Wow. What can you say about that? I don't know how anyone can walk away from that and not know that there is a reason they survived -- and change!
In May 1992, I was in school for graphic design (I'd always wanted to be a teacher, but had decided against it due to the fact that teacher's don't make squat!) and I managed an art gallery on Long Island. One night, I was standing on an 8' ladder hanging a sign in the front of the store. The last thing I remember was feeling the sensation of the ladder tipping and thinking
I'm going to fall. The next thing I knew, I was surrounded by a zillion people, and I was asking where all the blood was coming from. I also remember calmly telling everyone that my arm was broken.
In the hospital, I found out that the ladder, itself, had fallen and taken me with it as I was stepping up onto the next-to-the-last step. Think about it this way: most ceilings are 8 ft. tall. It would be like standing on the ceiling and falling face first. YUCK! I had a broken left wrist (I was in a cast for 10 weeks), and all the blood was coming from the gash in my chin (that actually broke the hinged part of the aluminum ladder!) where my skull was now visible, the chunk of the inside of lower lip that was now shredded by my teeth, and the multiple cuts around my mouth. Luckily, when they found out it was a Worker's Comp case, they called in a plastic surgeon who did an AMAZING job!
Anyway, over the next 2½ years, I had three different bilateral surgeries on my jaws (when my hair is pulled back, it looks like I had a facelift!
) and hours and hours of physical therapy. I was told that if the gash in my chin had been 1/8" in either direction, half of my face would have been paralyzed. And honestly, I have no idea how I didn't, literally, break my neck since my chin hit the ladder and must've snapped my head backwards.
After all was said and done, I actually felt very lucky! I decided that as bad as I was, there was a reason that I survived it -- and that's when I transferred colleges and pursued teaching! Ironically, I was able to handle extra credits -- and student teaching full-time -- because Worker's Comp was paying me.
How's that for funny? I wouldn't have been able to do it otherwise because I would have had to work during the day! May 6, 1992 was certainly a life-changer for me -- physically, emotionally, economically, and spiritually.
(Oh BTW, we found out after the fact that ladder's feet didn't sit flat on the floor -- the aluminum was bent -- which is why it fell!)
Chuck, I really hope that your mother-in-law somehow "gets" it, too. I'll be praying that she does!