My Accident - Part III

I can't believe that I am trying to get back to writing my my blog and I got sick with a virus. I felt aweful. It's hard enough walking on one leg but then when you are sick and you don't want anyone to come over because you don't want them to be sick you reach that point. But I am finally feeling better so now it is back to writing my blog.

My accident was just so unreal because here I was up and down the road for two months helping my aunt that fell and needed assistance. But that is what made it so unreal. She was at the point that she could do things on her own and then I fall. How unreal is that. So since we are both in the same situation with injuries and healing we compare notes every day. We have a bond with our injuries.

So I was operated on the next day and when I woke up I had a cast from my toes to my knee. I believe that is when it hit me. There was nothing I could do to change what happened so I would have to do what I have found the best thing to do since I got laid off – accept the situation, start adjusting to the situation, go on and start focusing on healing.

My first mistake. Things can go so fast that you don’t think. Years back if you went into the hospital you would at least be there a few days. Today if you have a hip replacement, knee replacement, broken bones where that you can get out of the bed you are up and walking by the next day. So I got operated on that Wednesday and I was up on my walker by Thursday.

Now my mistake was I told the doctor and the social worker that I was going to stay with my aunt for a couple of weeks. And at first that was what I was going to do. But then I thought about who is going to pack all my stuff. And I had stuff to pack. I had me and my work computer and the cat and litter pan. I couldn’t help to carry anything and I would have to be set up once I got there. That just made me crazy just thinking about it. I decided that I was not going to go anywhere. I packed for two months and was up and down the road for my aunt so just the thought of doing that now that I am only on one leg it ain’t happenin. So I decided to stay home. Well, if you live alone and you tell the doctor that you are going home to be by yourself usually they will not let you go home that fast.

My Passion Returned

You know how they say a person can play the piano by ear. Well, with knitting and crochet I like to see if I can figure something out just by looking at a picture. I guess you can call that knitting and crochet by sight. Whenever you are so mentally involved with something that is a passion you are always trying to increase your skill.

Since my accident different ones have said to me, "I know that you are going to get to a lot of knitting" or "We are going to see a lot of show and tell from you". To tell you the truth I picked up one thing when I first came home and I might have done a couple of rows every other day for a couple of weeks and then it was a complete stop. I don't know why but it was like I lost the desire. That's crazy since I teach and I would knit and crochet every day.

Now I didn't have as much time as you think. I was still working all day but from home. Then after work I was so tired that I went straight to bed and slept until either someone would call me or I would wake up around the 1:30am mark. That wasn't good.

I would talk with a couple of my students and my friends about their projects and I would look at the bags of unfinished projects that I could work on, but no I had to give it a rest I guess. Who can figure that one out. I found that I had to just go with the flow until the desire returned. As mysterious as it went it came back just as mysterious.

I was cleaning out my emails with, you know a site you get with patterns attached, and I came across a blanket that I liked. I had made a similar one before as a baby blanket but this one was going to be made out of my small balls of yarn. As you can see below I am well on my way with that one.

Then there was another blanket I had wanted to find a pattern for but couldn't. I saw a picture of a log cabin crochet blanket. Boy did that take me back to the days that I thought I wanted to quilt. I made one quilt and never did anymore. My mistake was I picked out a very intense blanket. You might have guessed it, the log cabin pattern. I just loved how it looked but I had all of thse small pieces to cut out and sew together. Thank goodness I was sewing it by machine and not by hand. But it just took me to a place that I didn't want to return. Now I just love to go to exhibits and enjoy the talents of others.

So when I saw the crochet log cabin blanket I said "I don't need a pattern for that" and I started to make it out of leftover balls of yarn. But one thing with this blanket I am going to tackle those yarn ends before they get way out of hand. Well, at least I say I am going to do that.

So I guess you could say I am back to my passion and I'm loving it again. Strange things happen.

My Accident - Post II

It was Super Bowl Sunday (well at least I can’t forget the date) in the morning and I was on my way to the Laundromat. A typical day with a typical task to do. The bag in hand and down the stairs I start. We take so much for granted. Little things that is a given become astronomical in an accident. It was so surreal. The fall is like slow motion in my mind still. You take a step with one leg and you take a step with the other but all of a sudden the rubber on the step and the bottom of my hiking boot just didn’t go together and I started falling down. I started to slide down the stairs and my leg went under and then came back out. I remember sitting on that bottom step as my whole body shook with disbelief. I kept rocking as I held my leg saying this just can’t be happening, no this isn’t happening, why is this happening to me.

I wanted to believe it was not as bad as it really was. I don’t even fully remember how I got back up the stairs. Thank goodness I had the bag of laundry because that prevented me from hitting my head. But I tried to break the fall. Just writing this brings a chill again. I was in disbelief. I couldn’t wrap my brain around being by myself and trying to get through this experience.

I knew that ice was good for the swelling or trying to prevent a huge swell from happening. So I started to ice it. I called a couple of my friends and told them what happened. They asked me how much pain I was in. It didn’t hurt that bad. I guess because I was icing it which numbed the pain. I thought it was a bad sprain (I wanted to believe that) so I continued to ice it and watch it.

The next day we had a snow storm so no chance to go anywhere. My ankle was puffy more. So I waited until that Tuesday and my cousin took me to the hospital. I was working from home and so I kept my computer on and things around because I just knew I was going to the hospital and they would patch me up and then I was coming back home that evening.

Not – after I had my ankle X-rayed they told me the bad news. Not only did I break my ankle on both sides I had a torn ligament in the back where the heel is. I also would have to be operated on to insert pins and plates to hold it together. Of course not what I wanted to hear so I stayed in a daze until after the operation.

My Accident

It has been a while since I have posted anything. Life just keeps me busy with things that I would rather not be busy with. I can’t believe I’m writing this because I sometimes still can’t believe it happened. I had blogged about how I was helping my aunt who fell and broke her knee and three bones in her wrist so she had to get pins and a plate which equals operation. Well now I fell. You tell yourself “How can this happen” and then you say “Who am I that accidents can’t happen to me.” Welcome to reality.

I have a lot to be thankful for but I learned some things along this journey that I thought I need to blog about to help others not to make the same errors and to share some tips on things that worked for me. This is my story but it is informational also. So you can read the full post or you can skim on what might help you or someone you know. I will talk about my story on Tuesday and Thursday of each week. It is too much to write in one post so I will break it up until I’ve told my story and shared.

I hope you personally don’t have to use it but if you can be an advocate for someone then the information will come in handy and worth me sharing.