Life can change in an instant. And that is all that time is comprised of, a sequence of instants, moments of being.
December 13, 2016 at 9:23 am my world would be changed.
The day began like most other days, barely waking up in time to get my daughter ready for school. I was going to be driving her that day as she had a big diorama project due. I was worried she would drop it on the bus, so I told her we could drive in that day. The sky was mostly clear, a bit overcast, we had had some rough weather over the weekend being in the Lake Effect snow region of Lake Erie.
I dropped Savannah off at school, and decided I deserved a little coffee treat, so I cruised through the drive-through at McDonald's and got myself a Sausage Egg and Cheese McGriddles, Hashbrown and Peppermint Mocha. I knew I would be reprimanded for splurging on this feast, so I ate the meal before arriving home, and sat in my car in the driveway to finish my coffee before going into the house. Mom had just gotten up to let out the dogs, and those lil boogers barked at me while I sat in the car.
I finished the coffee and got out of my car, calling to the dogs that it was me. I started walking from the car toward the garage, clicking the button of the door opener in my hand. The driveway had been plowed, and looked clear. I did not notice the ice that was ahead of me. My right foot hit a patch of super clear, super sheer ice and rolled inward as my left foot slipped forward. I came down on my ankle and landed on the cold asphalt with a thud on my bottom. I knew in an instant I wasn't walking out of this fall.
"Dawn, are you home?" Mom yelled from the deck.
"Yes. Mom, I fell and I am hurt."
"Close the garage door honey, the dogs are out. I will call for help."
As I sat on the asphalt, now aware of how cold my bottom was getting, I started to cry. Not tears of pain, actually there was very little pain in my ankle. They were tears of frustration, anger. How could this happen to me? What am I going to do? I don't have time for this. I have a final exam I have to take.
The wail of the sirens came shortly, help was on the way. I was glad, because my bottom was really cold. The paramedics that helped me were really kind and considerate. I did not want to try and stand up on my good foot to get onto the gurney, I was afraid I would slip on the ice again. But they held me firm and got me onto the gurney and into ambulance. They even checked back in on me at the hospital, and said if I needed help shoveling a walkway to my house to give the station a call.
During my time in the ER, I was given quite a variety of drugs and sedatives. It is ironic, because the pain is masked by the shock system of the body at first. So by the time I was coming out of shock, my pain meds were being cut down from the good stuff to plain old morphine. However, they had to reduce my dislocated ankle before they could apply the splint and send me on my way. This part I remember, and the orthopedic doctor said I must have a high pain threshold because I was watching him twist and stretch out my broken ankle without saying a word. While on some of these mind altering meds, I guess I talked with another doctor, whom I don't remember. Thank heavens my sister was there with me to remember some of the information.
Ever since my experience with ECT in November, my heart rate has seemed to jump around. Because my heart rate was high and not responding to the pain and sedation meds, they admitted me to the hospital overnight for observation. I had the pleasure of being strapped to a personal telemetry device ALL night and having an echocardiogram performed the next morning. Plus with the additional fluids they wanted me to have, and that dang infusion pump that beeped every time I moved my arm, it was difficult just to make a trip to the bathroom. Plus they had to teach me how to use a walker, and to manage my way both up and down a single platform step. I think the best part about my stay was the complimentary hand and arm massages. I must have done well during my stay, because around mid-afternoon on December 14th, they decided my heart rate had come down enough and was stable and I was good on the walker, they discharged me to home, where I was to remain with my leg up 23.5 hours out of the day to reduce swelling for my surgery that was scheduled 5 days later.
This is the story of how I fell (literally) to the earth. Metaphorically speaking, I am also falling to a land different than I am used to. Dependence versus independence. Restriction versus freedom. I am taking this all very hard, and will probably blog about some of those thoughts and feelings too. But for now, I will end on this... Ice SUCKS.
No comments:
Post a Comment