back steps, doctors & broken bones
Well I have been a bit slack in getting these journal entries to happen. I did have a go and got half a page done when the whole lot dropped out and I lost it…I lost enthusiasm after that.
Let’s go back to the 25th of March at around 1.30 in the afternoon.
I stepped up the back step at the coast house as I have done a hundred times before. My right foot slipped and my ankle rolled I remember thinking “ouch that’s gonna hurt”. My ankle slipped off the step and down about 5 inches to the lawn…the momentum was behind it and I heard that often described sound of a dry branch snapping. I have never broken a bone before and I do not wish to break another one. The pain was up there….on a 1 to 10 scale I would put it about 8. I cursed and yelled and fell forward onto the back deck. John was there in a second, but the damage was done.
I hobbled inside and lay on the bed. After a while the pain subsided and we go drove into Nowra (16km) to the hospital. The staff in the emergency department were very good and I was triaged within 5 minutes and X-rayed, confirming the break within 15 minutes. We then had to wait a further 5 hours to see a doctor and get a temporary cast put on my leg and give me some crutches. I got a script for some pain killers, but surprisingly the pain wasn’t that bad.
The next morning we assessed the situation and decided that there was no need for either of us to be back in Sydney immediately. I had to get a permanent cast in about a week, after the swelling had gone down and John had some work engagements, but not for another week. I was able to scoot around the house on john’s office chair and the house down there is more compact and easier to negotiate.
A week later I got a fashionable blue fibreglass cast from my physiotherapist. Its completely waterproof, but I’m still putting a garbage bag over it when I shower….I don’t like the concept of a wet bandage waiting to dry out….it would be a bit like wearing a wet sock for a day.
Life has returned more or less to normal. I can put a little weight on my cast which makes things a lot easier. I have not been able to drive, which is probably the biggest handicap.
I had a ticket to fly to the gold coast on Fri. 11th for a friend’s birthday party, but it’s just too much of a hassle to go. I got a doctors certificate saying I couldn’t fly and I will get a full refund on the ticket. I also got the doctor to sign off on a Handicapped Parking permit.
John will still go, so I have a couple of days without my nurse and then we will go back down the coast for another 10 days.
I have started a project while I’m down there…I have around 1500 colour slides that are about 30 years old and are fading. I am scanning them all into my computer. I would never have found the time under normal circumstances, so I am grateful for the opportunity.
