Work Injury Update

Warning: The past couple of posts contain descriptions of my work injury, its effects on my week, and an overall tone of self-pity (Hey, I've gotta tell it like it is!). While this may be therapeutic for me, this entry may not be your cup of tea. Depending on your taste, feel free to scroll down to one of my more typically optimistic posts.

Since the painful work accident that I detailed in my post last week, I have been mostly confined to my bed or living room couch for the past week. My left ankle is still a bit tender but mostly healed.


However, my right ankle has now swollen into a "cankle." My right foot often turns beet red or purple, freakishly warm, and swollen to nearly ¼ bigger than the size of my left foot at times (the swelling was reduced when this photo was taken). Kathy almost drove me back to the E.R. tonight, but the on-call doctor didn't share her sense of urgency.

After my initial ambulance ride to the E.R. last Sunday, I scheduled a follow-up with my primary care physician on Friday. He examined the X-Rays and concluded that my injuries were worse than the E.R. doc had diagnosed. The indent in my right leg looked pretty dramatic, and he explained that the membranes inside my bone were compressed (this explains why the pain shoots through my entire leg, not just around my ankle).

To make matters worse, it turns out that my body has an unusually high tolerance for Vicodin and Percocet. The amped up morphine-based medication that he gave me on Friday isn't making a dent, either. Aside from occasional fluctuations, my pain level hasn't dropped since it peaked last Wednesday. I look forward to walking without crutches, sleeping through the night, and experiencing any sort of lasting relief.

My students (and even some adult friends) are still mystified by my complete nonuse of my Playstation 3 during my home confinement.
A couple of my high schoolers stopped by the house and wanted to play my PS3, only to discover that the few game titles I own hadn't even been located or unpacked yet. Aside from time spent with my students, I never have been much of a gamer. When my very active lifestyle is interrupted by illness or injury, I tend to prefer music, books, and prayer to keep my mind occupied. Of course, I'd rather be out doing something instead.

Update: Shortly after I posted this, Kathy found my games. As long as I have students, my PS3 will be in no danger of being neglected.

The bigger bummer is that I am not even mobile enough to exercise, go outside, visit students, or do much unpacking from our recent Memorial Day weekend move in (moving day pics will be posted here soon). As a result of being taken away from PDX in an ambulance last Sunday, my Jeep is still in the airport employee parking lot. I'm in no condition to drive, anyway… Kathy picks me up for each rare occasion that I can leave the house.

I cherished the opportunity to attend church this morning (especially since Michaela was being baptized!), although I didn't have the pain tolerance to stand for more than a couple minutes at a time. Fellowshipping with our church family was the top, if not the only, highlight of my week.



Unexpectedly, some of my ministry meetings and mentoring sessions are being relocated to here in my living room. I am grateful that people would drive a little further to accommodate me, but I try my best to not feel like a burden. I never realized until now how challenging it can be to serve in ministry and yet allow myself to be ministered to.

A Painfully Tight Squeeze

Last Sunday morning, a freak accident at work nearly crushed my leg and left me swollen, sleepless, and crippled for the time being. For those of you keeping score, a few months ago I moved back down to the Delta bagroom after working the passenger lobby and the airport gates for the first part of 2010. The current setup in the bagroom hosts an unusually high percentage of Delta's on the job injuries at PDX, and this incident is one of the most painful in recent memory. Sounds fun? Well, here's how it went down:

I had been working for over six hours straight (typical for my 10-hour bagroom shift, which starts at 4 a.m.) without as much as a sit down or short coffee break. When my lunch relief arrived to cover my 30 minute lunch break, a wrong number that rang at Pier 1 (the cramped baggage carousel where I currently work) prompted me to walk over to Pier 2 to deliver a phone message.

Following safety procedures, I approached the agent by walking around the end of a stationary string of heavy dollies (flatbed trailers that we call "transporters", much like the one pictured above [Photo added 6/16]) which were carrying baggage containers. Apparently, the string of transporters which I was standing next to were either originally pulled in from around a corner (placing me at the inside of a left turn) or about to be pulled closer to the concrete curb that I was near.

Either way, when the driver suddenly pulled the string forward, the transporters that I was standing next to didn't go past me. They came toward me.

A container knocked me forward, and the metal transporter underneath it quickly pinned both of my feet and ankles against the curb. I yelled for the driver to stop, but he must not have heard me (the driver is a very nice guy and a good worker, by the way). The string of transporters slowed to a crawl (maybe a brief stop?), but then they started moving forward again.

As the pressure increased on my ankles, I realized that my lower legs above my ankles were also being crushed. I screamed again at the top of my lungs to stop, and the string of transporters finally came to a halt. "Back up!" I screamed, with both of my legs pinned between the transporter and the curb. Several seconds passed, and I screamed louder, "Back up SLOWLY!" Someone (the driver?) yelled, "Backing up!" and the wheels finally started turning in reverse.

When my legs were freed, I collapsed onto the high point of the curb, swung my limp legs around the side, and sat up. My left leg was just a little scraped up, but my right leg had a slight indent along the outside, complete with a small puncture wound (miraculously, there was no loss of blood) from where the top of my steel-toe boots gave way to flesh.

I ignored the feeling of intense pressure in my lower legs as people rushed onto the scene and looked on in horror. Presumably in shock, I continued delivering my phone message to the agent, picking up right where I had left off…

As pictured [Photo added 6/15, although there were more graphic Flickr photos that could I have made "public" and posted here], an ambulance drove me from Delta Operations at Gate D-7 to St. Vincent's emergency room. A paramedic took this picture of me, I.V. dangling from my left arm, as the ambulance pulled into St Vincent's E.R. The smile on my face lasted about as long as the I.V.-delivered painkillers did.

The head usher at Aloha Church of God pulled Kathy out of the Sunday service to meet me in the emergency room. Pastor Tim and Janelle also graciously came to visit me (this turned out to be quite a scare for our church, even interrupting our service for a time of urgent prayer for me). Over 2.5 hours was spent in the E.R. while waiting, being treated, and getting X-Rayed. No bones were broken (though they couldn't be sure because of the swelling), but I had a small but nasty puncture wound, a great deal of swelling and discoloration, and a noticeable indent on the side of my right leg. I was eventually discharged via wheelchair, and Kathy drove me home.

I've barely slept since the accident. Even with heavy medication, the pain usually keeps me awake for most (and sometimes all) of the night. The pain kept increasing daily until Wednesday, when it finally leveled off. Whether awake or asleep, I often have memories or nightmares replaying the moment that my foot, ankle, and legs were being crushed. It's terrifying to experience that feeling of helplessness.

I am thankful that my leg was not destroyed. I am also thankful for the prayers that are being offered on account of me. Even though God has not delivered me from this pain yet, I trust that He is working through this situation. Most of us experience suffering from time to time, and I am still waiting to hear what He wants me to learn from all of this. I'm not going anywhere soon. I've got nothing but time.

Meet the New Homeowners! (Part 1)

I am posting this with my HTC Hero phone from the set of a TV film (in between takes) that is being filmed in downtown Portland. The hour is getting very late and remote blogging is tedious, so please overlook any misspellings or awkward phrasings.



We finally did it! Cinco de Mayo is no longer solely a celebration of Summer's (my little sister) birthday or Mexico's independence.


May 5^th now marks our independence from apartment living. We bought our first house!!


About two weeks ago, which was more than eight weeks after we submitted a bid on our house in Beaverton (in addition to the initial six weeks
of house hunting), the home loan funded and Diana our realtor handed me the keys as I finished my Delta work shift at PDX Airport. Both Shawn our mortgage broker and Diana agreed that buying a HUD house with an FHA loan resulted in one of the most complicated home purchases that they had ever seen. It was worth it, though!

Kathy and I had initially agreed that we didn't want to bother with a fixer-upper, but she fell in love with the house when we first toured it on March 7^th
(and also later that month with our parents).
This house was actually my second choice, but I needed no persuasion other than the look on Kathy's face as we walked from room to room. How could I resist?



With a roomy floor plan and a 1/3 acre lot (check out the back yard!), this three bedroom/ two bathroom home stole our hearts. Both the appraiser and the building inspector whom we hired assured us that the recommended repairs were numerous (my dad compiled a seven page list of action items) but minor. Aside from some weathered exterior siding and considerable dry rot in the master bathroom, the house is solid.

Bo, as I lovingly call my dad, had been meticulously helping us track the financial portion of the transaction ever since we first made the offer on the house.

Once I got the house keys, Bo eagerly accepted our offer to spearhead the lion's share of the necessary clean-up/ repairs prior to our move-in date. Bo has been putting in long hours each day to fix up our house, even while Kathy and I are working our day jobs and serving in student ministry.

After Bo replaced the locks, we started the work by scraping the toxic "popcorn" texture off of the ceilings of the family room and kitchen.


We were covered in white powder and debris at the end of each day.

The following Saturday, we invited our friends and church family over for a clean-up day to prepare for the next round of work. We are so grateful for good friends! Amy, Allen, Bo, Eleanor, Gary, Kenny, Peggy, Tom, Wendy, and our friends Mike and Kym dropped by to help us out for the day, and some of them helped out during the week, too. We scrubbed the windows and walls (who knew that they were actually white underneath?)...


...pulled blackberry bushes (Kym and Gary are outside my window in this photo)...



...killed weeds...




...and started taping off areas that of the rooms that needed to be protected from our painting project the following week.



In addition to all of his hard work, Bo also met with my friend Mike to plan out some of the upcoming plumbing fixes.



Diana our realtor even sent some pizzas over to us for lunch!

It's a shame that we didn't take any adequate "before" pictures… the house had been severely neglected by the previous owner (even before he was evicted), and it originally looked pretty nasty. It seemed like a totally different house (the interior, anyway) by the time we headed back to our apartment that evening.

My film shoot is about to wrap for the night/ early morning, so I will give an update on our priming and painting in an upcoming post. I plan to upload some photos to this post when I get home [Update: Photos added 5/29/10]. There are only two more days until we move in!

Student Ministry Newsletter- July 2009

[May 8, 2010] I know, I know... Everyone's waiting for me to post photos of our new house (Diana, my realtor, handed me the keys at work this past Wednesday!). I hope to get those pics up soon, but first I decided to raid my archives for a student ministry newsletter from last summer. I'll be posting the rest of last year's ministry newsletters as time allows, and check back SOON for photos of our new house!

Aloha ChoG Student Ministry Newsletter- July 2009

The Class of 2009 has made it! We had several seniors graduate from high school this year, and four were core members of our student ministry at Aloha ChoG. From Aloha High: Kevin Gade, Alissa Degman, and Sam Fleig. From Merlo Station: Emmaleigh Mallery.



Aloha High's graduation ceremony was well attended and highly emotional, and we heard that Emmaleigh gave a wonderful speech at her own graduation. The last time we checked, Alissa, Sam, and Emmaleigh were planning to attend PCC and Kevin was heading for Warner Pacific. We are so proud of them and pray God's blessings on them in their future.

Our graduates, as well other young people who are hopeful of a brighter future, can relate to our new teaching series, "Leaving the Old Place." We've been following the story of God using such an unlikely leader as Moses (and Aaron, to support his leadership) to deliver the Israelites from slavery… not that high school is slavery!

Two of our biggest fundraisers for International Youth Convention 2010 helped us pick up steam for the big event next summer.

The first, our annual rummage sale, was held here at the church on Saturday, May 30. The students worked hard on Friday night sorting the donations and setting up the displays. Then they stayed all day Saturday to assist the "rummagers" and ring up purchases. The sale was well attended and, thanks to the abundance of donations, is tentatively scheduled to make a second run this fall.

Our other fundraiser, the June 14 dessert auction, brought in more cash for IYC. There was quite a variety of treats to bid on, from cheesecake to freshly baked cookies. We got a kick out of watching the King's Kids "bidding" on items, too. To top it all off, Tom Peterson made his sophomore (no, not sophomoric) appearance as our energetic auctioneer.






The next Friday, a few of us took a campus tour of Warner Pacific College...

...Followed the next day by a beach trip for a couple carloads of our students on July 20th.

To our surprise, Seaside was featuring a "Father's Day Cruise-In."



After gawking at the classic cars on display, we toured the shops and wasted some pocket change at the arcade. The sun eventually drew us to the beach, although the air remained a bit chilly.



Some of us were even bold enough to brave the icy cold water!

Our upcoming car wash at the Burger King on TV Highway is scheduled for Saturday, July 25 [2009... This is a past event]. All of the proceeds will go to our IYC 2010 fund. We could use volunteers to help us out for any amount of time during the day. Please let Garth, Kathy or Wendy know if you are willing and able. If nothing else, we would love to wash your car!

In His Grip,

Youth Pastors Garth and Kathy Hamilton

And for those of you can't get enough of our student ministry, here are some bonus photos:


Our graduates eat pizza, receive gifts, and get prayed for (students are laying hands on Alissa in this second photo) at our School's Out Party.



Derek takes a tumble during a Wednesday night game of soccer at church.




Mickey D's



Ben directs traffic towards our rummage sale fundraiser, all while trying to find his way out of a plastic bag.