September is here, Kids going back to school, Mosquito's aren't as thick.

We are enjoying our new life in Lehi UT. Daughter is returning to school. Back to work full time now for 4 months. Basement rooms finished and moving in. Glad the Mosquito's aren't as thick. I don't post much because I guess I'm getting back to life. Below are picture of my new neighborhood and backyard WHERE I CAN EXPLORE. I went on a 5 mile roll up to the windmills. It took me 1 1/2 hours. Longest solo trip yet. I came back home in the dark.

Our home modifications and basement rooms are almost done

We started in March and now they are nearing completion. We are so glad. Taking the Express bus to work is working well too.

Publish Post

Starting my 4th week back at Full Time

It has taken me 10 months since my release from the Hospital, but I have finally ramped back up to 40 hours. It has been a challenging trip, but I have made it. I have had good days and some bad days, but I roll on. I have been driving the 54 mile round trip but decided to try the express bus. It is only 3 miles from my house, takes 3 to 5 minutes to hydraulically load me in the side but it is so much better and easier than driving. Our basement room finishing is happening and also home modifications for me start tomorrow. Here is a picture of me when We moved into our home and I could not find my shaver for a week


The whole family together.

Recent News! We've sold our home in Murray, Bought our Lehi digs and am weeks away from going back to work Full time.

It has been a long time coming, but we no longer are Salt lake county property owners. We sold it and closed last week. Between improvements, repairs, new furnace, Realtor fees, and falling real estate market, we lost nearly $100,000 to get it sold. We could not have sold it at a worst time, but we could not have lived there either. At least a nice family lives there now and we do not have double payments. We love our now home, neighborhood and Ward. 27 mile commute is a little long but livable. Takes about 45 minutes each way. Life moves forward........................

One Year Anniversary...

Hi there...David's daughter Nicole checking in. I just wanted to share the post I put on my blog today. What an amazing year it's been.

One Year Since The Gaping Jaws of Death

Some people's heroes are religious, political, historical, or celebrity. But some of the most influential heroes are those that directly impact your life. In my life, my hero is my father, David Eugene Watson.Dad and I have always been very close. He is full of love, guidance, humor, and spirituality. I love to spend time with my parents, and it's been hard to move further than 20 minutes away from Murray. This picture of us was taken in April 2007 at the SLC airport. He was kind enough to bring my beloved Cafe Rio pork barbacoa salad to the airport on my 2 hour layover so we could chat. It was really hard on him when I moved away from Utah. Little did I know that when I moved to Michigan, I'd be seeing him more than ever...

On January 11, 2008, my dad was returning to Salt Lake from St. George in a van with some of his coworkers in the LDS Church Audiovisual Engineering Department. In central Utah, near Fillmore, the driver of the van fell asleep, was startled awake then over corrected. The van tumbled off I-15 and rolled several times through a field. The driver sustained a shoulder injury and needed some plastic surgery from the shattered glass. The front passenger had minor cuts and bruises. My father was nearly killed from the impact of the crash and subsequent rolling. He had a giant abdominal gash from the seat belt, a lung injury, major contusions all over his body, and his legs were crushed under the weight of his body, particularly his left leg. He was briefly taken to Fillmore Hospital, and soon Life Flighted to Salt Lake City and rushed by ambulance to Intermountain Medical Center in Murray. My mom alerted me of the accident that evening, less than a week after arriving in Michigan. Rosie and I packed up our bags and took the earliest available flight to SLC. Once I arrived, I was appointed as the family representative to talk to all the surgeons, doctors, nurses, respiratory techs, and hospital workers...and then relay the information to my family.

His first surgery was overnight with an orthopedic surgeon, vascular surgeon, and general surgeon. They did a saphenous vein graft from his other leg to restore bloodflow to his crushed leg. After nine hours, they were able to restore bloodflow to the left leg. However, his body was in shock and had endured so much trauma that he was medicated into a chemically-induced coma.

Over the next few days, several more surgeries were required. Unfortunately, the trauma of the crush wound and the extended hours without blood supply was too severe and his left leg was amputated. It was originally expected to be amputated just below the knee, but the necrosis had spread further up, and the amputation was done just above the knee.

In order to keep friends and family informed, I started a blog for his health updates. News of my dad's accident spread like wildfire, even internationally. We were the recipient of thousands of prayers, hundreds of service hours, and dozens of meals and cards.

Throughout the next two weeks after the surgery, his condition improved. He was doted on by many loving people, in addition to the wonderful staff at IMC. On my 28th birthday, February 5th, dad "graduated" from IMC and was transferred to Aspen Ridge Transitional Rehab. This would become his home for the next four months.

Rosie and I traveled back and forth from Detroit as much as possible to encourage him through his recovery. It was difficult to be away from him all the time, but a blessing to have our pass benefits to travel to SLC for free whenever we needed to.

Dad made incredible progress at Aspen Ridge. He had hundreds of hours of physical and occupational therapy.

Taylor loved to fly out to SLC as often as possible to be my dad's right hand man. There's a saying about girls wanting to marry men like their fathers...let's just say they get along amazingly.
Dad was fitted with a prosthetic C-Leg, and spent the majority of his physical therapy time adjusting to the function of the prosthetic. Unfortunately, his right leg had sustained more damage from the accident than originally anticipated, so he spends the majority of time getting around in his wheelchair.
In June, Dad graduated from Aspen Ridge, and my family moved an apartment in downtown Salt Lake. It became their home for the next six months. Dad was fitted with hand controls on the van, and was able to start driving and returning to work.
This picture was taken on my last trip at Christmas at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, just one week before they moved out of the apartment and into a new home in Lehi. It was a great night, going around to see the lights at Temple Square as a family. It amazed me that I was able to visit him 9 times in 2008, when I'd originally expected to see him every 3-4 months. Hopefully his recovery will continue, and he'll be up for a visit to our new home in Atlanta!

He still has a hard road ahead of him, but I am amazed at the progress he's made in the last year. He has kept his sweet soul and has not allowed the tragedy that he faced to ruin his spirit. He was been an inspiration to many, and I'm so lucky that I can claim him as my own father.

Our new home. I hope 2009 is better than 2008.

We moved in on Saturday 27 Dec 2008. Our new home is so "wheelchair friendly". We will be unpacking for weeks. Still need to sell the Murray home of 15 years.

December has come, We have found our new Home and still need to sell the old one. Dropped the Price to $309,000

We found a home at Thanksgiving Village in Lehi. It was made for someone in a Wheelchair. Perfect for me. We move in in less than a Month. We have dropped our home price now $43,000. Need it sold soon. http://www.utahrealestate.com/850530

November is here, Lowered our home price $25,000. I hope it sells soon.

I'm back at work 20 hours a week going towards 25 hours. The Election is now over and we will wander in the wilderness for a while. I hope our home sells soon. Here are some new pictures. Only $324,900.

Summer has ended, our home has not sold, I am up to 20 hours a week at work.

Walking around our apartment







Stacy and Randy, my Physical Therapists.

Our Youngest goes off to College this week.

The time has come and Mary leaves for college. We are getting ready to take here up to BYU-Idaho where her sister also went. This will be our first vacation in a year and a half so very much needed after all that has happened. We get one or two looks a week at our home. We hope someone makes an offer soon. Shawn has been downtown with us for 17 days and is settling in nicely. I'm back at work now 15 hours a week and doing fine. I found out Friday that my Boss of 9 years has a new assignment so I get a new one. This will be interesting. Our new life goes one......

Our home is now listed and our cat has been adopted.

See our home For Sale at http://www.utahrealestate.com/821031.
Mystic was adapted today by a nice woman who loves Persian cats. Shawn will move in with us this weekend.
I have been back to work for a month now and am ramping up from 10 to 15 hours a week.
More soon.

Views from the new Apartment

Current situation: One month after Leaving Rehab.

It has been just over one months since leaving Aspen Ridge. My family and I now live in downtown Salt Lake and actually enjoyed it. It's 3 blocks from work and I have visited there many times. Physical therapy is three times a week and quite grueling. I've been trying to prove I'm completely independent by getting everywhere by wheelchair and light rail (TRAX). It usually takes me four hours to go to my physical therapy sessions three times a week. That's 12 hours a week. When I get there after spending about an hour and 15 minutes wheeling myself up hills and through long corridors of hospitals I'm exhausted. And then I'm not very useful as far as doing the physical therapy activities themselves. I'm going to have a serious talk with my case manager Spencer about doing things differently. I need assistance in getting to and from the hospital . Either I can drive or get there by taxi or whatever, but this current method is not going to work; plus I can't afford to take 12 hours a week away from work just to do physical therapy. I am almost out of sick leave and I cannot afford that pay cut. So yes we will have a serious talk .

Selling our home. All our preparations are going well and we have a painter there painting the main floor and other areas and it looks beautiful. My wife choose a paint color that just looks wonderful and I think the new owners will love it. We have a storage unit and have moved our first 6 Pickup loads over. I hope by the end of the month to have the house ready to list.

We haven't found a temporary or long-term home for our cat. We are kind of thinking that maybe out of fairness if someone does want to take our cat, let them take her completely and not asked for her back. If they bond with her, it's not fair to ask for her back . So if you are interested, Mystic or Golden Eyes would make a great new addition to your home.

Well those are the basics. I will probably have more later but I haven't put anything new for some time so I thought I'd better add something for those of you who do check out my blog. Signing off for now.

As always,
David