The big fall, part 3

It has been one week since my accident with Scout and the first day that I didn't take morphine. The first day after surgery, my leg was swollen to the max and every where hurt. I haven't noticed any effects of the morphine but without it, I am trembling and have severe headache and pain. Since I have to go back to work tomorrow, I need to be less drugged. I did take a half of an oxycodone, however. I find that if I take half as much, twice as often, I don't get as sick to my stomach.

 I have taken up residence in the recliner chair. It's so hard to get my bottom comfortable.

Terra is my constant companion. Poor Buddha, she gives him the evil eye and won't let him near me.

This is my view nowadays. I've watched lots and lots of movies and worked out lots of Sudoku puzzles. I doze a little but unfortunately, I've never been a good sleeper.

 Lisa stopped by the other day with a DQ chiller, yummy! (( thanks!)).

 My mom came down last weekend and ended up staying through the week to help me out.

Sorry for the blur, Sandy turned to look just as I clicked.

I have yet to visit the horses. It's a loooong walk with no place to stop and sit. I'm afraid I will lose my balance and fall down and not be able to get back up. I fell once when I was letting the dogs out the front door but I was able to use the door frame to pick myself back up. It's hard to get help when it's 4:30 in the morning and the dogs are crying to go outside. Fortunately, I can just let them out by themselves to do their business.

I never realized how handicapped a broken ankle makes you. I can't carry anything, do anything, etc. etc.

I go back to the doctor on Thursday.

I am praying for a miraculous complete recovery by then.

Sunday Stills (wildflowers 4-24-11)

Happy Easter, everybody!

I haven't been out for the last week, so I used these photos I took a couple of weeks ago for the wildflower challenge.

 There was a seed festival at the Old Town Square so all kinds of seeds were being offered for blessings at the church.

For more entries in the Sunday Stills challenge, please see here.

Hospital

Well, I'm off to surgery to get pins in my ankle. Wish me luck!



Hospital - song: Baal's Hymn, artist: David Bowie, album: Baal

Update- my surgery is over. It was a little more than originally intended. I now have a plate and six screws instead of just two pins as the doctor said on Monday. I'm high on drugs so my blogging is limited right now. Thanks everyone for your well wishes, prayers, and comments.

The big fall, part 2

It took me a while to get my concrete block, immobile leg into the car because of the bulky Jones cast they gave me in the ER room, but I managed. I was able to drive (thankfully, it's my left leg), so I went to work today until noon. Luckily, I was able to make an appointment with the Orthopedic clinic at the hospital for today. I called my son and had him drive me because I knew it would be hard to get any parking nearby. He dropped me at the entrance and then met me inside. It's good he did drive me because he said he was parked about ten minutes away.

And why is the Ortho clinic at the VERY end of the hallway on the 6th floor??

When we finally got in to see the doctor, he told me that he had reviewed my x-ray and said that he wanted to put a couple of pins/screws? in to keep the bone from spreading apart as it healed. So much for my not so bad break. Plus, I re-reviewed my x-ray and I had told you the wrong bone! It's not the talus as I said in my last post. It's the tibia, the bigger, weight bearing leg bone. I must have been kind of woozy in ER, after all. You can clearly see how a triangular piece is separated from the big long bone at the very bottom as it comes into the ankle joint, just above the paper fold. It's neat, they gave me a paper copy of my x-ray in the ER

My ankle is still swollen on both sides so I asked the doctor if it could be sprained on the outside. That's actually what hurts more, that, and my poor bum. He said most likely it was. The good news is that now I have a smaller cast on my leg. While the bulky Jones came up over my knee, this one is shorter, to just below the knee. The other one was hard on all four sides too and this one is hard only on the bottom and back of my leg although I still have yards and yards of wrap. The other cast was very challenging to squeeze into my cars because I couldn't bend knee or ankle but this one makes it so much easier because I can bend my knee. Of course, because this one allows a bit more movement I'm feeling more pain. I am still not allowed to put any weight on my foot, for at least 6-8 more weeks.

Since Trevor was with me, he asked the doctor about his finger, another reason why I wanted him to come with me today. Last Wednesday, he slammed the car door on his pinky finger. Remember I was telling you about the movie 127 Hours, where Aron Ralston had to cut his arm off to free himself from a fallen rock? Well, my son thought about that at the time of his accident. He actually had to unlock the car door to get his finger out. Then, he said blood gushed out from the end. It has a weird bump on the end now and he has no feeling in it. The doctor verified that the tip was indeed broken and that there probably wasn't much to be done about it. We're all pretty sure he's going to lose the nail. It sure is a pretty blue though, isn't it?

I haven't been out to see Scout yet but my kids tell me he's okay. I sure hope so.

So now, I have surgery scheduled for some time on Wednesday. The nurse is supposed to call me some time tomorrow. It looks like I'll be taking a couple of days off from work, after all. Wish me luck and a speedy recovery.

The big fall

By now, many of you have read about my mishap at Laughing Orca Ranch's blog. Thanks Lisa, for being such a  good friend and coming for me. Ortherwise, I might still be walking home. lol.

So, to recap, I took Scout out for an afternoon ride. I let him much hay while I groomed him. He's shedding really bad so I decided to just put on a bareback pad and go for a quick trip or two around the 'back forty'.
I put on a curb bit instead of his usual snaffle-side pull bridle and threw a halter and lead rope on top because I knew he wouldn't be comfortable with the new bit. I grabbed my helmet because I had this little niggling feeling that something bad was going to happen. I kind of worried about using the bareback pad because I thought that I could easily fall off. But then I rationalized that I haven't fallen off in years and he's going to be good anyway, so why worry?

Scout did really well. Of course, he wanted to go back to the barn but he didn't fight me much when we'd turn the corner and the barn was in sight, and he NEVER neighed at the girls even though Yalla! was hollering and running, I imagine. Scout calmly walked around and trotted whenever I asked. If I gave any pressure to the bit he threw his head up so I kept that loose and used the halter rope instead. He is so light on the bit, I hardly even used the halter rope at all. About the third time around, I decided to go just one more time around, we saw the neighbor ladies in the distance with their pack of big dogs. I could feel Scout tensing and as the four or five BIG dogs circled around us, he freaked. We were on the gravel road and he reared slightly. Then he reared again, stepping back, I believe, which sent him off the road, onto the incline. He lost his balance and fell over backwards. The ladies thought he fell on me. I really don't know.

It was a terrible feeling when I realized we were going over and there was nothing I could do except hang on. He quickly got up and wandered about 60 feet away- out of range of the dogs. I just lay flat on my back assessing the damage. That's not like me. I'm usually so embarrased with something like this that I would get up, shake off, and go after Scout. Not this time. I also thought it was the ladies' fault for letting the dogs run loose and maybe they should worry a little about whether I was still alive.

Finally, I sat up a little and said loudly, "so much for keeping dogs on leashes!" The one lady responded with, "well, this is my land!". Well, maybe it was, however, I was on the roadway when it happened. She had given me permission to ride back there too. If only she could have collected the dogs up before they came running up to us.

 Two of the three ladies came over to see how I was. Yes, I was still alive. By this time I was sitting up and looking at my swelling ankle. The dogs were worrying all over me which made me even more resentful of them. The owners couldn't even them off. My glasses were bent terribly and I had a cut on my head where they hit, but thankfully, the glass wasn't broken. I bent them back as best as I could and felt lucky that I hadn't gone to the eye doctor for a new pair yet, as I have been intending to do. My ring finger hurt terribly, but I couldn't see any swelling or bruising, and I thought- "good thing I don't wear a wedding ring anymore".

The one lady offered to drive me back to my house but, toughie that I am, I refused. "I can walk", I said. I was two fields away from my barn and by now, Scout had wandered back to the barn. I wanted to go check on him on my way back to the house. She asked me if it was a new horse and I said "no, he's just afraid of dogs".

Soooo, I began my trek back. I couldn't put any pressure on my ankle so I was taking little baby steps. The ground was uneven and every step made me wince. I felt popping in the left side of my ankle and the right side was swollen too, weird. I finally got to some trees and found a couple of walking sticks to help me. It didn't work very well. Then I saw Lisa calling to my son and they both came out to meet me.

I had made it one short field and was at another roadway so my son brought the car. He also brought an ankle brace and a pair of crutches. When I got in the car, we took off my shoe and sock and put on the brace. He also made me take two extra strength tylenol right away. I agreed that I should go to the emergency room, which is very unusual for me, and we picked up my mom and went. Unfortunately, it was 7:30 by the time we got to the hospital, so urgent care was already closed and I had to go full emergency. Fortunately, there was a lull in the emergencies, so I got seen within an hour, which is great time for ER.

The doctor checked my spine up and down and said that there wasn't much that could be done for the seatbones. They hurt really bad whenever I try to sit down. The X ray on my ankle came back with a fracture on the talus bone. Interesting thing about Talus bone injuries- they are often caused in falls, especially snowboarding, car accidents, and lower back injuries. They put me in a huge temporary cast up over the knee, called a bulky Jones (there's a Bowie reference there- Jones is his real name) and said I need to call the orthopedics on Monday for an appointment. I am not allowed to put any weight on my foot at all. I'm wearing my coat because I couldn't quit shaking.

They never X rayed my finger and it still hurts terribly but I have figured out that it's actually my hand that got injured. The last two knuckle joints are now slightly swollen and I have a cute little triangle bruise on my palm spanning out towards my finger. Strange! I'll have to ask the Ortho doctor about it today.

Anyway, I need to go to work and the doctor's (fingers crossed that I get an appointment) so more to follow.

Friday Foto

Go down to the gods

I have been SOOOOOO busy in recent weeks! Went to my mom's house two weekends in a row to fix her car and deliver a refrigerator to her, a three and a half hour trip each way. 

Then last weekend, I drove up to Denver with my daughter to see a concert- Arcade Fire! It so rocked. I have had their songs in my head ever since. If anyone doesn't know who they are- they won Best Album at the Grammies this year. The crazy thing about this concert is that they're playing in Santa Fe on Monday, an hour from my house. But, it's a very small venue and I couldn't get tickets. So I did the next best thing- bought tickets to a venue 450 miles away!

Saturday night, when we parked on the street near the venue, we asked the people parking in front of us if this was the right place. They said they didn't really know. They were from out of town. My daughter asked where they came from. Guess what they said? Albuquerque! Why? Because they couldn't get tickets to Santa Fe! How many people come down to Albuquerque from Denver for concerts, I wonder? ZERO!!!! I'm sure! I've gone up to Denver to see the Rolling Stones, Blondie and The Cars, and others.  If we don't go to Denver, we go to Phoenix. ABQ has a terrible concert schedule- all the good bands drive right through without even stopping or waving hi.

Anyway- before the concert, I got worried about it living up to my expectations and whether my daughter would appreciate it. I shouldn't have worried. It was fantastic- one of the BEST concerts I've ever been to. We got there early and, although we couldn't get Floor tickets, sold out, we got Seats right down front in the Stands. The opening band, Local Natives, out of Los Angeles, was thrilled to be playing with them and came out to watch, standing right below us during TAF's entire set. I really got a kick out of seeing one of the band members pan the crowd with his cell phone camera to show how many people were there. lol.

There are eight members in Arcade Fire and they switch instruments after every song. There are two violin players, two drummers, guitars, a cello, keyboards, and even an accordian on some songs. The singers are a husband and wife who alternate lead vocals on the songs and when Regine is not singing, she is dancing. And sometimes, she dances while she sings. She looks like a pixie princess.

But enough, if you get the chance- go see them! And, if you have an extra ticket, I'm coming.

Before the concert, we went sightseeing around Colorado Springs, as evidenced by the Balanced Rock photos for the Sunday Stills challenge. I even got my letterboxing journal stamped by the Rangers in the Garden of the Gods gift shop. Try saying that fast. Since I never can find the planted stamps, I have to get them where I can. ;) Anyway, here's a few more photos of the Garden of the Gods area:

You can just make out the Kissing Camels at the top left of the next photo, in about about 1/4 of the way. There's an archway kind of thing. Look closely. Otherwise, it looks like a Tiki God or something laying down, doesn't it?

As we entered the parking lot for the gift shop, we came across a herd of deer. They walked across the parking lot down the way from us, one and two at a time.

I managed to get a great close up of this young one.

We saw many, many people walking, running and biking in Colorado.

I got a kick out of this- a person went splat here!

These strange rock formations are in the Garden of the Gods. My camera setting got tweaked, making this photo kind of surreal.

We came across the Balanced Rock area just as we were discussing blitzing through the rest of the G of the G. Way cool! We had to stop and look around.

 And take pictures!

We thought these rocks were way cool.

 We had to go down inside. It kind of reminded me of the movie, 127 Hours, where the slot canyon rock climber cuts his own arm off with a pocket knife to free himself from a rock that waited millions of  years to fall on him.

Aron Ralston said" You know, I've been thinking. Everything is... just comes together. It's me. I chose this. I chose all this. This rock... this rock has been waiting for me my entire life. It's entire life, ever since it was a bit of meteorite a million, billion years ago. In space. It's been waiting, to come here. Right, right here. I've been moving towards it my entire life. The minute I was born, every breath that I've taken, every action has been leading me to this crack on the out surface.

If you haven't seen that movie- do! I highly recommend it. Only, I couldn't watch the parts where he cuts himself.

This tree was clinging to life. Amazing!

It was pretty solid too.

Go down to the gods - song: Width of a Circle, artist: David Bowie, album: The Man Who Sold the World

SundayStills (4 Points 4/10/11 )

TNC- 4 Points. Stand in one place and take a picture in each direction. I really wanted to do this in the Four Corners area and then I would get New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado but instead, here's the four views from Balanced Rock in the Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado Springs.

For other Sunday Stills, please view here.

Friday Foto

Seven

The other day someone asked if I still had Sandy. Yes, indeed! We just didn't bring her with us in the truck because there was no room. We did, however, end up bringing her home. Although she's the family's dog, her heart belongs to my daughter, Sheila. Sheila is the first person she made contact with. Incredibly, we now know the story of how she came to live with us too.

 The other day, my daughter had some friends over. My daughter and Sandy ran out to meet them and, instead of being a guard dog, Sandy jumped right into the car with them as they opened the door to get out. My daughter was shocked. The friends exclaimed, "that's Seven!"

It seems that one of her friends was Sandy-Seven's previous owner. He had been out of town for the last year and the dog had been missing since last April from his parent's house.

So, did they want her back? Sandy jumped back out of the car and ran right back to my daughter. It's so obvious the connection between her and my daughter that there was no way they'd get her back even if they did want her. They were very glad to see she found herself a good home.

Another day, Sheila took Sandy-Seven over to her old house for everybody to see her. The mother loved all over her and the other dogs romped around with her and they even have a cat which explains how she is so well behaved with all my animals. However, although she was back home, it was just a visit. She chose to  stay by Sheila's side while they visited.

The story- she was named Seven because she was the seventh puppy in the litter. They showed Sheila some puppy pictures. A year or so ago, she had become pregnant. Somehow she ate rat poison and lost the puppies (all stillborn). She was so sick/upset that she ran away. They thought she died. They were so thankful to see her fully recovered and happy. Her old home is across the highway and a total of about ten miles from our house. It seems that Sheila has been to the house years ago when Seven still lived there although Sheila doesn't remember. I'll bet Sandy remembered her. Isn't that romantic? I like to think that she was so distraught and sick that she ran away to recover (or die) and ended up at our place because she recognized Sheila's scent. What do you think? Now this could be a children's book, huh?

Seven - song: Seven, artist: David Bowie, album: hours...

Weather blows

After yesterday's shot, Buddha appears to be feeling much better today. We drove to my mom's house again today, but only as a day trip.

Here he is, smiling.

How many lap dogs stand this way in a moving car? 

 My son calls this photo the set up

 for this "rock star and accessories" pose. Doesn't it look like they're in an airplane?

It's actually in the back seat of my pick up truck. This is the vehicle with the multi-cracked windshield. Last weekend, Ross and I drove it because we took some wood home after cutting down the trees in her backyard. Today, we delivered a refrigerator to my mom. Her old refrigerator door's seal was wearing out and she was using a wooden spoon to hold the door shut. She has always wanted a bottom freezer and I found a used one for her in ABQ. So, today, we delivered it and took the old one back. My son Ross's girlfriend and her brother came along to help. Moving the refrigerators was so easy with three strong young men that us girls didn't even need to help, other than cleaning the floor area. My mom roasted some chickens and I brought steaks which Trevor grilled. Right as we were getting ready to eat, my daughter came by with her friend, and Sandy the dog, so we all had a wonderful afternoon dinner together. It almost felt like Thanksgiving.

During last week, I bought a new oil pan for my mom's van and today, my son Ross, put it in. Yes, Trevor does work too. This time, he was there to hand tools to his big  older brother. He just likes to ham it up for the camera more and I always seem to catch him on a break while Ross is working away. 

Here's Ross, under the engine. I'm so glad he likes to work on cars. It's such a good skill for him to have.

While they were working on the car, I took a walk down to the river that runs through my mom's property. 

I came across these downed trees. I think the first one is beaver activity.

What about these? Do beavers cut tree limbs off like this?

I saw several logs with the bark stripped off, some laying in a dammed up area of the river. I wondered if there were any beavers around?

Too bad it was so windy and cold. It even sprinkled rain on us a little. Seems like fall is everlasting up at my mom's house.

Afterwards, Trevor, Buddha and I drove up to my cabin, while my daughter, her friend, and Sandy hiked up to it (about 1 mile-up the mountain). We all visited for a while, sitting in the living room, reminiscing about all the great times we've spent there over the years. Too soon, it was time to go back down the mountain to my mom's house. We loaded everybody into the truck (5 adults and Buddha) and decided to bring Sandy back with us too so that my daughter and her friend could go to Santa Fe to watch his dad play in a band there. I drove with the seat pulled all the way up so that the big guys could sit in the back, with Sandy on the seat between them, and the other three of us in the front seat with Buddha. It was crowded but fun, as we played all kinds of games on the way home: the alphabet game, I spy, etc. etc. 

We fought strong winds all day long and, with a refrigerator in back of the truck both ways, struggled to get any speed on the hills coming home. Even the semis were passing us. We finally made it home, only to find the town in a black out. Thankfully, our area still had electricity. As I type this, the wind is still blowing hard outside and the night air is chill, typical early April weather. I wouldn't be surprised if we got snow tomorrow.

Weather Blows - song: Beat of your Drum, artist: Tin Machine, album Tin Machine II