Thursday, March 22, 2007

Glow in the Dark cast

Well, it's been two solid weeks since I broke my leg. Still broken.

I saw the doctor today. They removed the cast, inspected the incisions for any problems (none), then applied the new cast. They also taught me to use The Bone Stimulator (yeah, i know there massive amounts of jokes just now popping into your head!). Warning, those pix aren't for the squeamish!

Oh, and they've laid out the forms for the pool decking this week.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Still Broken - but now i have Xrays to show!

Visited the doctor yesterday. They took xrays. The doctor described the mess he found inside as "a disaster". He had estimated that the entire operation would take about 90 minutes. Three hours later, he was done. There was one piece of bone that was sheared off at a very oblique angle which was difficult to reattach.

I also heard the story from their perspective. You see, while someone else called 911, I called the doctor's office. I said, "Hi, my name is Kirly and I'm a patient of Dr. B. I just broke my ankle. Please give me some advice." Yep, just as calm and cool as that. Of course, they all know me and so couldn't believe it was me and asked me who I was again! You can tell that I have great confidence in this doctor if I called him before I called anyone else. In fact, I wanted the paramedics to just put me in my car and I would drive over to the doctor's office. The break was so unstable the handsome men of the Phoenix Fire Department would hear none of that!

I also got the bad news that this break was so bad that I will be in this cast for a while. Next Thursday, 2 weeks after the breakage, they will remove the cast but only to see how the wound is healing and then right back into another fiberglass cast for another 2 weeks after which we repeat the process. Eventually, I'll get one of the softer, removeable boot casts but that will not be in the next three weeks at least.

So, of course, the pool will be done before I'm healed.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

I broke my leg / ankle!

You'll never believe this story....

First, I'm finally getting a pool. So, I told the pool company I'd make a decision about the color of one of the materials by Saturday. And, I've been working at home all week spraying down the shotcrete because you have to keep it wet. so, i decided to go ahead and run the errand to determine my color decision thursday afternoon about 1pm. well, by 1:30 pm I'd broken my ankle.

As I was leaving the business, I walked down a step that I had just walked up a few minutes before. Well, you know how you get that unexpected jolt when you step down something that is either taller or shorter than you expected? Well, it was sort of like that except my right leg went left, my right ankle rolled left, and my right foot went right. I fell to the ground on my behind without even dropping my purse or water bottle while hearing snapping, crunching, and popping. I looked over at my foot and it was at a 90 degree angle to my leg and I thought, that can't be right! So, I reached for my ankle, which was I noticed was also hurting, and noticed that the leg bones were poking against the skin pretty agressively. About this time I realized how much it hurt and that this must be the cause of it. So I instinctively grabbed my ankle and shoved the bones back in place. and held it there until the paramedics arrived. Now, I can honestly say that I never thought I'd ever say/write anything like that!

They insisted I go to the ER because they were unable to stabilze it so off I went in an ambulance. At the ER they ultimately sent me to the happy place of morphineland and they set the bones and casted me all the way above my knee so I couldn't even bend my leg. Boy, was that difficult to get around.

Friday morning I called my doctor and told them what happened. they said come right in so I did. As the doctor looked at the x-rays from the night before he said, "wow. ......... WOW!". Then he started asking me if I'd eaten that morning or had anything to drink and we determined he could do the surgery that very afternoon. Which he did but which took far longer than he expected because when he got in there he saw even more bone damage. Nothing else though so that's good. He said it was the worst ankle break he'd ever seen since he was assisting way back when. WOW! Oh, it was broken at the bottom of both the leg bones.

The doc said I can't put any weight on it for at least 5 weeks. Yikes! Maybe longer.

Almost forgot this part. I had already pulled a muscle in my left calf a few weeks before so you can imagine that using crutches was a rather difficult thing. So, the doc told me about this thing called a wheel about. It is sort of like a walker but only about 1/3 as wide. And it has a place to rest the knee of your injured ankle. And you use your other foot like you would on a skateboard! I've been zooming around the house ever since I got it yesterday!

Anyway, long story short, I'm broken and I'm getting a pool which will probably end up being ready to use before I am ready to use it. haha

I've added some pix to http://www.kirly.photosite.com/ of the pool construction, of me, and of NZ. Soon I'll also add a picture of my lovely purple cast!

Update: Photos of my lovely purple cast and the Roll-a-bout are now on http://www.kirly.photosite.com.


Kirly

Saturday, March 03, 2007

AZ 911 Commission to change memorial

From the Arizona Republic of Friday, March 2, 2007 which can be found here (but only temporarily) and which I've quoted below.

However, the only change known at this time is the removal of a blatantly false accusation against the US Air Force ...
07 01 02 ERRONEOUS US AIR STRIKE KILLS 46 URUZGAN CIVILIANS

However, notice that they don't accept that the accusation is false. This in spite of meeting, at the December 2006 AZ 911 Memorial Commission meeting, the Air Force Officer who was in command of the investigation which concluded those killed were Taliban.

I wonder if they'll do more than remove the words "erroneous" and "civilians".

No, they're going to add "introductory panels" to "explain" the abomination to us knuckledraggers since we were all too stupid to figure it out on our own.

Well, don't think that I won't be here to report it all. Just because it's been quiet does NOT mean it's over.

Sept. 11 commission votes to change state memorial
Associated Press
Mar. 2, 2007 12:00 AM

Reacting to criticism of the state's Sept. 11 memorial, a state commission decided Thursday to add introductory panels to explain the terrorist attacks and the memorial itself. It also began a review that could see at least one controversial inscription removed while others are retained.

The governor's memorial commission voted unanimously Thursday to remove an inscription regarding an "erroneous" U.S. airstrike that purportedly killed 46 Afghan civilians.

Commission members said circumstances of the U.S. airstrike are still in question. Some said the inscription prompted criticism that it impugned the United States and its military.