Two Whole Years

Two whole years...they went by much faster then we thought they would.  It is so hard to believe that it has been two years since the accident that changed our lives forever.

Campbell Family Fall 2011

Craig is doing wonderfully!!!!  He has a few small personality changes that we his close family, and a few of his close friends, see but other then that you would never know he was in such a tragic accident.  Our family regularly thanks our Heavenly Father for the miracle that has taken place.  We are so blessed to still have Craig, as a fully functioning person, with us in our lives.  As Craig's sister put it, she is glad we are celebrating today and not mourning.

To celebrate his victory over death Craig is running the Ogden marathon tomorrow, May 19, 2012.  If getting hit by a car can't keep him down then nothing will.  He is constantly improving physically and is excited to have four different running races, bike races and triathlons planned for this summer.  I am sure he will add more before then end of the year.

He was a little side tracked from all his athletics recently when one of the screws in his collarbone came loose and started backing it's way out through his skin.  He had it removed and was again back to normal, so normal that he helped a neighbor lay a wood floor the next day.  We really knew he was back to normal when he got bored a few weeks later and decided to rip out walls and flooring in our kitchen and remodel it...again.

Tomorrow, in addition to running a marathon Craig can apply to fly again.  We are now in the final count down to the last hurdle to overcome.  Excited, nervous, anticipation are a few words to describe how we feel.  Craig has to go through yet another neuro psychology testing session, see the neurologist and visit with an FAA medial examiner.  After he has finished these three appointments he can submit all the required paperwork to the FAA and the waiting game again begins.  It could be days, it could be months.  Lets hope they come back with a speedy all clear and Craig will finally be allowed to fly again.

Craig recently shared a story about how before his accident he felt like there was more for him to do then just flying. He felt like he should use his brain more and/or find something in which he could help others.  He prayed to be guided to the right answer and even considered a new profession.  He then related how Heavenly Father answered his pray in the most unexpected of ways.

He hit him with a car.....

A couple of months after his accident when we found out he could not fly for at least two years we were devastated.  We were not sure what he would do for employment or how we would make ends meet. But Skywest needed someone in the training department and they asked Craig to fill in.  Craig is still enjoying teaching new hires and recurrent training for Skywest.  He has also been working on the training development team.  The most exciting news is he was asked to become a Simulator Instructor in Long Beach, CA.  There are very few of these instructors and you have to be asked to be one.  It is not a job you can apply for.  This position has actually taken him back to traveling which is a good segway back into being gone more when he can fly again.  His prayer was truly answered.  He was able to use more of his brain (I keep telling him that he's not using more, the accident just got rid of some of it.) and he is helping others.  He has truly been enjoying the opportunities these positions have offered him.

We would like to again thank everyone who has supported us through this trial.  All the prayers, service, donations, etc. were much appreciated and will never be forgotten.  We as a family have grown more through this experience then we could have ever imagined.  We have learned not to take things for granted, be grateful for the small things, and that no matter what our Heavenly Father will always be there for us.

Teaching Abigail how to ski 2012.  

Spudman 2011

Getting bored and ripping out the kitchen.

Working on putting it back together.

Biking jersey given to Craig.

UPDATE

So it has been a while, August to be exact, since this has been updated. I figured I would fill everyone in on how Craig has been doing.

Craig got to have collarbone surgery two days before Christmas. He now has 11 pieces of titanium in his shoulder. That brings his total metal count to 20 when you include his hand. He is sad that he still does not set off any metal detectors. He did give us quite the scare during his surgery. It took the nurses a while to wake him up. Once awake he was just fine though. I did yell at him at one point and that helped to speed the process along. Do not do that to your wife two days before Christmas!!!

Other than recovering from the surgery things have been going well

for Craig. He has made great progress since the accident. He still gets tired easily but it is not nearly as bad. His collarbone never did heal and that is why we had it fixed. If you didn't know he was in an accident you would never guess.

Craig is still working for SkyWest. He is teaching new hire and upgrade classes for them. They have him scheduled teaching through the end of the year. He cannot even apply to fly until 2 years and 1 day after the accident. That is when he can apply again, not when he gets to fly again. He is enjoying teaching but he really does miss flying.

The kids and I are enjoying having Craig around more. He hasn't been home this much in 6 years. For all the other pilot wives out there - it does take some getting used to! It is nice though and we are excited to have this time with him.

He has already signed up for his first post-accident triathlon this summer. I think he is crazy. But he loves them!

And the light at the end gets further away...

Everything for Craig has been going great. Until today that is...

Yesterday he graduated from Physical Therapy, last week the Neurosurgeon said he was impressed and thought he was doing great and over all he is almost 100% himself.

Today Craig talked to the FAA. They said two years, May 18, 2012, before he can apply to fly. It just seemed to be going so well that this was a devastating blow to us. Craig is pretty sad. He really loves flying. He can't fly any airplane unless it's a remote control one during this time period. Yesterday the light at the end of the tunnel seemed so close. Today it got further away.

Why two years you ask? Well, they found his injury to be moderate, not mild or severe, according to their guidelines. This is the predetermined amount of time he has to wait. Everything is based off of the initial injury, not how fast he has recovered. We still have the right to appeal the decision. We are not sure if that will make a difference or not though. The hard part is that is when he can apply to fly again. Not when he can start flying again.

Both of us are still processing what this will mean for our family. We have a lot of decisions ahead of us but for right now we are just trying to absorb it all. SkyWest is pretty good about these types of situations and we are hoping his job will still be there for him at the end of the two years.

I think we were both looking forward to a normal life again. It's hard to believe one split second can change your life so much. I think this is a good wake up call for all of us to always be paying attention to what we are doing and to listen when we are counseled to get out of debt, save six months for an emergency like this and to be prepared to face the challenges that come our way.

The Joy of Testing...

Today Craig got to meet with the Neuropsychologist. We weren't supposed to see him till August 2nd, but he had a cancellation and his nurse called to see if we would come in today. We got there at 8:45 am and didn't leave until 3:00 pm. Poor Craig, he had to take test after test after test. After the brief 30 min part I had I got to entertain myself at the mall... poor Shannon :)

Craig's testing was done at 1 pm and at that time he got an hour lunch break. We ate lunch at the hospital cafeteria. Craig was amazed at how well I knew my way around such a big hospital. I reminded him that while he was on his luxurious vacation in Rehab I had the joy of wandering the halls.

The test results were ok. He is not 100% yet. The Neuropsychologist said he tested like a normal 36 year old male. There was just a few areas that need improvement. He has to go back in 6 weeks for retesting. The Neuropsychologist said Craig's brain just need more healing time and he expects him to be close to 100%.

It has only been two months which in brain healing time is not much!

Craig had a hard time with this news. Hopefully the fact that he gets to go back to work tomorrow, only on the ground, will help to cheer him up. Sitting around doing nothing but healing gets old fast!

Craig also gets to see the Hand Surgeon tomorrow. He is hoping to get the brace off so he can start doing more.

HE CAN DRIVE!!!!!

I know it has been a while since I have updated the blog but life has been pretty boring. Doctor's appointments, physical therapy, phone calls and paperwork. Nothing much to blog about until today.

Today Craig saw the neurosurgeon. He was very impressed with the progress Craig has made over the last seven weeks. He checked all of Craig's reflexes and cleared him to drive!!! He also does not have to have someone with him 24/7 anymore. I am so excited not to be his chauffeur/babysitter anymore!!! Not that I don't like spending time with my husband but not having to drive him to all his PT appointments will free up a good chunk of time. Now to figure out what to do with me time again. :)

The neurosurgeon also cleared Craig to do work as long as it is on the ground. He prefers that he not fly for at least six months after the accident. Craig is ok with that. He has been working in the training department at SkyWest before the accident so hopefully he can do some work for them. He has been VERY bored here at home not being able to do much. Working again will help to lift his spirits.

He also said that Craig should make a full recovery with out any long term effects. There may be some changes to his personality , which we have already noticed, but that could be chalked up to having a near death experience. None of the changes are major. He is just very thankful to be alive and to have wonderful people who care about us. We think part of it is boredom. When your used to being extremely active and now all you can do is sit around it is hard to deal with.

Last week Craig got his cast off. He had to go that same day and have a custom brace made for his thumb. He had his first Hand PT appointment today. He has great movement in his hand. The therapist said that they will mostly just need to work on getting his hand strength back. We have to wait until we see the hand surgeon in two weeks before he can start on strength exercises. When they took the castoff the doctor made him promise to be very careful or he was going to have to recast it. Craig would much rather have the brace!

Enduring to the End

Today I took Craig to the fire station to meet the first responders on the scene. We walked in and I told them my husband had been in an accident last month and wanted to meet them. I didn't even have to tell them which accident, they all knew. It was a pretty cool meeting. The first two on the scene looked like they were going to cry when they saw how well he was doing. They really didn't think there would be this good of an outcome. After accidents like this they very rarely get visitors who are in as good of shape as Craig.

They went into detail about what they saw and experienced when they were on the scene. They even gave Craig a great description of what the car looked like after he hit it. (Pretty gruesome) We had a lot of our questions answered about exactly how he hit the car and where he landed. Craig had fun showing off the x-rays of his thumb.

One of the firefighters has been doing this for 16 years. He said Craig's accident is the first one that actually made him go out and buy a helmet for his motorcycle. He has seen plenty of motorcycle accidents where the helmet made no difference. But seeing how Craig's helmet protected him in this instance made him a believer.

Craig volunteered to speak about bike safety for them anytime they want him to. They said they were planning on taking him up on that. We kept his helmet. That and pictures of his bike and the car will make great visual aids.

We also spent the day going from place to place getting copies of Craig's medical records. Yesterday we received the list of all documents (which is long) we will have to submit to the FAA. They will review the documents and send us a letter stating the length of time before Craig is considered medically cleared to fly again. They said this period can be anywhere from six months to five years. The length all depends on the severity of his injuries. There are many factors which they go by so it is hard for us to predict what they will be telling Craig. We are hoping for closer to the six months than the five years!!!

Knowing it could possibly be a long time before Craig can fly again has been hard, but we know we just need to Endure to the End. We have been taken care of so wonderfully up to this point that we just need to have faith that it will all work out in the end!

The power of prayer (and fasting)

Today has been the best day we have had yet!!! We are convinced the power of prayer and the ward fast, which was held the Sunday after Craig's accident, have gotten us this far.

(The picture is of our celebration - we took the kids to Cold Stone for ice cream)

Speech - Craig's speech therapist could not find anything wrong with him no matter how many rocks she looked under. After four visits she discharged Craig. She has been doing this for over 20 years and she told us she has seen full recoveries but never this fast! She kept looking at me and saying, "You know how luck you are, right?"

OT - Craig passed all the OT testing including the two drivers test. She too discharged him after only four visits. She also said, "You know how luck you are, right?" She then followed that up with a couple of horror stories so I really understood how lucky we are.

Both OT and Speech said they see no reason Craig would not be able to fly again. We still have to meet with a Neuropsycholigst for testing before he can be cleared. Our appointment isn't until August 2nd. They like to wait at least two months after the accident before they do the testing. That's ok. He still has three broken bones that need to heal! (And lots of PT to help get back range of motion.)

That being said we are still aware there can be set backs. Both therapist want Craig to go "back to life as normal". I am supposed to watch closely for any changes or behaviors that are not quite right. Neither thought there would be any but just in case. You never know with a head injury.

I of course fully know just how lucky we are. I got a good look at some of the other patients in Neuro Rehab and I TRULY know how lucky we are. I have also felt everyone's prayers helping us along our way! We are both grateful for a Father in Heaven who loves us and watches out for us. This truly has been a miracle.

A week makes all the difference...

Today I took Craig to his OT and Speech appointments. They were both amazed at the progress he has made in the past week.

The speech therapist gave him a number of test. He passed all of them without any problems. She said he is doing well with his attention (with and without background noises), deductive reasoning and that his speed is good. Speed seems to be the one area he can work on. She figures he is just fine and that having to write with his left hand is what is slowing him down. She pointed out that his chattiness has subsided to an almost normal level. She also sent him home with homework. A sequencing worksheet and sudoku. The therapist also said she wishes the neuropsychologist could meet with him before August 2. She figures he will have no problems passing those test.

OT gave him a visual/perceptual test and a reaction test. His reaction time had to be at or under .5 seconds. He was right at the .5 seconds. He also passed the driving assessment test. Too bad he has all those broken bones that are keeping him from actually driving. The OT guy said that Craig was definitely a different man from last week and that he was running out of things to do with him so he might be done with OT early. He also gave Craig homework after I asked him to. He has been so bored at home that I need something to keep him busy.

They are not starting any of his PT until we see the Ortho Specialist and the Hand Specialist on June 29th.

Craig finally agreed to try taking some sleeping pills for a few nights to help him get his sleeping schedule back to normal. He has not been sleeping well at night so he has been taking naps during the day because he is so wiped out and then he can't sleep well at night again and so on and so on. He slept all night last night and has not had a nap since he got up for the day. I figure a couple of days like this and things will get back to normal for him. (And I can actually get some sleep too!)

Like I mentioned earlier Craig's chattiness has gotten much better. He also has not been as overwhelmingly loving and thankful. He is still kind, loving and grateful though just not in such an overwhelming (almost creepy) way. I know a few of you will be grateful for that. Thank you to all his friends and family who put up with him through that phrase. Although I think Jesse might be sad that he won't get to buy Craig a pink bike. :)

I have gotten a few phone calls about Craig's leave status. At this time he has hit the maximum amount of leave that SkyWest will allow to be donated him. If Craig cannot come back to work at the end of three months they may allow for more leave to be donated although I am not 100% sure about that. I just want everyone to know how grateful we are for the leave which was donated. This has been a very stressful time in our lives and having to not worry about no pay checks for the next few months is such a relief!!! We will be forever in your debt.

New Updates

Sorry for the lack of post lately. My computer was at the computer store being fixed.

Things have been going ok since Craig came home. He talks nonstop and we all know that is not normal. He also likes to go up to perfect strangers and start up conversations. He said he just knows they want him to go and talk to them. He has a hard time sleeping. Nighttime seems to be the worst time of day for him. He loves to sleep on his left side and that's the side he got hit on so every time he rolls over in bed he is in pain. He has been having nightmares and he has a hard time riding in a car. He keeps thinking someone is going to hit us. I wonder why!?!

We started his many doctor appointments. Yesterday we spent six hours on doctor's appointments today it was two. He has to have three different types of therapy, OT, PT and speech, twice a week. That is all in addition to the regular doctors appointments. This summer is going to fly by! :( (Since summertime is my favorite time of year I don't want it to fly by!)

Craig saw the had surgeon yesterday. He took off his big bulky cast, took out the stitches and recasted his hand. The doctor said he has nine pieces of titanium in his thumb. One metal plate, 4 regular screws and 4 small screws. The doctor decided to put a cast on his hand instead of a brace so that it has more time to heal right. He said he was working with bone crumbs and there isn't much left to work with if it doesn't heal right. I tried to talk him into a fun color cast. He chose the conservative blue in case he had to go into work before he got it taken off. I tried to remind him he won't be working for a while but he still didn't want a wild cast just in case they wanted him to come in.

The OT and Speech therapist he has met with so far have been impressed by how well he is doing. His long term and short term memory testing has been just fine.

Speech said they won't need to work on his speaking ability just his speed of processing and his insight into situations. She said the head injury is what is making him talk A LOT. She would ask a simple question and he would give a paragraph for an answer. All of that is normal for a head injury and should go away with time. (keep your fingers crossed)

Ot is also going to work on his processing skills just in different ways. He had to do the test where they show you a tray of items for 90 seconds and then they cover it back up and you have to tell them what is on the tray. Right after he got 13, fifteen min later he got 19 and 24 hours later he got all 20. I couldn't even remember all 20! They were all impressed.

WE SPRUNG HIM EARLY!!!

We were able to bring Craig home from the hospital today. We didn't tell the kids so it was a fun surprise. The doctor did tell Craig that he has to wear the boot on his left leg and this time he listened. He also told him no outside bike riding until 2011. Craig is actually taking that news much better then I thought he would!

This morning at 4:30 when Craig couldn't sleep he decided to shave his beard off. Nothing left for any of his pilot friends to be jealous of. Tonight when we got home we also arranged a haircut. He no longer looks like Grizzly Adams.

They did some end of rehab testing. On the balance test at the beginning of rehab he was 4/28. Today he was 28/28. He tested on the slow side with his reflexes but has been showing improvement since he was first there. We have to take him to see a neuropsychologist soon so he can be retested on a regular basis. Once he reaches a set level on his reflexes he will be able to drive a car again. Flying a plane comes a while after that.

We are VERY glad to have Craig home. It's amazing how much better our kids are just with him in the house. It is going to be really hard to keep Craig occupied. He has already been out walking around the neighborhood and trying to work on things around the house. I think I am more worn out trying to keep up with him then he is!

Transition Time

They moved Craig today to the Transition Room. It has a regular Queen size bed, not a lousy hospital bed, and he is supposed to get around more on his own. They even took him to the grocery store today so he can cook lunch for them tomorrow. Well, tell them what to do to cook a good lunch. He talked them into steaks. It was funny on the way home, he realized that he really couldn't drive a car or fly an airplane when I had to put his seat belt on for him. Broken bones will do that to you.

Craig does not think his ankle is all that bad so he told them he doesn't want to have a boot on it. We will get final word from the doctor tomorrow if that is ok. If not it might take a few of us to talk him into putting it on. It's one of the few things he has been really stubborn on. For the most part he has been nice and pleasant and compliments the staff every chance he gets. They are used to patient who hit, bite, scream and throw to name a few things so I think he is a breath of fresh air.

TSA is going to love me now...

TSA is going to love Craig now. They put some serious metal in his thumb today. The 1 1/2 - 2 hour surgery took 3 1/2 hours. The doctor had quite the jig saw puzzle to put back together. He also had to take a bone graft out of Craig's wrist to fill in some missing pieces in the thumb.

On a happy note... Craig is scheduled to come home this Saturday. We will have lots of doctors appointments and out patient therapy but I will be happy to have him home each night.

Craig has to have a responsible adult with him 24/7 for the first few weeks. He also CANNOT do any activities that could result in a head injury. He told someone today that he wanted to go mountain biking this summer. Anyone who encourages him to go will have to answer to me. It won't be pretty. :)

Visitors will be welcome starting on Sunday. Just a word of caution - if you stay too long I might disappear on you and make you his new care taker. Just kidding. I am sure I will need a some breaks in there but we will work those out when the time comes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRAIG!

Happy Birthday Craig!!! Even though we had to celebrate his birthday with him in the hospital we are glad he was here to celebrate it with us! I took a cake to the hospital and Craig had fun sharing it with the hospital staff and his visitors.

Tomorrow they are going to operate on Craig's thumb at 11:30 am. They said the surgery should last 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Shortly after that time we should hopefully find out how much longer Craig will be in the hospital. We are very excited to have him come home but also very nervous. Each day he continues to get better and better. There is still a ton of healing to be done but it is nice to see the improvements each day.

I just want to thank all of you who have sent wonderful messages, cards and provided service for my family. It is overwhelming to see how much we are loved.

Hand Surgery

Craig is having his hand operated on this Wednesday. His thumb is compressed and broken into many pieces. They have to reduce it, uncompress it, and put the pieces back together. From the sound of it there will be a metal plate and bone graph involved in this process. For now they are letting the other bones heal on their own. Craig is getting around much better and is anxious to get out of the hospital. It's going to be a long 6 months keeping him from being too active.

Minor Setback

We found out today that Craig's left ankle is also broken. We are waiting for the Ortho guy to come and tell us what they are going to do about it. Craig has been complaining since yesterday that his ankle hurt. Now we know why. So for those of you keeping track that makes a broken right thumb and possibly wrist, a broken left collarbone and a broken left ankle. Poor Craig!!!

Craig's Bike

So I haven't been able to get pictures of the car but here are some pictures of Craig's bike. He is very sad it is destroyed. He hasn't seen the pictures yet he just knows what we have told him.

A moment of silence for the bike .... if you think the bikes bad Craig's body is beat up worse.

Each day with Craig is an improvement. Baby steps at this point but we will take them. I am just grateful to be able to have a conversation with him.

Yesterday they said they thought he came out of the Post Traumatic Amnesia stage. That is a good sign that he is starting to remember things better just 10 days after the accident. He still repeats himself but they said that should hopefully improve as they swelling goes down. They said a brain injury is like having a stroke. You have to work your way back to being whole.

They x-rayed his collar bone again yesterday. It is broken in multiple places and it is displaced 7 mm. We are still waiting to hear what they are going to do with it. Right now they have nothing on his arm so it just kind of hangs limp. It is extremely painful for him to use it.

He is loving the visitors that are stopping by. He wants me to let everyone know just how much he appreciates all the help we have been getting.

THE JOYS OF DRUGS

Today was a funny day. Craig was in so much pain that they kept him on a regular schedule with his pain killers. Pain killers sure make people say funny things. It was fun to be able to laugh, too bad it was at him. I love my husband dearly and while this trial is a very hard one I am glad to have found a little bit of humor in the day.

He is still pretty much the same. It is hard for him to get in and out of bed. Having a broken collar bone on one side and a broken thumb, possibly wrist, on the other makes it hard to move period.

He had shorts on today and it was the first time I got a good look at the bruising and road rash on his legs. That alone looks very painful. I am sure it is nothing compared to the rest. I also noticed bruises all up the left side of his legs that we hadn't noticed before. He said he knows that the car hit him on the left side because that side hurts the worse. When asked what it feels like he says it feels like his bike went through him and broke off little pieces inside.

Whenever he opened his eyes this past week they seemed blank and hollow. Today and yesterday they seemed more alive. Somethings are still hard for him to remember. He remembers nothing about the accident. He doesn't even remember going for a ride that day. His long term memory seems fine it is the short term they are worried about. He tends to repeat the same things over and over. I don't know if he realizes he is doing this or not. They said that it can take three months or more for the swelling of the brain to go down. Each day he has been making improvements. Lets hope the swelling goes fully away and takes the fogginess with it, or it is just the drugs making him say funny things!

Today was a great improvement for Craig. The fogginess in his brain seems to be clearing. They wore him out at Rehab! I was not there for all of it but I did get to see him walk 200 feet with a walker and up and down some practice stairs. It takes a lot of energy for him to do anything.

Tonight he was the most aware he has been since the accident. We had a great time talking. He was a little fuzzy on a few things but I think that was the pain killers they are giving him for his collar bone. His collar bone has been causing him a lot of pain. He says he feels like his bike hit him - I reminded him it was a car.

Craig wanted me to make sure everyone knows how much their thoughts and prayers have meant to him. I read him the messages that have been left for him on facebook this past week. He knew who every person was and he was really touched by the messages.

For all of his pilot friends he figures you'll be jealous of the great beard he gets to grow while he is recovering.

ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET!

Here are some pictures to remind us that we should always wear our helmet!

Today Craig was moved to the Neuro Rehab Unit at IMC in Murray. Here are some pictures of him leaving Ogden Regional. Today was a good day for Craig. He was much more alert and carried on some good conversations. He still doesn't want to eat much so I snapped a picture of him drinking his Ensure. (Old man jokes can come later) He is moving a little better today but it may be a long time till he is back on a bike. One of his main worries today is that his bike was destroyed and is not fixable.

They told us he should be there 1-2 weeks. I don't really care how long just as long as it is safe for him when he comes home. He is supposed to have more evaluations tomorrow including finding out more about when they may operate on his collarbone and thumb. The doctors there seemed to think he was making good progress.

Like I have said before this is a long term recovery. He should be up to having visitors within the next few days. I just ask that visits are short as they tend to tire him quickly. If you would like to visit him please send me a message and I will get you the information. - Shannon