Wrecked Car + Fracture Foot = Shinny New Tablet

Day1- Day of the incident:

Well it's been a very crazy month.  My husband is no longer grounded from buying toys but amazingly he has not gone in a crazy toy shopping spree.  Like I had mentioned before, he has really refocused his collection and has stooped buying random stuff.  I'm very proud of him.  

Husband sitting by his car waiting for
 emergency response.

In the past few weeks, he has really been pushing his blog, and I've been doing my chalk street festivals. So we've been very busy.  But in the pass few days it has been crazy.  All that I know is that one second I'm at work getting ready to leave to have lunch with my husband and the next second I'm convincing my husband to take an ambulance to the ER with obviously broken foot.  It made the rest of the day very interesting.  

The ER was you standard room, painted in sickly off colors, with a bed that looks like a gate to the after life gently covered with a bleached white sheet, and a cold metal nobs and plastic tubes everywhere,  steel cold sterile flooring, with curtains that fit a grandmothers 1970's retro style decor.  Most of the employees looked like they were doing their jobs but with a mentally tired look from having to switch between several languages as they are doing their daily tasks.  Most of the patients were there with minor injuries like a fall injury, a bee sting with an allergy reaction, asthma attack... you know common not threatening emergencies.  Our ER experienced became even more unique as we couldn't get any receptions on our iPhones but yet the lady next to us had a basic MetroPCS phone could get great reception. She was yelling, praying, talking and calling everybody including Jesus him self.  We felt bad because she was obviously in a lot of pain but it was funny to hear her reaction to who ever she was talking too.

XRay = 5 fractures plus a dislocated toe. Ouch!!!

The next six hours were very long, so we decided to be our selves.  You could see how nerdy we both are since were sitting in the ER with a misshapen foot and talking about e-bay toy auctions he lost or watching, some of the stuff his friends are doing with custom figures, and toy news.  It was a lot of fun and it kept my husband mind away from horrible pain in his right foot.  We were informed that he would have to stay over night and we had a suspicions it would require surgery.

Shortly after it was confirmed his foot was fracture in 5 different spots and had a dislocated big toe.  This bad news made me start making a list in my head of what to bring to the hospital for the extended stay.  At this point  the male nurse was wrapping his leg and foot and I asked him "What do you want me to bring you?".  The first thing that came out of his mouth was "My Laptop", the male nurse replied with "Good Answer".  I think this was the gold moment of the day.  At this point my husband had been in the ER for close to 5 1/2 hours and I could tell he was just ready to be over with this horrid day.  

He felt terrible that he accidentally wrecked the car he just bought just 4 months ago after he just finished paying back the amount he borrowed from our house down payment money.  I mean he just bought matching baby blue Adidas to match his car, and now he can't wear ether of them.  Oh irony.

The whole time he was by his car he was worried about the cost of the medical bills.  All reasonable things to worry about.  As for me, I was on "mission mode". I wanted him in the ER and take care of the car was priority one.  This would be fallowed by figuring out what's happening with him at the hospital after the car had been placed in a a safe place, and all the way at the end of my mind list was "how to pay for this". I guess I wasn't too worried because in my mind I saw it as just a broken foot.  Nothing fatal.  He was conscious, no vital organs broken or severely injured.  Plus he already survived having a calcified gallbladder. Now that is dangerous and literally almost fatal.

At this point is around 6:30PM and we are both spent in more than one way.  It was time for me to bring out the big guns to make him smile.  For some time I've been managing my finances very well and been saving a paying things off.  I finally had enough for not just a table, but a really good fancy tablet.  I was debating weather to not to make this a 1 year anniversary gift but due to circumstance I decided to make this a 6 month anniversary gift. The look on his face made it that table worth 10 times it value in gold. I'm very happy and can't wait to see him truly sit down and play with it when he's not totally medicated so he can enjoy it.

Day 2- Surgery

After a horrible day, this issue is starting to resolved it self.  My husband had been scheduled to go into surgery.  For me this was a Deja Vu moment from last year as he was laying on a hospital bed in a dim room they place patients before they go into surgery.  He was wearing the light blue hair cap, with bed sheets covering his body, and a tired dazed look in his face from the anesthesia and waking up around 7:00AM after being up and down all night.  He went in for surgery.

As for me I'm headed over the the surgery waiting room.  The room is covered with old tan and brown walls, uncomfortable seats, and tables full of old issues of popular pop culture magazine like People, Entertainment Weekly, so on and so forth.  By the door there was a small table that held coffee with small cheese danishes in a disposable black plastic bowl lined with a paper doily that was meant to give you a sense of comfort while you wait for the doctors to come out from surgery and give the news.  In this room all that you have is a sweet old lady that is a volunteer greeter, and a TV with basic cable that keeps your sanity as you are stuck in that little narrow room that can hold about 25 people.  The room next to the waiting room had a very dreaded look and energy.  It was labeled the "conference room" and it is used for the doctors to talk to the family when there are complications or the patient did not make it.  The walls were bare, and there were only two chairs and an old desk that held nothing important to anybody.  Walking by this room creep me out and I was very grateful that I'm not called in there today.

Tom Khayos Cyborg Foot.

While I was waiting in the waiting room I was doing my best to stay positive.  Families came in an out the few hours the seem extremely long.   I even got to watch the Bobble Guppies along with a few other kids shows for the little boy that was in the waiting in the room with us. I continue to use my husband lap top to review and study my materials for my class later that night. Finally the doctor came and it all looked well.  My husband was back in the room and he was ready to rest for the rest of the day.  He has officially been turn to a cyborg.  Well mainly a cyborg Foot. LOL

The surgery turn out to be full susses however, from the XRays it looks like the surgeon just went to Home Depot, picked up a couple of screws and drilled into his foot.  You can see what I'm talking about in the picture.

Day 3 - The healing process

Tom after Physical Therapy really enjoying
the ultimate Man Couch.

So it's been 24 hours since surgery and now my husband is ready for physical therapy.  So far he's doing pretty good and he can wiggle his toes.  Because of this, they will want to start him in physical therapy and get him moving around so his foot don't get blood clots.  As part of the therapy they teach him how to use crotches and they introduced him to the ultimate Man Couch.  This thing is pretty neat.  This recliner comes with a metal handle on the back and has wheel at the base for easy to move access.  It's a like a supped up wheelchair.  It seemed very comfortable and all it was missing is a place for beer, TV tray, and remote control.  He was truly a very happy man. My only fear is that he would request this couch for the house. LOL.  

While I can't get him the ultimate Man Couch, I decide to get him a comfy couch from IKEA for the house. This should make it really easy for him to be around the house. Plus he will have a new comfy couch and a new shinny tablet to enjoy once he's home. :D

New Ikea couch for Tom. :D

Can we keep the "GIANT ROBOT"

Well, February has flown by and another new month is here.  It seems almost surreal how fast time goes by the older you get. This month has been very eventful.  We just celebrated our fifth month of marriage, learned HTML, learned web software a little better, did my husband web page, re did my portfolio web page and I'm currently setting up the building blocks for hopefully my next business venture.  Life has been very productive.  As for my husband, his life has been very productive as well.

Voltron Giant Commander. This is
 before I fixed the box.

Currently he's been working on networking, and really producing high quality reviews, content, and materials for his blogs and facebook group.  While some wives see this as a waste of time, it makes him happy and it allows him to be him self after a horrific 8 hours shift working at a  high stress job.  Plus the new website, blog and group has really change his behavior as a collector.  I personally think both the social media and the time period he spent grounded from purchasing toys have really placed great perspective and focus on his collecting.  He has really shifted from just buying random stuff to collecting higher quality pieces.  He has especially shifted toward Japanese Vinyl toys.  

To be quite honest I'm very happy with new focus.  Granted the new items that he's been adding to his collection are larger 1-2 foot pieces, they tend to be rare, higher quality, unique and at times just cool as hell. The best part of it is that instead of me having to deal with at ton of 3 to 6 inch pieces all over the living room, the new piece are easy to move, and easy to clean (LOL).  As an artist I love looking at the concepts of each toy for inspiration.

In February he only picked up two big pieces.  One of them is a 2 foot Gundam vinyl figure of from E-Bay, and the other was a Voltron "Giant Commander" remote control toy that his mother found while she was cleaning around her house.  Apparently the Voltron is a pretty rare toy.  It's over 20 years old and he still has the box with all the pieces and instructions for it.  Sadly it wasn't in NIB (new in box) condition, but it was more like SHAB (still has a box) condition.  The box looked pretty rough, so I spent an afternoon fixing it up for him as a surprised for when came home from work that evening. He was thrilled.

Epic Gundam

As cool as the Voltro was, I personally think the Gundam is ten time cooler.  While I can't not say I'm a huge anime or a Gundam series nut, I do love the Gudam robots since I saw "Mobile Suite Gundam Wing" when I was in my early teens during the Toonami show on Cartoon Network.  That show was amazing. This Vinyl Gundam looks very sturdy, and I just want to grab it and hold it like a little girl drags around a dolly all over the place.  Call me a kid, but I'm glad that he is shifting to robot type stuff. I have a soft spot for model kits,and robots. 

I'm just strange that way...

Tomorrow is the Tampa Bay Toy and Comic Book convention.  We are not sure how busy it is going to be since we just had Megacon a few weeks back, but it's a great place to connect with some of the other local artist, vendors and toy collectors. 

Who knows... maybe we will find another awesome robot. I just hope they are not to crazy pricey so i can say "Yes, we can keep it."

The Toonami intro to the Mobile Suite Gundam Wing series. You just can't beat this.