I usually write about fashion & lifestyle topics here, but April 15th is a significant day in our house, & not just because taxes are due. Seven years ago today, I nearly lost my husband. Actually, he was my fiancee at the time; our wedding was set for October 31, 2003.
What happened? J is an architect & was standing on a 16-foot ladder, trying to get onto the roof of a building that his firm was renovating. It was unusually hot that day & the roof hatch was stuck; as he gave the hatch an especially hard push, the ladder came out from under him. Fortunately, someone was with him & called 911 immediately. The stairs were narrow & rickety, so the fire department had to remove him from the building via a fourth-floor window - downtown, at rush hour, no less. The ambulance immediately took him to Shock Trauma, not far from the site of the accident.
I knew nothing of this for several hours. When I got home from work, there were phone messages from his office & mine; people had been frantically trying to get a hold of me. I finally spoke with his firm's secretary & was told he'd been in an accident on the job site. The fact that he'd been taken to Shock Trauma made me (literally) sick to my stomach. As the name implies, you don't end up there unless you're in pretty bad shape. Because we weren't married yet, it took me a couple of hours to get the hospital's authorization to drive downtown & see J. All that time, I had no idea what had happened, only that it was very serious.
When I arrived at the hospital, J was on a gurney, naked except for a sheet. His clothes had been cut off at the accident scene. (Ever the smart alec, he informed me of his clothesless state with a smirk.) I stayed with him into the wee hours of the morning, only leaving the room when the hospital staff needed to x-ray him or (ugh) put his right leg in traction. The results of the x-rays were frightening: he'd fractured his right shoulder & broken the right side of his pelvis in five places, including the hip socket. J is a marathon runner who has qualified for Boston twice. When I asked one of the doctors when he'd be able to run again, she replied, "Run? Let's work on walking first." Hardly what I wanted to hear, and I was glad J was on so much morphine that he missed that comment. Eventually, we decided it was best for me to go home and get some sleep (something which was not going to come that night without the aid of a cocktail!)
J spent a week in the hospital. He could have been operated on within a day or two, but the hospital wanted the best orthopaedic surgeon on their staff to do the surgery, so we had to wait untill the weekend. It was a very long week. I paid no attention to visiting hours, staying far beyond those times, & am sure I made a few enemies on the hospital staff, but I was too worried about J to care. I brought him balloons, food, a plant, an Easter basket, magazines - anything I thought might cheer him up. At first, he was on too much morphine to read; he'd even nod off in the middle of a sentence, sleep for a few minutes, & pick up the conversation where he'd left off, providing both of us with some much-needed comic relief.
Finally, the surgery was done; Humpty Dumpty had been put back together again. The breaks had been very clean & J was in great health before the fall, so his prognosis was as good as it could be. A physical therapist began teaching him to bounce up & down a flight of stairs on his backside - an important skill, since he wouldn't be able to walk for 10 weeks - & he was sent home. Despite the stair-bouncing lessons, he spent his first few weeks at home in a rented hospital bed that took up a substantial portion of our living room. He received in-home physical therapy, spent a lot of time watching movies, & even did some work from home (talk about an odd reason to be telecommuting!) Luckily, he had excellent Worker's Compensation coverage through his firm; otherwise, this medical adventure would have cost us a quarter of a million dollars.
J was a model patient & made an amazing recovery. Our wedding went on as scheduled - we even performed in a play together the month before the Big Day - & he wasn't up to much running on our honeymoon, but snorkeling was fine. He was able to resume running marathons in 2004 & has since been in a few "ultra-running" events as well, including a 50-miler to celebrate his 50th birthday in 2008. The doctors warned him that he may eventually develop arthritis in his right hip, but so far, he's had no sign of that.
Awful as this whole ordeal was for us, we were very lucky. J could have been paralyzed or even killed in such a serious fall. As I mentioned before, we were well-insured, so we were spared the financial ruin that can accompany a medical catastrophe. We also had amazing support from our families, friends, & co-workers, for which we're grateful every day, not just on April 15th.
Oh, & I caught J on a stepladder in the kitchen this morning, which gave us both a good laugh. He has to climb a larger ladder in the show he's currently rehearsing. As long as there's no roof hatch involved, I guess I can deal with that... but I'll try not to think about it.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Life can change in an instant
Monday, March 22, 2010
J. Peterman skirt, Lulu Guinness bag, BR outlet twin set, Ferragamo shoes
Last Friday evening, my husband & I were able to have our first outdoor meal of the year. After the insane amount of snow we had this past winter, dining al fresco was an extra-special treat! We went to b, a cute neighborhood bistro with amazing food. I celebrated by wearing the Ferragamo shoes we both fell in love with on our trip to Florence last December & carrying my new Lulu Guinness bag. The Ferragamos are reproductions of a vintage style originally created for Peggy Guggenheim. They're amazingly comfy & I plan to seek out more shoes by this brand, although my subsequent pairs - like the ones I purchased before splurging on these - will probably have to be clearance sale or secondhand finds!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Gershwin Hotel lobby, NYC
My husband & I are notorious NYC hotel-hoppers. We like to have a safe place to stash our stuff during the day, & lack of bedbugs is always a plus, but we're not in Manhattan to hang out in the hotel room, so we've been known to overlook many things (unbelievably tacky decor, hard beds, & lack of washcloths included) to snag a great rate. This past weekend, we scored big-time, because we managed to land a great deal at a place with style, great service, & a killer location on 27th street (just steps from some of the best vintage/antiques shopping I've ever found!) Unlike most hotels in this price range, the Gershwin isn't decorated in watery pastel shades & generic furniture. Paint colors here are vibrant & many of the furnishings appear to have been hand-selected at flea markets or really, really good yard sales. If we'd had some kitties to pet, we'd truly have been right at home.
Lulu Guinness large icon Jenny bag
Let's see, it has a black cat, a cameo, red roses, & all kinds of other girly stuff on it - yes, it was meant to be mine. I had actually been stalking this bag since last fall & was lucky enough to snag it for 70% off last weekend, both due to persistence & the great sales associates at Lulu's Bleecker Street shop. Now I have my eye on another Lulu bag, but isn't that always how these things go?
NYC umbrellas... well, former umbrellas... 3-14-10
How can you tell you love a place? For us, one way to know that is to visit in absolutely hideous weather & still manage to have a good time. After the nastiest winter we've had in years, & with other stresses consuming way too much of our time & energy, Mr. Altocat & I decided to spend last weekend in one of our favorite cities - New York! The weather was rainy & icky on Friday & even worse on Saturday (add even more rain & high winds, & you get the picture.) Things were clearer on Sunday, but it still rained a bit. Neither one of us is the type to stay in the hotel room & watch TV - we've walked around Manhattan in snow halfway up our calves before - so we put up our umbrellas (we "killed" two over the weekend; they ended up looking much like the ones in this picture) & ventured out. Our weekend was filled with performances (burlesque at the Slipper Room & "The Nose" at the Metropolitan Opera), great food (Zucca, I Coppi, & Bagel Boss), shopping (a Lulu Guinness bag for me, a vintage Armani coat for Mr. Altocat, & a big surprise - a Tiffany key pendant *from* him!), & friends, one old, one new. New York, we love you, and you are a magical place, even in awful weather.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Carolina Herrera skirt, Miu Miu shoes, Saks Sweater
Another opening, another show... my husband is playing Roscoe in a local production of "Follies" & this is what I wore on opening night (last Friday.) The cast lost a whole weekend of performances due to the ridiculous snowstorms we've had recently, so they'll only get to do the show 6 times, but audiences & reviews have been good. After schlepping around in "snow clothes" for a few days, it feels great to wear "real" outfits again!
I found this Carolina Herrera skirt at Century 21 in Manhattan. Even at a deep discount, it cost more than I usually spend on one item, but I adore it & get tons of compliments on it. The Saks sweater was a Christmas gift from one of my Fashionism friends (thanks again, C!) & the Miu Miu shoes were a Saks splurge a couple of years ago. They're surprisingly comfy & I love their over-the-top look. Other details: Betsey Johnson tights, New York & Company tank, vintage jewelry.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Manolo, how could you?
Just when I thought the obsession with denim couldn't go any farther, or get any uglier, I've been proved wrong once again. If you're interested in these Manolo Blahnik "sneaker heels", they will set you back $785. That's more than my snakeskin & patent MB pumps (the only pair of Blahniks in my closet, which I scored at a deep discount two years ago) originally retailed for. Manolo has made pricey denim shoes before, in the form of blingy-buckled d'Orsay pumps & Chuck Taylor-type heels, but these are a new low in my opinion.
Many times, I have posted both here & on a couple of fashion chat boards how sick I am of seeing denim everywhere. It's not edgy any more, folks, it's boring. Jeans are casual wear. I say that as someone who owns a few pairs, but seldom wears them, although I will more than likely put on my Old Navy boyfriend jeans to go to our friends' Superbowl party this afternoon since we have over two feet of snow & will have to walk about a mile each way. Heck, I wore overalls all the time in the early 90's, in denim & various other fabrics. Artsy-girl-geek-chic, anyone? I really miss the dark blue matte-finish silk ones I bought from Tweeds & literally wore out. I just want to see a little more variety, especially since I often hear friends & acquaintances complain that they feel they HAVE to wear denim certain places because "that's what everyone else will be wearing".
Besides, these shoes are just plain hideous. Shame on you, Manolo Blahnik, & you, too, Neiman Marcus.
