“There will be no yelling at people who are bleeding themselves to unconsciousness.”
When I woke up, far too early, I heard the rain. I groaned but got up anyway as I had an early appointment with the surgeon. I had coffee then struggled to get dressed from the inside, the foundation, out. When I got to Hyannis, the building was dark and the parking lot empty. Perplexed, I called. Come to find out, my surgeon uses the building on the weekends but not today. He was in surgery. I went back home and undressed from the outside in.
Last night wasn’t a good night. I woke up several times from the pain of my hand. One episode lasted for what seemed hours and hours when all of a sudden the pain disappeared. It was a miracle. I looked around for a heavenly figure but saw nothing, not a vision, not a light.
When I was growing up, I got bumps and scratches and one broken bone. I had stitches on my chin from a fall down the stairs. That’s it, the total from my childhood. In Ghana I got a burn from the exhaust pipe of my motorcycle. I had stopped to let a herd of goats pass by me. One goat veered and the others followed. They hit my “moto” unexpectedly, and it fell whacking my leg on the way down. The burn was odd looking, basically the shape of the pipe. I had an infected mosquito bite caused by my scratching it and wearing sandals. The Peace Corps doctor lanced it. I got a really bad sunburn one Easter Sunday spent by the ocean. It stopped hurting after a while. That is the entire list of my Peace Corps maladies.
I have fallen down stairs. On the first fall I broke my cheekbone and some teeth, injured one leg and my hand. On the second fall, all I did was knock myself unconscious. It was a fall from my deck stairs, sort of a long way down. The next fall was off a ladder I was using to get at the windows I was washing. I knocked myself out again and was lucky I missed the concrete wall and landed in my herb garden on the lemon verbena. It was that wonderful aroma I smelled when I woke up. I had broken my wrist, but I didn’t know it and just soldiered on and finished the window.
I’ve had other falls, but they only resulted in only a few welts, a black eye and some swollen body parts. I’ve been lucky.
My most recent injuries, both resulting in hospital stays, were caused by the dogs: one fell on me and the other bit me during the frenzy of a dog fight.
I figure the list isn’t all that long for 75 years worth of living though I do admit to more caution now.
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October 1, 2022 at 12:07 pm
Kat, you are the same age as me! Thank goodness I’ve never had any broken bones, as of yet. Some bruising here & there, cuts & scratches, burns from turning steel on a lathe, but not much else. On the weather side, the Fall season is here but color is very scarce right now. It really won’t start until about the 2nd week of October. Right now it’s a bit windy & splattering rain from the left over part of the Hurricane Irn. Nothing to be concerned about. Be Well up there.
October 1, 2022 at 5:01 pm
Hi Les,
We are then both still young!! I was only 4 for the first. It was when I jumped off the fence backwards and used my hand to brace my fall. I think this last one has been the worst of all.
It poured for most of the day. It is also quite chilly with all the dampness. No color here yet either. It needs to be cooler.
I’m working on staying well! Thanks!
October 1, 2022 at 3:38 pm
I had a motorcycle wreck that resulted in pinned bones. Things were great on the highway to Houston in the early morning, August 24th 1973, when a Crow flew directly into my 80 miles an hour path and collided with my left shoulder. The Crow didn’t even get a ticket.
October 1, 2022 at 5:11 pm
Beto
My accident is paltry in comparison. Crows are such big birds I can imagine the impact. Just thinking about falling from a motorcycle at the speed sounds terrifying to me.
October 1, 2022 at 6:42 pm
Hi Kat,
When you mentioned, in a previous post, that you had an appointment with your surgeon on Saturday, I was skeptical. What kind of physician has office hours on Saturday? The medical profession is so specialized these days and they don’t have to have much bedside manner. A man is having his right nostril examined by a doctor. The doctor tells the man, “I can’t help you. Your problem is in your right nostril. I’m a left nostril man”. 🙂 Surgeons may do emergency care on weekends, but probably not have office hours for followup care on the weekends.
When I was in the third grade I fell off a monkey bars in the school yard. I hit the solid ground with my outstretched left hand to break my fall. My left wrist sustained a compound fracture and was in a cast for the next ten weeks. The elementary school was hit by a tornado a couple of years ago and the same monkey bar was destroyed. God took his time punishing that piece of playground equipment for causing me grief as a kid. My kids knew about that infamous monkey bars. The Elementary school is being rebuilt as some kind of education center. Luckily he Spanish style exterior of the old part of the building is being preserved in the new structure.
Since then, I stay off off ladders and never climb or descend on the stairs without holding on to the banister for dear life. I don’t like high places all these years later. 🙂
October 1, 2022 at 8:35 pm
Hi Bob,
The doctor called me himself this afternoon and explained he had had to do emergency surgery and apologized. I now have an appointment tomorrow at 9:15. He uses the offices of doctors who don’t work on weekends. He, for one, does have follow-ups on weekends.
I also did something similar by putting my hand down to break my fall. I got a bucket fracture, the wrist bone went over the bone above it. I loved that cast.
I am glad they are preserving the exterior of the building. Unique, old and interesting buildings need to be preserved.
Now, I stay off ladders and climb nothing. I also hold to the bannister. With my injury, though, I slide my hand down the bannister as I can’t hold it. I go slowly.
October 1, 2022 at 10:38 pm
WOW! A doctor who sees patients on Saturday and Sunday, what an interesting concept. My dentist doesn’t do implants, but he has a periodontal dentist who comes to his office on Wednesday. This way the periodontal guy doesn’t have to have an office and a staff, etc. I think he does the same thing with other dentists on other days.
My dentist’s office was right across the street from my condominium. I moved out but still drive into Dallas to get my dental work. Earlier this summer I had a toothache and found a local dentist. This dentist came up with a treatment plan of over $30,000. She wanted to replace every crown in my mouth and put crowns on all of my front teeth. She also wanted to send me to an oral surgeon for an extraction and an implant which would be additional charges. I said thanks, but no thanks and got a second opinion from my previous dentist. He did the work that was necessary and came up with about $8,000. Not cheap, but that included the implant.
October 1, 2022 at 10:48 pm
When I had spoken to his office person this morning, she told me he does what he has to so all his patients get seen.
I started with my dentist in 1971. He just semi-retired and shares his practice with another dentist. I go every three months as my insurance covers it. Other than cleaning, I have only had an old filling removed and a new one put in. With dental insurance I don’t pay much. Never have I had an estimate as high as both of yours. My mouth would have dropped.