Hi Friends! It’s another Fashion Friday!

I hope you have been having a great week!

Many thanks to Troy Kennedy for the pictures which we took about 2 weeks ago. Troy is such fun to do photo shoots with! He always makes me laugh!

So first I am sharing this sunny yellow sweater from Nordstrom.

I saw so many pretty gold sweaters this year! Like sunshine!

Mine is sold out, but check out this one here.

Next is a navy pullover sweater with interesting details on the sleeve. This sweater by Treasure and Bond has sold out, but they made another sweater that was very similar, here:

Navy looks so nice with denim!

I tried this adorable bag as well, by Cesca, and only $42, such a deal!

This coat is by Rachel Roy, it has sold out, but this one is very similar. Rachel Rachel Roy, Double breasted wool blend coat.

There is nothing like a classic black wool coat!

It just feels so sophisticated and always appropriate!

So now, I need to tell you about my week and  my big break!

Yesterday, I went to warm my car up before work and as I walked out to my car, I hit a patch of ice and slipped and fell. Friends, it was a doozy! When I hit the ground, I knew it was bad immediately. I’ve never broken a major bone before, but I knew this was a break… in my ankle. I was down and no way could I get up, my ankle was completely out of commission! And what was worse was I had left my phone in the house charging (I intended to go back in and get my phone and a cup of coffee). My big break (besides what I was sure was a broken ankle)… Jake was warming up his car!

Ok… I have to admit, I cried  and hollered, “Jake! Jake! Jake!” and he came running. I told him I was sure I broke my ankle. And I needed help getting up! I told him he would have to drive me to the ER. So he positioned my car in the driveway so I would only need to reach out and use the car door to help support my weight. Then he hoisted me up from under my arms, me hopping on one foot. He took me to the urgent care about a mile away. We called my husband Troy who had just gotten to work, and he got right back in the car to come and meet us at the urgent care. Jake went on to school, but only after cheering me up with one of his funny imitations he does.

They did an x-ray, but they wanted me to go to the main hospital for an orthopedic surgeon to read it. So now another car ride. Troy found a wheelchair when we got to the hospital and wheeled me to ER, they were expecting us. And friends the place was full of people who had slipped and fallen on the ice. So many people hurting. One man had hurt his back. I told him how sorry I was. And I could tell he really appreciated that little dose of compassion. He heard me tell the clerk when my birthday was, and he said, “Hey! That is the day after my birthday.” I know it sounds like a trivial detail, but we bonded in that moment.

So into an examining room we went and a host of people came by to ask questions, take information, check my vitals, and look at my ankle. Finally a doctor came in and told me I had 2 larger fractures on either side of my ankle, plus several small fragments broken. And I also had another fracture up just below my knee. This was yesterday.

My mind was swirling, what would this mean? They answered, surgery. But first I needed a soft cast to hold things in place for a few days while the swelling went down. So in came a team with an x ray machine and all the stuff to make a cast. Two guys positioned my leg over the x-ray machine while the other two directed them how to move my leg to line up the bones. Ok… this was not very comfortable. They had given me an injection in my ankle, to take the edge off the pain. So I was grateful for that. But they had to use some muscle and pull and push to line things up. I was trying really hard to hold it together, and one of the x-ray techs looked me square in the eye and said, “Don’t be afraid, you are going to be ok!”

I can’t tell you what that meant to me! And I rallied. After they got the bones where they thought they should be, they put a cast on (which provided much relief). And then, off to xray I went to be sure everything was lined up. Well, guess what? It wasn’t lined up. And we had to do it again. OK… time to put on my game face, let’s do this thing. I’ll admit I was absolutely exhausted by the time it was done. They kept me over night because my blood pressure was dropping, I looked about as grey as the surgical scrubs they had me in. And I was kind of glad to be there in case anything further happened. And so all day today I was still there until about 5pm and they said I could go home!

I was such a happy camper! To go home sounded like great medicine! Now I still have to follow up with a surgeon this next week. And will probably be out of commission (no weight on that leg for 6-12 weeks). So this is like a complete shift for me.

My husband has been so good, right there by my side. He is talking about moving a bed to the main floor so I don’t have to navigate steps. Tonight I’m on the couch. My brothers and sisters have been calling, as have my parents. My friends sent me flowers already! And another friend lined up a wheelchair for me… boy am I grateful for that!) My sister Stacey lined up some surgical scrubs I can wear that will fit over the cast. Some very kind PT people at the hospital taught me how to use a walker for basic getting around (and my husband bought me a walker, Yay! I’m calling it my “sport coupe”) So many notes of encouragement and kindness from people. And I am once again reminded of the power of encouragement. It fills me up with courage to face a difficult situation! That is powerful stuff!

So we will take it one day at a time. I will be facing some challenges ahead as many of you have. But when you are doing the journey with such kind loving people, it really inspires you that you can and you will be ok!

I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Love Always,

Amy

A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success.  ~unknown