Thursday night saw many people exhausted after yet another day of high temperatures and I was no exception. Asleep in front of the tv just after 7, I was enjoying a perfectly awesome dream when my medication alarm went off at 8 and prevented me from saving the game with a … but I digress !
I took my meds and half an hour later was wide awake and, not being able to get back to sleep, I decided to do some painting on the back patio. I was excited to get on with a huge painting I’m trying to do for an exhibition/competition.
Big mistake!
The canvas was so big it was unstable…I could feel myself falling forward and not wanting to mess it up , OR get paint on the front of the only nighty I have that doesn’t have paint on it….. I turned and fell sideways and onto my back …SPLAT onto the limestone paving!
Second time in 10 days that I’ve discovered that I don’t bounce on hard surfaces!!!!
Knocked the stuffing out of me I can tell you.
I lay for a bit and tried to get up….bad idea….PAIN!…. Next, I tried to ring my friend on the iPad that was lying next to me… discovered that an iPad also doesn’t bounce when it falls and doesn’t work when the screen is shattered.
Had a brilliant idea…. call out to my neighbour …. but soon learned that : A soft PD voice+ his airconditioner on full blast = no response 😦
Another good thought sprang to mind… my apple watch fall detector would have gone to work and alerted my 4 contacts…then realised that my apple watch that detects falls was sitting on the bedside table …yes I KNOW,… not much good there!
Tried looking around to see where the phone had fallen… bad idea…neck killing me, couldn’t t sit up or actually move…. then success! I moved my hand around hopefully and found the little sucker within reach. Rang my good friend and ex nurse Leonie and sheepishly told her I’d had a fall and couldn’t get up. Rolled myself into the coma position and waited. The two cockroaches and one mouse that were out for an evening stroll were not appreciated!
Leonie and Alan arrive looking suitably concerned until Leonie couldn’t stop laughing at the scene that was in front of her…. Large female in nighty, lying on the concrete with a full container of white gesso no longer in the container but spread all over said female’s hair, shoulders and various other parts of the body.
After a coupe of fruitless attempts at getting me up, the ambulance was called at 9.30 and Alan was set the task of washing the gesso out of my hair before it dried completely . Armed with a glass salad bowl of water , a small comb and some shampoo he gallantly attempted the impossible.
At 11 the ambos arrived . They apologised for taking so long..they had been the third ambulance dispatched to rescue me..but the first two had been diverted to heart attacks. These poor guys had come from Cockburn!! Seems late night shopping is not then only thing popular on Thursday nights!
After some deliberation, Mike, the lovely Ambo, decided that even if it was a balmy night, I couldn’t stay lying on the hard limestone and after a couple of attempts at getting me up and me saying a Tad more than “ouch, gosh darn that hurts” he introduced me to a lovely thing called “The Green Whistle”
After floating up onto the stretcher I was wheeled into the ambulance and, giving a royal wave to the neighbours lining the street, off I went to ….well what I thought was going to be a hospital with nurses and doctors and beds in it.
Wrong!…
After About 20 minutes blocking the doorway of the ED I was put in a holding bay, affectionally known as ramping. The driver disappeared and the lovely Mike hooked me up to his monitors and said he would be looking after me there until there was room for me in the ED and a nurse was assigned to me. He was great… chatting, reassuring, medicating and all in all being a fantastic person, looking after me as if I were important.
At 3am that all changed when I was taken into the ED…….Confronting isn’t a strong enough word … and I was put into a bay and left. Those nurses deserve a medal putting up with some of the things they had to.
I won’t bore you with the next couple of hours …. Except to say I’m glad they weren’t longer.
After being:
*pulled, poked and prodded by someone I THINK was a Dr (he never introduced himself),
*slid across a bump and dumped onto a CAT scan thingy
*grumpily told to hold my arms up when they clearly couldn’t go any further
*and being unceremoniously toileted,
things changed and suddenly everyone became more gentle . The presumed Dr came in and told me that the scan had revealed a fracture of my L3 vertebrae and the Spinal team at RPH were deciding the best course of treatment. He said not to move and promptly left again. Needless to say, I wasn’t in a happy place.
Thank goodness for my two angels…My support worker Leanne, who rocked up early and looked after me and then the lovely Day shift Dr who sent me to a quieter place and explained everything to me.
The decision was made to send me home with the insistence that I’d have someone there 24 hours a day for at least 4 days and followed a list of what I could and couldn’t do, particularly for the first 2 crucial weeks.
Between Leanne and Tash, I’m too scared to not obey ..gee they can get testy when I try to do stuff!
Leanne has organised 24 hour help for the next 4 days as required and unsuspecting friends may be getting a phone call.
So that’s that….Just when I was on a roll with my weight loss….(8kg over Xmas)!..and my new found exercise, Croquet, I hit a stumbling block and things are set back. But just think how boring life would be if everything was always smooth sailing ( heck, I don’t even sound convincing to Myself!!!!!! )
And what now?
I will continue to:
*Take full advantage of my new friends ’the painkillers’
*TRY to have some rest but find the fine line between RESTING too much and losing mobility OR doing too much and aggravating it.
*Suffer withdrawal symptoms when I’m unable to play croquet because I’m not allowed to bend over
*follow the rules ( don’t need an angry Tash or Leanne). AND
I will continue to be very grateful for 2 things
- It didn’t turn out a lot worse. I could have hit my head on the concrete, broken my back, landed on the various sharp things around the place… a fractured L3 and a multitude of bruises are better than not being able to walk or paint or breathe anymore! …. AND that
- I have an amazing support network, full of wonderful people who go out of their way to be helpful. Thanks to everyone life is pretty darn good.
BobbleHead Nanna 
You are amazing, though your accident, you are positive and write with a great sense of humour!
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I feel for you in your pain from your fall, but also likely frustration with yourself as well. I know I did, when on 30/12 I also had a fall when making up the top bunk for my grandies to come and stay. I was descending the ladder and fell a meter on to the floor and I too fractured a vertebrae. Gosh, they hurt don’t they! I don’t think mine was quite as severe as yours, but still painful. Hope you are soon on the mend.
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