This is mainly an update on why I may not be posting an entry here in the next week or so. I am trying to heal.

I had an "incident" yesterday. It was raining all day and after the mailman came with the mail, I was going to go get it. That trip for me is always very slow and careful as I have to go down about 10 outside wooden stairs on the deck to the driveway and down the sloping long driveway to the mailbox. The walk/hobble back up the driveway is even harder with my wonky hips/legs. So yesterday I went out (it's actually been fairly warm here for December) and I very carefully went down each step, holding onto the railing, very slowly until I stepped on one step and whoop! my shoes slid right off the wet step and down I went the rest of the way to the hot top surface at the bottom.



The stairs I fell down

The flying trip down to the bottom is a blur but when I hit, my right leg was bent under me and the full force of my body weight just bent it all the way back which for me isn't a good thing. That is the knee that I injured (in this same fashion) several years ago and an MRI showed end-stage osteoarthritis. I could feel this horrid feeling, nothing "broke" but I wasn't sure how I'd bent my leg. My right foot also was bent in a weird way and now hurts like hell. My right knee is very swollen, more so than usual, and my thigh muscle was pulled severely so none of those parts of my leg are working now.

Of course, hitting the pavement like that made my spinal problems worse, I have sciatica going from my lumbar spine over across to my left hip and down my left leg. That's my normal condition. Now that whole condition is twice as bad as it used to be.

There I was, sitting on my butt in the wet hottop getting soaked. I never did get the mail. Paul was up in his bedroom, of course, with all the windows shut. I wasn't sure if I'd broken my leg(s). Every inch of me hurt and so I screamed up to his window on the 2nd floor but to no avail.

The dogs were looking out the back door at me sitting there screaming for Paul. It seemed that no one was home in the neighborhood, also.

So, if I was going to be rescued, I'd need to get myself back up those stairs to the door. I lifted myself up onto the first step with my arms and up each step, sitting on each step, til I was at the top. I got into the doorway and rang the loud bell and screamed for Paul and he finally came down.

I was in shock I think because I could not really feel "pain" then, but every muscle in my lower body was quite stiff already. I could stand and shuffle so no bones were broken. I put ice on my foot/ankle and knee/thigh for about 30 minutes and just spent the rest of the day in my chair.

Last night was long with no sleep. No positions were painfree. At 5 a.m. I had to get out of that bed and down into my chair so it took Paul and me about 30 minutes to accomplish that and to get me dressed. It's like I have no muscles in my legs. I can barely get myself to a standing position but moving forward is almost impossible. I am using my office chair (on wheels) to scoot around downstairs. I ordered a walker with 2 wheels and 2 feet online that should arrive today or tomorrow (probably tomorrow).

Luckily Paul was going to be off from fishing because we have more rain here now. I don't know if he'll go out tomorrow which is supposed to be the only good day this week.

I hit the pavement so hard that it jarred all my joints, and my arms and shoulders are very sore, too. And if you think of telling me to seek medical help, I have no medical insurance (thanks to Mitt-Witt) until I turn 65 next April when I will be covered by Medicare. So forget that. I know nothing is broken. It's all stuff that hopefully will heal with time. I did almost this exact kind of fall before, like I said, and it took a long time to heal but eventually it did, for the most part. I never thought I'd say it but my condition before this fall was heaven compared to THIS!

So, that's it for me for the near future. I've got my laptop and my TV and Paul most days here. My walker should be coming soon. I just wish the ibuprofen I swallowed earlier this morning would kick in now...

Cheers,

Bex

"The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog...

He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer; he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world...

When all other friends desert, he remains."

~ George V. Vest ~

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