And now for something totally unexpected......

I am writing this post in a slightly altered state thanks to my new best friend pain-killer, with ice on one elbow, my ankle in a temporary cast and my second elbow in a queue for the ice bag.  Somewhere below me lies the other ice pack, but I am not sure where it went.  I also discovered that one can drink coffee with a straw if you are desperate enough.

I took a little tumble on the road yesterday.  I was innocently taking a little walk so I could get some miles in before the Book Across the Bay on February 14. The obnoxious thing is that I was being actually careful- I was watching the road like a hawk.  I was going from dry pavement to rough roadside to avoid the icey patches, I was over half way done and heading down a small decline and my  foot hit a small chunk of ice.  I twisted it as it kicked out behind me and I landed on my hands.  FORTUNATELY, I did not hit my head or anything like that.  It didn't seem like anything was too wrong, except for the stinging in my ankle.  Sigh.  A nice man saw it happen and he stopped and offered a ride, but of course I didn't take him up..... why??  who ever knows.

I got home pretty well, but I was a little worried about things.  Things being my arms and my ankle, but mostly my arms.  IN particular my elbow area, which started feeling weird.

Cut to 15 minutes later when I contacted the MA via of the cell phone of Bob and asked him to come back from the cabin area and drive me into the ER. When I plunked my ankle up on the coffee table I noticed the enormous amount of swelling and decided that I probably should get it all looked over. 

After a four hour stint in the emergency room I learned a few things: first I learned that my ankle was merely sprained not broken. Next, I learned that my right radius was indeed fractured. And I kept asking him, the ER doc, if he wasn't talking about the left radius which was far worse as far as pain went. But oh no he knew what he was talking about!  And indeed it was very suspicious that the left radius was also broken. I say suspicious because apparently the bleeding that went on inside of the bone and around the bone kept a really good picture from being taken in the x-ray. Isn't life grand?

So I was horrified to see that I was going to have both arms splinted with this stuff that is made out of fiberglass. And then I was all wrapped up with my arms bent at a 90° angle or maybe it was a 45° angle I don't know. So basically until I saw the orthopedic person I was stuck not being able to feed myself or rub my eyebrow or brush the hair out of my face. This was not an ideal way to end a Sunday, to say I was distraught is a bit of an understatement.

 Fortunately a nurse came to my rescue when the doctor suggested that perhaps I need to stay in the hospital overnight because I would be unable to care for myself!  She asked me if I had anyone that could help! So I arranged for a good friend to come over on Monday to stay with me and of course Fred has done tons, too. This makes me chuckle because if you know him at all you will know that he likes to have people (that would be ME) bring him things. Particularly food!! Lol. So it was a little amusing asking him to get me like everything that I needed - literally EVERYTHING!! It's been interesting 24 hours. I got a sub for the week- I have awesome and amazing friends and coworkers and a great boss, at school. They are so supportive 

So this morning I got a phone call from the clinic and I had an appointment with an orthopedic practitioner. I am thrilled to say that the fractures are intact and I do not have to- at least at this point – have a cast on either one of my elbows. That could possibly change next Thursday when I have my x-rays were taken again. I am hoping karma is on my side and everything is just fine. In other news I got a Aircast for my ankle and I have to leave that on there for approximately four weeks. So much for the Book Across the Bay. I get to choose how much I leave the splints on. And it is also looking like I'm going to have to wear the splints at least for another night. It is pretty obnoxious to try to sleep with those things on but it hurts if I just let them dangle too. So another couch night. I hope I can sleep. 

My arms got so pained from typing that I have done most of this post by text to talk!! You might ask why I am doing this then if I am in pain, well it is because there are a lot of people that I don't know what happened yet and frankly I'm a little tired from all the phone calls that I have had to make. I hardly know what I said to anybody on Sunday night (thanks really good painkiller) and then today it feels like I've been repeating myself constantly. Which I guess I have when you think about it. 

I did get some nice flowers from some of the kids so that is a pretty cool thing to happen from all of this. Right at this point it's the only cool thing I can see coming out of this.  But you never know what unexpected surprises come in these sorts of circumstances. 

So there you have it. I never in my life would have guessed I would break both arms/elbows. I've never broken a bone before. I have found myself to be somewhat resourceful- I do not like being fed like a little birdie, so I figured out how to use a shish kebab thingy to spear my bagel and peanut butter and feed myself this morning.  And of course the previously mentioned coffee idea! Yay for me. And I guess this was my joy for the day.

Thanks to all the wonderful people who have texted me and emailed me and called me. I am very grateful for you all.