Déjà Vu

 

     A little over 2 years ago, life could've taken a very different route. Many of you might remember that my wife, Nani, had to have jaw surgery. During the surgery, she had some complications and flat lined for a minute. That moment, at the time, was the worst moment of my life. Obviously, those who know us know that this story had a happy ending. Although, this story might've not even happened if it wasn't for her idiot surgeon, but that's another story for another time. Actually I guess it does need to be told to understand why she flat lined in surgery. I'm not going to tell you his name is Dr. McBee and that he works in American Fork, because I'm not that petty... 😏 Oh my bad. Well I'm too lazy to delete that so I guess I am. Anyways, there were 3 surgeries that had to take place. The first one was the only one Nani and I had planned on.
      I used up all my PTO to be at the hospital and take care of Naia, because we knew how much pain she would be in. Right after the surgery ended, we figured something wasn't right. Nani's swelling in her lips and jaw got really bad, and got worse and worse as the days passed by. She was having a severe allergic reaction to the pain meds she was given. When we went back into the doctor, we found out her screws in one side of her jaw had stripped. So we were going to have to schedule another surgery to fix them. Doctor 🤡 also told us she wasn't having an allergic reaction and that she was fine. The day of the 2nd surgery, I was at work because I didn't have any PTO left. Also, I felt like everything was going to be fine. You know that feeling? Nothing bad will happen to you or your loved ones because that stuff doesn't happen to you feeling? Yeah, I'm pretty sure everyone has felt that. Anyways, I was at work at Doterra. My boss, spencer, and I are homies. So we saw eye to eye on a lot of things and we decided we were going to run the machine during lunch, and get some extra bottles of oil filled. Yeah, we were all about the numbers. Probably one of the first times we decided to do that in a long time. The machine is located inside of a clean room so that the oils don't get contaminated. There are big glass windows on the front and back walls so you can see in and out. When we decided to work through lunch, I decided I would go into the clean room and run the machine. Not thinking, I left my phone on the table outside of the clean room. First time I didn't have it in my pocket. Everything was going smooth running the machine, until I started hearing this loud banging on the window. I looked up to see my brother in law, Bula, banging on the window. When I looked at him, I instantly had a bad feeling. He threw the door open and yelled, "We gotta go!" I ran over to the door and asked, "What happened." He repeated what he said and just started running. I chased after him as my heart sank. I was throwing my lab coat and everything off as we ran to the car past everyone in the warehouse. As I jumped in the car, Nani's oldest sister Kiko said to me, "Nani flat lined during surgery and we don't know what's going on." I remember being in shock that whole car ride to the hospital. I was just in disbelief. When we arrived at the hospital, Kiko and I were trying to find out where she was located. Once we got into the ICU, I remember seeing my mother in law balling. I ran past her to find my wife and when I saw her laying in the hospital bed, everything hit me all at once and I cried just like I did for Kahea. I felt helpless as Nani laid there in a coma. She stayed in a coma for a day and then she woke up. She would end up making a full recovery after that and she is healthy now. I know some of you reading this might be thinking, "I thought she had 3 jaw surgeries? That's only 2. Dom must've failed math in high school." Well, jokes on you... because I did. Nah nah, just kidding. Anyways, she ended up having to have another surgery because her heart stopped after Dr. 🤡 pulled the screws out, and so one side of her jaw was only being held together by elastics around her braces. So they had to go in and replace those screws. I know reading this story, ol' Dr. boy might not seem that bad, but I left out a lot of details because he isn't worth the energy. I remember after the whole situation feeling pretty invincible. What I mean by that is, we just went through what would've been someone's worst nightmare, and yet we were still intact. Life was always going to go the way I imagined it. I control my own destiny. Now I believe that's partially true. The outcome isn't in my hands, but in God's. If nani didn't survive from that surgery, we never would've had the chance to meet Kahea in this life. So, even though she didn't out live me like she was supposed to, it was still a miracle/blessing that we got to meet her at all. So I am grateful for that. It's very hard to think positive thoughts like that most of the time. The sorrow feels so heavy at times that I feel myself drowning in it. It's a very vulnerable feeling that comes and goes at the most random times. The pain still feels the same, even though it has been 4 months now. I think you just learn to live with the pain. The pain becomes apart of you and life goes on. Its mostly noticeable to me, when I look at my wife. Hopefully she doesn't kill me for sharing this, but before this happened Nani was a warrior. She still is. Don't get my wrong, but this is the first time I've seen a chink in her armor. I'm not gonna go into detail about her, because it's not mine to share. I also don't want anyone to over exaggerate what I said. She's in no way falling apart or anything, but she was always my greatest role model because I always felt like she had no weakness. Yet through it all, she finds the strength to push on after losing the person that she spent the most time with the past 9 months. There isn't anyone I would rather go through this with than her. I'm just grateful that she's here still, because going through it without her was terrible. Now I have her for comfort and vice versa. It's been a process, but thanks to everyone who has helped us and made both experiences a little easier. Also, thanks to my super wife who still is the strongest person I know. Also, thanks to my 2 wonderful kids, for giving my life purpose. Although our family has been broken a little, we're still moving forward together. Together is the only way that we've made it through this so far, and that's how it's going to stay. As stitch said, "This is my family. It's little and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good."

One of the many times that the duo of troublemakers teamed up. Naia decided to share his candy with his sister in the seat next to him. Who obviously never said no to junk food in her life. ❤💕