
{"id":15378,"date":"2011-01-20T09:30:07","date_gmt":"2011-01-20T14:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=15378"},"modified":"2011-01-20T09:39:47","modified_gmt":"2011-01-20T14:39:47","slug":"choosing-to-see-the-glass-half-full","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2011\/01\/20\/choosing-to-see-the-glass-half-full\/","title":{"rendered":"Choosing to see the glass half full"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Living in a different light<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_15380\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15380\" style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2011\/01\/20\/choosing-to-see-the-glass-half-full\/kim-anderson11\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15380\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Kim-Anderson11.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Kim-Anderson11\" width=\"350\" height=\"263\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Kim-Anderson11.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Kim-Anderson11-113x84.jpg 113w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Kim-Anderson11-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Kim-Anderson11-106x80.jpg 106w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15380\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PHOTO BY LIZ HOLM. Kim Anderson stands in front of the home in which he was badly burned, now rebuilt.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>By Susan Dickson<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>There are moments in time that can forever alter the course of our lives, seconds that leave us perpetually wondering \u00e2\u20ac\u0153what if?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and events that permanently change the way we look at the world. March 10, 2010 brought one such moment for Kim Anderson. <\/p>\n<p>It would be easy to look at the events that surrounded that night \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including a fire that left 59-year-old Anderson with third-degree burns covering half his body \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and deem them horribly unlucky, but Anderson, a former pessimist by nature, has chosen to view them in a different light. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153For me to have this accident, it was rotten luck,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But in some other ways, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been incredibly lucky.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>The self-employed architect had been up most of the night of March 9 finishing drawings he was to deliver the next day. With his wife, Stephanie, away on business, Anderson cooked dinner on March 10 for his two children, Drew, 18, and Emma, 15, at their home near Calvander. After dinner, he dozed off on the couch, but was awoken by his daughter, who said that a grease fire had started in the kitchen. <\/p>\n<p>Anderson got Emma, Drew and the family dog, Jolene, out of the house and called 911. <\/p>\n<p>While telling the story, Anderson pauses before the next part \u00e2\u20ac\u201c one of those \u00e2\u20ac\u0153what if\u00e2\u20ac\u009d moments.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my major mistake: I went back in.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d  He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d hoped to stop the fire from spreading. But when Anderson didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come back out, Drew crawled in to get his father. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He basically saved my life,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Anderson said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I remember him saying \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcDad, we can get a new house \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 but I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get a new dad.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Anderson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s state of shock prevented him from realizing the severity of his burns; even after Drew pulled him out of the house, he continued to try to fight the fire, running around back to get the hose. When Drew grabbed his dad to prevent him from trying to fight the fire, skin from Anderson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arms deteriorated in Drew\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hands. <\/p>\n<p>After emergency services arrived on the scene, paramedics took Anderson to the Jaycee Burn Center at UNC Hospitals. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m very lucky to be alive, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m very lucky that my son was there and that the EMTs got me to the burn center in time,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have a facility here that saved my life.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>He would remain at that facility for the next four months. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Recovery<br \/>\n<\/strong>There is much of Anderson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story that he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t remember, and even more that he only remembers as a bizarre collage of dreams. Immediately after he arrived at the burn center, doctors put him into a medically managed coma; he wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t awaken until May. <\/p>\n<p>Stephanie Anderson arrived at the hospital the morning after the fire. Though she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been briefed by doctors on her husband\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s condition, nothing could prepare her for what she would see. Burn victims\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 bodies often swell, and Anderson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s head was the size of a medicine ball. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think the scariest moment was having to walk into the room for the first time and not knowing what to expect,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He was just unrecognizable.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d  <\/p>\n<p>For the next two months, she spent every day at the hospital, and was present as Anderson underwent five skin-grafting surgeries. After the first couple of weeks, Stephanie Anderson knew her husband would live, and promised him they would walk out together. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You could kind of see him emerge out of this weird body into who he was,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. As Anderson improved, doctors reduced his medication and slowly brought him out of his coma. <\/p>\n<p>That brought on new difficulties. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When you first realize the predicament you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in, and I can remember that very clearly because I was having trouble sleeping at night,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like undergoing the trauma all over again.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s suddenly very depressing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t look at it in a certain way, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re screwed.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>And while Anderson did become somewhat depressed, he set off down the long road to recovery, including learning to walk again. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153At times, I was not a very good patient, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Physical therapy is very, very painful.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m 59 years old, and I cried like a baby on a number of occasions.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Changes<br \/>\n<\/strong>Anderson can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say enough about the Jaycee Burn Unit, from the surgeons to the housekeeping staff. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a special unit,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. <\/p>\n<p>When it was time for Anderson to go home, he walked out of the hospital, as his wife had promised.<\/p>\n<p>His family had spent the four months of his hospitalization in a nearly empty house down the street from their former home, where they remain today. While their old house has been repaired, the Andersons don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t plan to return. <\/p>\n<p>Anderson has found that his relationships with family members have changed, particularly with Drew, who saved his life.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What do you say to your son when he says, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcDad, I need to borrow the car this weekend\u00e2\u20ac\u2122?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interesting. [Our relationship] will continue to be changed for a long time, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re both dealing with it in our own way.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Anderson continues to spend several days a week in therapy. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Just in the last six weeks, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve made really, really good strides in my physical therapy and occupational therapy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tremendously frustrating, and tremendously humbling. \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 There are some things that I probably will not be able to do ever again,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d like play the guitar.  But, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I love to fish, and I now can fish again,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said, recalling an annual trip to the Outer Banks over Thanksgiving. <\/p>\n<p>Most of all, Anderson has changed the way he looks at little things.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an incredible amount of stuff that you used to take for granted that you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take for granted anymore\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c simple tasks, like tying your shoes or showering. <\/p>\n<p><strong>What if, and luck<br \/>\n<\/strong>Anderson does sometimes wonder \u00e2\u20ac\u0153what if\u00e2\u20ac\u009d regarding the events of that night: What if he hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gone back into the house, what if his son hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come to get him, what if he hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lived near an excellent burn center? <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What if I did not have the support of all the people?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I could choose to think that I was really unlucky \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 but in being unlucky, I was incredibly lucky.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Though Anderson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lost much of his architecture business, he manages to find the positive. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Here again, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m incredibly lucky.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Because demand for his type of work had dropped off sharply before the fire, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was the most fortuitous time for it to happen to me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Though part of his right index finger had to be amputated, Anderson said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was very easy for me to learn how to use a mouse left-handed. I could do work now, if there was any work to be done.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Physically, Anderson said, he is very lucky. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Almost all of the damage is under my clothing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Two years from now, to look at me, you would never know that I had had an accident. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You can look at it all different ways,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he continued. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This was an event that was destined to be meaningful to me and everyone else that was involved.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_15379\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15379\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2011\/01\/20\/choosing-to-see-the-glass-half-full\/dscf00841\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15379\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/DSCF00841.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"DSCF00841\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15379\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/DSCF00841.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/DSCF00841-113x84.jpg 113w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/DSCF00841-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/DSCF00841-360x270.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/DSCF00841-106x80.jpg 106w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15379\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PHOTO BY STEPHANIE ANDERSON. Kim Anderson spent four months in the hospital after he was badly injured in a fire last March. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are moments in time that can forever alter the course of our lives, seconds that leave us perpetually wondering \u00e2\u20ac\u0153what if?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and events that permanently change the way we look at the world. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15378"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15415,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15378\/revisions\/15415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}