Crying Steel Toe Boots

During the first week, we had so many visitors. We had security called on us a couple of times. LSU police had to come and tell us to clear the halls. Bunch of dudes in steel toe boots and tear stained faces wandering the halls at LSU hospital is a very scary sight to some people. I can't stand to see men in steel toe boots cry. It is like a reflex, I just cry right along with them. All those boys that Heath worked with, went to high school with, rode the back roads with - they were all there. They were terrified - right along with us. They all had a memory in their mind of Heath that they were hanging onto. Maybe it was that big grin or that song they drank a cold one to, or maybe the football game that they won. It was all over their sweet, sad faces. I could barely look at them without crying. My memory was from my wedding reception when I decided that people weren't enjoying "Mustang Sally" enough, so I decided to jump up on the stage and "sang"it. After a few lines, Heath decided I shouldn't be alone in embarrassing myself and climbed up there with me. A strategic music stand hides my face in the picture above which I'm sure looks similar to Heath's - so I owe a big fat thank you to that music stand. Hang onto those memories - it's going to get you to the day when we can make more.

The people that visited were friends, extended family, and some strangers. The strangers that came to comfort us already had a bond to us. Burn survivors. Burn survivors... did you hear me? These were people that had went through what Heath was going through and was sitting here talking to us and they were OK. They were beautiful. They were strong. They were survivors. Their stories will make grown men with stone hearts cry. Three families visited us and shared their awesome stories.

One man had everything go wrong that could - but he walked out of that burn unit. After being burned over 70% of his body, he missed his helicopter to LSU, then on day 2 had a heart attack. Then a blood clot threatened the health of his leg. His wife had signed papers to amputate, then God stepped in and decided he needed both legs. As he and his wife described the trauma and devastation that they had been through, I watched my parents finally breathe a sigh of relief. They hadn't been breathing for 5 days. The tears they were crying now were that of relief and joy. They knew it would be OK. The fear loosened its grip on them and we thanked Billy with a big bear hug.

Vanessa, a beautiful woman and southern belle, had been involved in a plane crash. The small plane crashed into a wooded area and she and 3 others walked through woods, with briar's tearing at her burned flesh, and climbed fences to find a highway. A passing truck stopped and she climbed into the bed of the pickup and was carried to a hospital.

Scotty was a welder that was burned at a compressor station. He aspirated the "drip" and had severe internal burns. The doctors could not keep their hands in his "guts" to assess the damage because the heat was so intense. That day he was there to give the doctors a hat and shoes -as a souvenir from a trip he had been on. He's family to them. He said they saved his life and he is forever grateful.

These beautiful people are in a club - the burn survivors club. And without ever meeting Heath to see if he qualified to be in the club, he was accepted as the newest member. He is going to hurt and we are going to have to watch, but he is going to survive and be stronger than ever. After the tube came out and he could finally talk, he said to me "A, the doctors said if I worked hard and worked with them I will be 100% of the man I was before" and I looked him in the eye and said "Nope, Heaf, you're gonna be 150% of the man you used to be. You'll be a better man because you survived this".

Til Tomorrow!