On Christmas Eve we were going to have my mom's side of the family over for a nice prime rib dinner and I had a lot of cleaning and baking to do to prepare for having guests over. I took Hunter and Calvin to my mom's to stay with her since trying to do anything is nearly impossible these days. I brought Adam back with me because he was going to help Travis out to get his stops done in good time. I put the Josh Groban Christmas CD in the PS2 (our DVD player is broken and I don't have a CD player in the house) and started cleaning house...I was starting to get into the Christmas spirit despite having to clean (I really hate to clean). I started with tiding up, then moved on to mopping (the thing I hate the most - always have). Not too long into it, I took a step back.....(not sure the sequence of events)....when I fell on my butt and hands with my right leg up in the air, I saw that my foot was pointing towards the outside. I was scared to look at my leg because I knew it would make it worse to look at it. From the floor I did a quick scan of the counter and table in search of my purse and spotted it a little ways away. I hopped on my butt and hands to where it was, grabbed the strap and pulled it down to the floor with me. My phone was not in there! Then I remembered it was in my pocket (thank God). Not really sure what I would have done if I had left it upstairs or something...guess it would have been a long wait there on the floor until someone came over/home in the evening.
I called my mom first (Travis was maybe a little annoyed with that, I guess mom just always comes to mind first, especially when he's working) and told her "I think I broke my leg or something." She screamed "WHAT?!" and then "do you need us to call an ambulance?" I told her yes and she said she'd be right here. Then I called Travis next and he said he was on his way. I lay there on the cold linoleum in front of the back door for what seemed like half an hour at least. I was saying "someone hurry and get here." I heard a loud truck pull up outside so I was thinking it was the fire truck or ambulance, then Travis walked in. He grabbed a pair of scissors and cut my pants up the leg. Shortly after my mom and Gary (a former EMT) arrived and it was decided, based on looking at my leg (them, not me...I never looked at it), that an ambulance needed to be called. Travis called 911, explained I had been mopping, etc and the lady asked if I had been standing up...nope, I mop sitting down and broke my leg that way...here's your sign.
The paramedics and firemen did their job, got me stabilized and into the ambulance. They asked if I just wanted to go up the road to St. Lukes, Meridian but I said I wanted to go to St. Als since my insurance is through there and I have connections. In the ER I first had some X-RAYS done by Cheri (Travis' Dad's Wife's Daughter - make sense) and the Dr. came back from looking at those telling me I had a very impressive break (both tibia and fibula) so Dr. Hassinger (Orthopedic Surgeon) would be wanting to do surgery to fix it up. I had eaten a cookie around noon so I'd have to wait until at least 6pm to have surgery for anesthesia purposes. I was going to be sent to a room to wait until then, but the floor had to call a nurse in that was on call. We waited a long time to go upstairs, but in the meantime they needed to stabilize my leg better. That meant getting a splint ready and holding my foot at a 90° angle until the splint cured, all the while I could feel bones moving around in there. I had a nurse from my department visiting for that and she took great care of me, helping me to breathe through it, holding my hand, getting ice after we were done, and getting the ER nurse to medicate me (wish they'd of done that first).
A couple views of the "impressive" break
Finally I got to my room and was there for just a short time before going down to the pre-op area. I was being taken care of by people I know, so I think it really helped calm my fears. This was the first time I'd ever broken anything and my first surgery. I went into surgery around 8 (I think) and was out in PACU with my friend Jennifer by 10 or so (I think). It was really nice waking up with people you know too. I should mention that Travis was working the whole time all of this was taking place. Christmas Eve is generally one of his busiest days, and he's such a dedicated worker that he felt obligated to do what he could to get all of his packages off the truck (most of the drivers would have just DNA'd their stops and he was given permission to do so but he has a conscious). My mom and dad were waiting with me before surgery though and were in my room afterward.
I'm not really sure what Travis did, but I think he got Hunter in bed after opening some presents and then his mom stayed the night so he came to the hospital sometime after 11 and sat with me a couple of hours. Christmas Day, things went on without me. It was very hard not to be home and watch Hunter come down the stairs to see his gift from Santa and open gifts with family. Everyone came to visit me and brought gifts for me to see Hunter to open, and for me to open for Calvin and myself.
Hunter and I on Christmas Day in my hospital bed
So, for Christmas this year I got to ride in an ambulance, got some good medications, and got some really nice (and surely expensive) bling...though it's in my leg, so I can't show it off. It definitely wasn't the perfect Christmas I was hoping for, but I'm grateful because things could be worse.
My new hardware
Now I'm home, on the couch with my leg up on pillows. I can't put any weight on my leg for 8-10 weeks so I use a walker to get around. Taking care of an infant and toddler should be challenging, don't you think? Luckily we have a lot of family in the area that are willing to help out in any way they can. Moms are staying the night in case Calvin wakes up, or I need help in any way because life still has to go on, and Travis needs sleep for work so he can't be getting up all night. Friends are bringing food, offering to watch the boys or even just visit to keep me sane.
So far, things are going well, I'm getting good rest, not going stir crazy yet and am being very well taken care of. Thanks to all of those who are helping us, I don't know what we'd do without you.
