Friday, April 18, 2014

a sudden surprise and a selfie


Fate? Karma? I dunno, but apparently it was meant to happen despite my precautions.

Yesterday, I fell.

The concrete floor of our garage is very smooth and when wet, very slick. Spring and fall are the worst times when it tends to sweat. I'm always very careful when it gets like that because I've almost slipped several times.

So, one day when we were at Costco, I bought a packet of interlocking foam floor pads and laid a trail from the door into the house to the garage door. I had an extra one so I put it at the end making a very skinny 'L'.

yes, it's very messy and cluttered

Yesterday was one of those sweaty concrete days.

Marc had gone into the city to run a few errands and bring back some of the old art work from past jobs (it's quicker to trace instead of redraw something I've already drawn) and he brought back all the tubes of stored drawings.

decades of work and this isn't even all of it. I still have a giant plastic bag full of drawings I haven't organized yet

as well as this small pile

When he got back I was helping him unload the tubes. Now, when I walk, I tend to walk quickly with long strides and solid footsteps. Marc accuses me of stomping around when he tries to take a nap.

So about halfway through, I was headed to the truck for another couple of tubes and I hit that extra mat and something about my speed, stride, and angle of the placement of my foot caused that mat (which I discovered had wet leaves under it) to become un-interlocked and fly right out from under me.

It happened so fast that I didn't even realize I was falling until I hit the concrete.

Being in my 60s, falling is something I try to avoid especially since I was diagnosed with osteoporosis about 10 years ago.

I landed hard on my left side hip with the brunt on the heel of my left hand and wrist. I rolled over on my back, stunned, while I tried to determine if I had broken anything.

The pain diminished pretty quickly thanks to those wonderful endorphins and we got the rest of the tubes unloaded. But about half an hour later, my wrist really began to hurt.

Once again, Marc was off for a pressure bandage and ice and I crafted a sling out of bandanas. is that one of the 100 life skills on the list going around FB, cause baby, I've got that one nailed


By about two hours later, I was in some serious pain from my fingers to my elbow. So much that I finally took one of the narcotic pain pills left over from my snake bite several years ago.

I'm happy to report that it is better this morning, and by that I mean it only aches a little unless I move it still wrapped up in it's bandage. But I am sure now that it's not broken and my hip is surprisingly not painful besides the bruise.



12 comments:

  1. oh, that could have been SO bad! it sure sounds bad enough! i hope the pain and swelling will diminish!

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  2. Could have been a tragedy, glad you survived

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  3. oh goodness, do take care and treat yourself kindly for the next few days. I have the remanents of two broken wrists that never got set. Not a fun date.
    Oma Linda

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  4. I'd be happy to spec an slip resistant coating for you to apply to the floor.

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  5. Oh honey! Falling is so scary. You know you're doing it and you can't stop it.
    I'm glad you didn't break anything. And I love your sling.

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  6. I'm glad you are okay. That's a very stylish sling.

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  7. Ouch. Falling is achy and sometimes breaky. Good gob this time.

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  8. Damn. I bought a bunch of those mats for coldworking, discovered that even the slightest bit of water turns them into high-speed sleds. Either they go wall to wall, or I only use them in dry areas.

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  9. Ack.. injuries take so much longer to heal after a certain age. I'm glad it feels better today but do make sure you get it x-rayed if it flares up again. You're an artist.. you need those hands to be tip-top.

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  10. You are so crafty with the quick sling solution. I think you should have it x-rayed, but that's just me. You were very lucky seriously and I'm very happy luck was on your side.

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  11. Yikes! I'm glad it's not broken, but I wonder if you ought to get it looked at anyway? At any rate I'm glad it wasn't worse, and hopefully you can affix those mats to the floor in some way that will prevent slippage.

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  12. Ouch ouch ouch! Glad you didn't land on your butt & break it like I did several years ago :)

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