Give me a break! (Or three)

Last night, just moments after I'd finished work and completed a post, and just moments before I was planning to head to bed, Tom and I decided to take Shasta for a walk in the lightly falling snow. What was to be a quick 10-minute walk ended up being a ride in an ambulance, a night in the emergency room, an x-ray with white broken lines all over it, and a scheduled surgery.

Last night also included the most pain I've ever felt in my life -- natural childbirth included!

I was just heading down the three steps in front of our house when I slipped and fell. I immediately knew something was very wrong. The immediate pain was indescribable and I was anything but quite or demure about it. Nope -- I was absolutely screaming in agony.

Tom went in the house to get Peter who has some EMT training and suggested that Tom call an ambulance. (I was coherent enough to tell them that no WAY would they try to move me on a sloped, icy driveway and drive me to the hospital themselves!)

The paramedics arrived in no time and they somehow got me into the ambulance in spite of my screams of agony. I don't think I opened my eyes the whole time because I was turning very much inward, trying so hard to practice the breathing and relaxation I used to teach as a Certified Childbirth Educator.

But it was no use. This thing hurt like a MF! And because of the snow, it took what seemed like an eternity to get to the hospital and I was hyperventilating the whole way there. Once we got to the ER, I wanted one thing and one thing only: drugs to dim the pain. It again took forever to find a vein, just like it did back in February when I had surgery on my eye. But one talented (lucky?) nurse finally got in and I got my drugs (propopal?) -- which only slightly dimmed the pain, but made me very loopy.

It turns out that the guy who was assigned to us was in Peter's firefighting class (NEVAC) years ago, which was nice... for Peter; I didn't really care about anything but dimming the pain!

Tom took a few photos at the hospital (he knows his blogging wife well!). This was what my leg looked like when we arrived. As Peter and Tom said, it just doesn't look right!

I'm sure glad I didn't see this photo yesterday!

I was then wheeled to x-ray, and soon after that the doctor informed us that my ankle was (is... sigh) broken in three places and all the ligaments around the bones tore as well -- and that I'll need SURGERY in 5 - 7 days, once the swelling goes down. All from a silly little spill on our front steps?!

Peter's friend, who he knew from EMT training (dang -- I promised him I'd remember his name... he told me I wouldn't... he was right) then cut my boot off, very, very (very) gingerly, per my instructions demands sheer panic. This is what's left of my boot:

They also cut off my new snow pants, my sleep pants and my fleece top -- don't ask me why. Then the doc put me out completely and set my foot (meaning he pulled and tugged at it... a thought that still sends me reeling!) and I woke up with this:

It's temporary, just until the surgery.

Would you believe that, in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, in the midst of the worst pain I've ever felt in my life, I was thinking about work and how I can possibly start on all these projects. In my panic, I even mentioned to Tom at the hospital at 1 AM that I needed to call my boss and ask him about his priorities. Oh brother!

So I'm home for at least a few weeks, the first two of which (one before and one after the surgery) will be spent here...

...working at home, in bed -- at least to the extent that I can while on these really, really strong drugs!

So it is what it is and, as bad as the timing is, I just have to deal and get through it. I keep telling myself that it could have been worse.

It also could have been better. Sigh!