Help I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!


No, I'm not sitting on the 'john' ... I'm sitting on the edge of the tub getting sympathy from Lynn! I was so excited to start my morning walks with Dieter before going to work. I was in the zone and it was my second day of being faithful with our exercise plan. Being the good citizen that ... I am, I had a bag of dog poop clenched in one fist and his leash in my other fist. My toe hit an uneven piece of sidewalk and I stumbled with my nose within an inch of the sidewalk for at least a block before I finally went down, hard! My face was so close to the ground I even skinned my chin. But I think I still had the bag of poop still clenched in my fist! Oh I hurt! As I lay on my stomach worrying that I may have broken my phone, I slowly looked to my right and then to my left to make sure the runner who had just passed me, didn't see me fall. The coast was clear so I slowly got to my feet to assess my pains. My left finger was bent and my right thumb seemed frozen in place. I thought I probably had broken my little finger and just bruized my thumb. A few seconds later Lynn drove by and drove me the rest of the way home. My knee started hurting when I went up the stairs but not enough to cause concern.

I got in the shower and washed off the blood from the scrapes, got ready for work, and drove to work. I decided to make an appt. for my finger and after two hours of work I was in excrusiating pain in my leg. I could barely walk! To make a long story shorter ... I limped into my doctor's office only to find they had moved their office over a year ago. By this time I was whimpering because of the pain. When I finally found my doctor's office and got to the front desk, the little receptionist said, "Can you please walk around to the other side?" I cried out, "No!" She asked me if I wanted a wheel chair, which I replied yes.

So, we've debated about finding a new doctor for years and just keep going to the same one because it's convenient. He has our records, his office is close ... but really ... I think he needs to retire. Kids, you know what I'm talking about. It's like he never knows what to do, or how to diagnose. After taking a bunch of xrays he told me that he couldn't see any fractures but he wanted me to go to an orthopedic surgeon. He put my left hand in a cast and left me sitting in a room for ever! In the mean time my sweet daughter Ginger left work to come and drive me home. She had made an appt. with a sport medicine doctor who had been recommended. We took the xrays with us to show him. I felt very confident with this new doc.the moment we met him. He looked at the film and said I had a boxer fracture on my left hand and a broken thumb on my right! And he was very surprised that my 'old' doc had not seen the fractures. The xray tech showed me the fracture in my hand and said it was a very obvious break! The doc said if I had of kept the old cast on I would have lost mobility in my little finger and without a splint on my thumb it would have grown bent.

So, after having a zillion shots of pain numbing in my hand he had to reset the bone twice. But thankfully for the medication I felt no pain! He placed me in a state of the art cast which is water-proof and has to stay on for a month. The splint on the finger has to stay on for 6 weeks.

I'm not in pain ... just frustrated because there are so many things I can't do! It's hard typing. I can't hold scissors or knives or pick up a lot of things. I get a little depressed some days when  I can't stay busy! I told Lynn that if I ever get to the point of not being able to be busy, then I just want to die. I don't know how my Mom handled her illness and sitting in  a chair for over four years. It drives me crazy! And it's so frustrating trying to sleep with a clunky, hot, sweaty cast on my hand! And I haven't been out walking for almost two weeks. I'm too afraid!

Have a fab day!