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Thread: Funny (Not) How Things Can Turn On A Dime!

  1. #1
    Senior Member SiouzQ.'s Avatar
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    Funny (Not) How Things Can Turn On A Dime!

    I am back from my wonderful 3.5 week long gypsy road trip in which I logged a total of 5, 221 miles by going (from start to finish) through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado (again), Kansas (again), Missouri, Illinois (again) and back home to Michigan. The trip went off without a hitch, other than the usual crazy weather extremes - everything from raging thunder and lightening storms (Colorado and New Mexico) to blazing over 100 degree weather (Arizona and Utah). I hiked, read lots of books, did a LOT of sightseeing, socialized, spontaneously went to concert in Aspen (Greg Allman), and spent, for me, a ridiculous amount of money but stayed pretty much within the trip budget.

    So what happens when I get home? Yesterday in my zeal to get the car unloaded after living out of it for 3.5 weeks, and get the dirty laundry down to the basement, I was barefoot and missed the bottom step on my wooden staircase (I was carrying two baskets of laundry and my bowl of unfinished salad for lunch). My big left toe bent underneath me as I fell, my left knee smashed into something (the floor?) and my right shoulder blade caught the edge of the railing. My salad bowl went flying, spraying the remnants of my lunch all over and the laundry spilled out of the baskets. I lay there stunned and sniveling for a while, then finally made myself get up and inspect the damage. I knew right away my foot was messed up, so I hopped over to get ice from the freezer. After about 15 minutes I was pretty sure I needed to go to the doctor and dragged myself there and the x-ray confirmed that I broke my foot.

    Yup, I broke my foot, or rather, the big toe near the base. I am waiting to get into see the orthopedic doctor to find out what to do next. Meanwhile, I am barely hobbling around on a set of old crutches I had in the basement. The rest of my body feels like I got pinned by a truck. I am very, very sore. Going back to work on Friday is out of the question at this point; I'll probably be off at least this week and next. At least I still have some PTO hours I didn't use up on my trip, and I also have short-term disability insurance through Wholefoods. Right now it is all up in the air and all I can do is rest, elevate and ice it.

    I am not one for sitting around, especially in the summer! I have SO MUCH TO DO and SO MUCH I WANT TO DO!!!!! My house is a mess; dirty clothes and camping equipment are lying all over the place and I can't do anything about it. The garden is lush and desperately needs weeding and harvesting, my cat is still over at the cat sitters and I have to figure out how to get here back at my place. Argghhhhhhhh.....
    Last edited by SiouzQ.; 6-30-15 at 12:00pm.

  2. #2
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    Oh you poor thing! Not just because of the injury, although that certainly sounds terrible, but also because of the helplessness to do what you need and want to do! I have been there, and it is extremely frustrating and discouraging, I know.

  3. #3
    Moderator Float On's Avatar
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    Oh no.
    Glad you had a good time on your trip but so sorry about your accident. A fall on the steps could of been much worse. Do you have friends you can call up to come help clean up the basement - laundry and dried bits of salad? It is time to call in everyone you can. I needed 3-4 months of help when I broke my right ankle.
    Float On: My "Happy Place" is on my little kayak in the coves of Table Rock Lake.

  4. #4
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    So sorry to hear about this. I took a nasty fall at Yellowstone a few weeks ago & pulled all of my front ribs out of place. I was in a lot of pain the rest of the trip. When I got home I went right to my chiropractor who put all my ribs & the rest of my body back in place & immediately my pain level was reduced by 90%. Although, it won't help your foot you might want to try it for the rest of your body.

  5. #5
    Senior Member SiouzQ.'s Avatar
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    Yeah, my mom is coming over in a little while with some things I forgot from the grocery store from yesterday (before the accident). Another friend is stopping by tonight. There is a lot of little stuff that needs to be done, basically finishing emptying the car, taking stuff to the basement, getting the tent back in its bag now that it is dry, getting some laundry done. Facebook is a great tool to shout to various friends for help, so I'll manage. It's just so hard to rest and stay put because I don't feel sick or tired at all, just very , very sore! Crutching around is really hard because I hit my right shoulder in a weird way as I was going down and using a crutch on that side is painful. And I live in a two story townhouse with one bathroom (on the second floor). I've been doing the stairs on my butt carefully when I need to go downstairs but not even 24 hours later, this is getting really old! I am not one to sit around, so this is hard to accept....

  6. #6
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    SiouzQ, I am happy you had a GREAT trip...maybe while sitting and being frustrated you can rest your eyes and re live the entire vacation..day by day so it is impressed on your brain. Getting rid of the pain...hope that happens quickly. You must be so frustrated.

  7. #7
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    Ouch. Glad to hear you weren't too seriously hurt. I took a spill myself recently while climbing the stairwell to my apartment. I caught my toe on the top step and hurtled into the wall. Fortunately, I was able to get a hand out, otherwise I'd have gone into the wall full force, face first. As it was I got away with two skinned knees and bent glasses.

    It's sobering. When I was younger I would have just shrugged off an incident like that. At 60, though, I realized I could have been badly messed up.

  8. #8
    Senior Member rosarugosa's Avatar
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    Oh SiouzQ, so sorry for the crappy ending to your lovely vacation. Hope you are feeling better soon!

  9. #9
    Senior Member SiouzQ.'s Avatar
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    At least my cat is back home to keep me company! It feels so weird to be trapped inside after living in a tent for over three weeks! It feels like a jail cell of "comfort." Barely a week and half ago I was sleeping under the stars in Utah...and plenty comfortable on the ground (well, I have a Thermarest sleeping pad).

  10. #10
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    so siouzq, have you thought about some type of porta potty for downstairs? Maybe just not drinking water too much? a diaper in a pinch,

    i would go nuts, i go to the bathroom so many times i would just not go downstairs.

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