almost dark, and he could not see well enough to land safely. He knew he had to get help, and couldn't do that if he wrecked his own airplane. he climbed up to 2000 feet, which made his radio reach farther, and called for help. a passing jet heard him, and eventually the situation was passed on to Alaska's Rescue Response Coordination center. By this time it was all but dark, and Chuck went to our cabin where he took out his satellite telephone and called me at about 8:45.
He didn't tell me it had burned, but he said it looked bad and I could tell by his voice that this was a bad deal. He gave me the phone # to call for the rescue people. They were still gathering info. I told them that Justin was a trooper, the only person in the area that could fly search and rescues, and it was dark by then anyway. They started things in motion to send out a plane and a helicopter.
I got on the phone and called a pilot friend. I learned that another pilot friend was up north at a lodge near our cabin. I gave him the coordinates of the crash that I'd gotten from Chuck, and the guy at the lodge started getting ready to go by snow machine, which he thought would take about 2 hours.
3 girl friends came over to sit with me, and we settled down to wait. And wait, and wait. It took them awhile to get the recue teams together, longer than they thought it would to get there, etc. The guys on snow machine called by satellite phone now and then to see what I knew and tell me where they were. Eventually, they called and said they could see the big rescue plane shooting off flares. They were having to go out of their way to cross a river that wasn't frozen all the way. Finally, around midnight we got the news that there was a survivor, but they didn't know his condition b/c they lost radio contact with the plane. Finally around 12:45 we heard that he had several breaks but "good neurological function" and was enroute to Anchorage.
As for the rescue, the plane they send flys faster so it got to the scene first. Three trained medics parachuted from the plane to get to Justin and stabilize him. Then the helicopter landed and got him out. They met up at the nearest "real" airport enroute and transferred him to the plane, which took him to Anchorage and a waiting ambulance. Justin does not remember crawling from the wreck. There was a 4 foot deep hole where the plane's nose hit, and then bounced back. He remembers crawling down into the hole to get out of the wind. It was around zero with about a 30 mph wind on the ground. There were a few fires burning down in the hole, either from spilled fuel or pieces of fabric (these little planes are made of fabric stretched over a frame rather than aluminum.) He remembers trying to keep a fire going by digging under the snow to get moss and sticks, but he couldn't move well enough and it went out. The plane's engine had come to rest on one side of the hole he was
in, and he slid in next to the engine which was still warm. He had on layers of shirts and a jacket, snow pants, and boots, but no hat or gloves. Given his injuries and the weather he got very cold in the hours he waited.
I finally got to talk to him on the phone when he reached the ER around 3:30am. I was so surprised and happy to hear his voice! I didn't expect him to be awake, and he sounded so much like himself!
So far he has a rod in his right leg which was broken with the ankle crushed. His left "good" ankle (only 6 or 7 breaks) also had a surgery. Yesterday he had 2 plates put in his right hip. Tuesday he'll have the several breaks in his upper arm set, as well as his broken collar bone. Also, he'll have a titanium plate put in his lower eye socket which was broken. Right now the muscles of his eye have no place to attach to, so the eye is sinking into the socket but should be OK when the plate is in. He'll need several followup surgeries on his ankles as they heal.
We are all so relieved to have him with us, and amazed at his good attitude and patience. I have always been proud of my husband, but I just never realized the depth of his strength! We have a long road ahead of us, with expected 6 months to a year of re-hab. Please send your thoughts, prayers, crossed fingers, whatever ya got as he goes through surgeries, healing, and recovery. This is truly a life-changing event. I'm not sure what lies ahead.
Sometimes it takes tragedy to appreciate life more. Thinking about the great escape and the struggle that lies ahead for them, makes me want to hug my husband and never let go.
My heart is just broken. The unthinkable has happened to my friend's husband. A little background...they live up in Alaska. Erika is a teacher and her husband, Justin, is a wildlife state trooper. He's a pilot who flys around to regulate the land in Dillingham, AK. I got the follow message from Erika the other day, and I have not stopped thinking about them.
Justin crashed in his airplane on Tuesday, 3/21, around 6:30 pm. He was overdue at our cabin, so his dad, who was up there with his own airplane, went to check on him. He came upon our plane, tail in the air, nose burried in snow, mostly burned and still smoldering. Chuck, his dad, was a wildlife trooper like Justin for 25 years. Those guys are frequently called on to conduct search and rescues. He's seen crashes like this before, and knew better than anyone that it was unlikely Justin could have survived.
I can only imagine the feelings that went through him when seeing the wreck. He wanted to get down there and see Justin, help him if he could, keep him warm. But it was almost dark, and he could not see well enough to land safely. He knew he had to get help, and couldn't do that if he wrecked his own airplane. he climbed up to 2000 feet, which made his radio reach farther, and called for help. a passing jet heard him, and eventually the situation was passed on to Alaska's Rescue Response Coordination center. By this time it was all but dark, and Chuck went to our cabin where he took out his satellite telephone and called me at about 8:45.
He didn't tell me it had burned, but he said it looked bad and I could tell by his voice that this was a bad deal. He gave me the phone # to call for the rescue people. They were still gathering info. I told them that Justin was a trooper, the only person in the area that could fly search and rescues, and it was dark by then anyway. They started things in motion to send out a plane and a helicopter.
I got on the phone and called a pilot friend. I learned that another pilot friend was up north at a lodge near our cabin. I gave him the coordinates of the crash that I'd gotten from Chuck, and the guy at the lodge started getting ready to go by snow machine, which he thought would take about 2 hours.
3 girl friends came over to sit with me, and we settled down to wait. And wait, and wait. It took them awhile to get the recue teams together, longer than they thought it would to get there, etc. The guys on snow machine called by satellite phone now and then to see what I knew and tell me where they were. Eventually, they called and said they could see the big rescue plane shooting off flares. They were having to go out of their way to cross a river that wasn't frozen all the way. Finally, around midnight we got the news that there was a survivor, but they didn't know his condition b/c they lost radio contact with the plane. Finally around 12:45 we heard that he had several breaks but "good neurological function" and was enroute to Anchorage.
As for the rescue, the plane they send flys faster so it got to the scene first. Three trained medics parachuted from the plane to get to Justin and stabilize him. Then the helicopter landed and got him out. They met up at the nearest "real" airport enroute and transferred him to the plane, which took him to Anchorage and a waiting ambulance. Justin does not remember crawling from the wreck. There was a 4 foot deep hole where the plane's nose hit, and then bounced back. He remembers crawling down into the hole to get out of the wind. It was around zero with about a 30 mph wind on the ground. There were a few fires burning down in the hole, either from spilled fuel or pieces of fabric (these little planes are made of fabric stretched over a frame rather than aluminum.) He remembers trying to keep a fire going by digging under the snow to get moss and sticks, but he couldn't move well enough and it went out. The plane's engine had come to rest on one side of the hole he was
in, and he slid in next to the engine which was still warm. He had on layers of shirts and a jacket, snow pants, and boots, but no hat or gloves. Given his injuries and the weather he got very cold in the hours he waited.
I finally got to talk to him on the phone when he reached the ER around 3:30am. I was so surprised and happy to hear his voice! I didn't expect him to be awake, and he sounded so much like himself!
So far he has a rod in his right leg which was broken with the ankle crushed. His left "good" ankle (only 6 or 7 breaks) also had a surgery. Yesterday he had 2 plates put in his right hip. Tuesday he'll have the several breaks in his upper arm set, as well as his broken collar bone. Also, he'll have a titanium plate put in his lower eye socket which was broken. Right now the muscles of his eye have no place to attach to, so the eye is sinking into the socket but should be OK when the plate is in. He'll need several followup surgeries on his ankles as they heal.
We are all so relieved to have him with us, and amazed at his good attitude and patience. I have always been proud of my husband, but I just never realized the depth of his strength! We have a long road ahead of us, with expected 6 months to a year of re-hab. Please send your thoughts, prayers, crossed fingers, whatever ya got as he goes through surgeries, healing, and recovery. This is truly a life-changing event. I'm not sure what lies ahead.
Sometimes it takes tragedy to appreciate life more. Thinking about the great escape and the struggle that lies ahead for them, makes me want to hug my husband and never let go.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Squeak Free
Ever since we moved into our house, I have hated the stairway. After we painted the woodwork white, I felt a bit better about it. The thing that drove me crazy was how much the stair treads squeaked when you walked on them. There's nothing like loud squeaking noises to make you feel like an elephant as you walked down are stairs. It's hard to quietly sneak around as well. After talking about it forever, we finally decided to get carpet for the stairs. Ordering it a few weeks ago forced us to do something about the squeaking. We knew that just putting carpet down wouldn't get rid of the noise. The internet is great because we found directions on how to put nails in at 45 degree angles to slience the squeak. It worked brillantly. After putting quite a few nails in the treads, I went the extra mile and sanded them and put three coats of poly on them. They looked so great, I thought it would be a shame to put carpet over them. BUT now that the carpet is in all I can say is WOW.
