Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The rhododendron bush should recover nicely...

...but I've been sentenced to two weeks in a boot.



Let me set the scene for you.  

I had walked to Little G's school on Friday with him running along ahead of me as I pushed the Ladybug in the stroller.  I dropped him off and had every intention of taking a walk in the arboretum with two of the other moms.  Instead, I crouched down to give Little G a kiss and a high five goodbye and as I was getting up, I lost my footing and my ankle collapsed and I heard it snap.  Of course, I can't do anything half-assed, so I continued to stumble towards a small step that separates the back yard where Little G was from the drop off area.  I momentarily saw a fence post that I could catch myself on and grabbed for it realizing too late that it was actually a garden tool that wasn't going to hold my weight one bit.  So instead of stopping myself and being able to assess the damage to my foot, I instead went hurtling face first down the step and landed with my head in a rhododendron bush, my ass in the air and my foot waggling behind me.

How the other moms standing around didn't laugh hysterically is beyond me.  I mean, imagine chatting with someone being relatively aware that there is someone else at least 20 feet away and then in an instant looking up to see them come crashing head first into a bush at your feet.

Graceful, I am not.

Poor Little G came over right away and wanted to know why I was in a bush.  He saw I was crying and exclaimed, "You're not a baby!!" -- remind me to force him to listen to "It's Alright to Cry" from the Free to Be You and Me Album on repeat until he stops associating crying with babies.  Then he realized I was bleeding (somehow I got a huge gash on my arm...not sure if it was the bush fighting back or something else along the way) and he started to cry.  So someone quickly led him away and explained I had been looking for snails.

Thankfully, one of the moms had dropped off her son and he is still on the smaller side and in a convertible seat in her car.  So after I cleaned out my wound we loaded up the stroller in the back of her car and then she drove the Ladybug and I home.  She had to head to work and the Ladybug needed to go down for a nap, so I got her upstairs and plopped on my bed and started texting and calling people -- my husband was in Indianapolis for the day so he really couldn't help.

You know the saying, "it takes a village"?  Yeah...that apparently applies to taking care of me as well.

I was smart enough to know that going to the emergency room in the middle of a heat wave was not a great idea, so I decided to call the orthopedist from the last time this happened.  They weren't available and not necessarily helpful so I called my primary physician for another referral.  That referral ALSO wasn't available, but they at least had another referral.  SIX REFERRALS later, I found myself with a 10:30am appointment to see an orthopedist a half hour drive away...and it was 9:45am.  EEP!

Thankfully, I had been in contact with some neighbors and a friend that was off work that day to head to a wedding (who had unfortunately already left town).  The friend suggested that I call my kids' Godfather because he's a teacher and was off school!  SCORE!  He promised to show up ASAP.  My neighbor was home with her two children, so they came over and stayed with the Ladybug until she woke up while the kids' Godfather showed up and took me to the appointment. 

It was exactly what I suspected.  The same injury as last time.  Broken, but not in the traditional sense...more like I sprained it so severely that I pulled a chip of bone off.  Two weeks in a boot, six weeks in a brace and physical therapy is the prescription.

I got my boot and my crutches and was home by 12:05!  Take THAT emergency room!!

Of course, THIS time even though Little G has school (though today is his last day for the summer) I have the Ladybug around, so I had to call up the reserves.  Currently my mom is downstairs while the Ladybug naps.  Upon reflection, my husband and I realized that there was no way I could safely carry Ladybug up and down the stairs with the boot on, so we flew my mom up here and she'll be here until the day after the 4th.

So those are the graceful enterprises I've been up to lately...anyone else care to share their exploits in Rhododendron care?

1 comment:

  1. wow. yuck! so sorry about the break....but happy you have a village. we all need at least one.

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