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