The Big Fall, part 6

It has been one month today since Scout's and my fall. My routine has changed drastically but hopefully, temporarily. I use a wheelchair because I cannot put ANY weight on my bad leg and I am not very good at playing flamingo. I have fallen off the crutches several times so, when the doctor okayed the wheelchair rental, I got one. I am still going to work but I have one of the other workers come out to meet me and get the chair and leg extenders out of the car. They wheel me in to the office because I cannot go over the big stoop in the doorway. After that, I'm on my own until it's time to go home, when I ask someone to wheel me out to my car. I have found that taking the leg extenders off the chair while loading and unloading it is a big help because they are very heavy and awkward when lifting the chair and putting it in the car. During the day, I sit with my leg extender up so that I can elevate my leg and, becauyse I have a back part under my desk, I have to sit either sidewise to the desk or away from it and lean way forward. My wheelchair won't fit very far under. Needless to say, my poor neck, arms, and back get very sore and I am more than ready to head home after 7 or 8 solid hours of work. I don't take lunch away because it's too hard, so I eat at my desk while I work.

Going to the bathroom is always challenging because it's out in the office complex hallway and locked. Once, on crutches, when I put the key in and pulled, the key slipped out of the lock and I fell backwards. That's when I decided that I'd be better off in a wheelchair. Sometimes, I'll meet someone who holds the door open but usually, I have to finagle the door and the chair together. I feel like a competitive trail horse backing around an obstacle. Even though one stall is handicapped, my wheelchair doesn't fit all the way so I have to lock the brakes and hop over to the toilet and then hop back to the chair. Also, I have found that my bladder isn't as good as it was before the accident so I really have to plan my trips. My sister tells me it's a temporary thing from inactivity. I sure hope so.

My son and I went to WalMart and I used one of those motorized carts. It worked okay, once I got the hang of it, but if I ever wanted to shop by myself, how would I get on one of them from my handicap parking space? They keep them parked inside the store and it's a long hop across the road over to them. It's the little things that really matter. My gas tank is on the far side of the car so I wait for my son to fill the tank. What if I lived alone?? My sister tells me that gas stations will pump for you but I've yet to find a station that's not all self-serve. It sure would be nice to live in Oregon right now where you cannot legally pump your own gas. I haven't tried Sam's Club. I do know they have an outdoor attendant supervising the pumps...

I won't even mention that I haven't had a shower since?? Well, I guess I did! I can stand on one foot and lean over my deep laundry sink to wash my hair, which I have to do quite often, but I can't do much more than use a washcloth every where else.  The bandages are somewhat looser on my leg now so I can sneak a tiny peek and the skin is just flaking off in layers. It should be really pretty (NOT) when I go to the doctor next week.

Yesterday, I began to have the strangest sensation in my leg. It almost feels like the incision area is oozing or something. I can almost feel something drip, wet like, down my leg. Hopefully, it's just my imagination. I sure hope all is well down there. Most of my pain is centered around the incision area now. Sometimes, it feels like it's burning. Otherwise, I am getting more comfortable hauling my chunky leg around and, unless it gets knocked, it's very tolerable. My poor toes are still fat sausages and they tingle when I try to bend them. I sure notice it when I leave my leg down too; my toes turn purple from the blood rushing down there.

My bottom is feeling just a little better so at least I know that was only bruised and not a broken tailbone. And my ring finger is still very sore but improving. I have stopped taking pain medications except for occasional ibuprofen. Conclusion- I'll live.

I still haven't ventured out to the barn. The wheelchair is not easy to push under adverse conditions, like uneven gravel pathways, and there is an arroyo to be traversed. Feeding the horses has been challenging, needless to say. Nadia needs her mash daily and I think my children know how to fix it now, but I wonder... Twice now, my poor horses had to do without food because all my children deserted me for their own agendas, each expecting one of the others to do the chores. My youngest son is most dependable because he lives at home, but he sleeps late, sometimes till almost noon, and I hear the horses calling for their breakfast each morning. I wonder how it all got done the other times I was hurt and I remember that my husband was around and most dependable. I had a horse fall on my legs two different times, a year apart, and both times I was incompacitated for three months with a swollen, black leg, from the knee down, opposite legs, mind you. Since this is my third fall with a horse, I hope never to have it happen again in my lifetime. All in all, it's a very humbling experience and I am tempted to say this might be my worst experience, although not the most painful, by a longshot.

Speaking of longshots, here are some zooms I took of the horses, Annie and Yalla! Not very good, but the best I can get for now.

It sure looks like the horses need a good grooming. I'm curious what color Yalla! is going to be. She looks like a dun bay, lol, as if that were a true color. She still has the primitive markings, dorsal stripe, stripes on the legs, and she's kind of a mud color with very black points (legs, mane and tail). Will she darken into a black over time?

Update on the alpacas- we're debating the names Colombia and Magenta or Thelma and Louise, the first of each pair for the light brown one and the other for the black one. What do you think?