Back in the saddle.again!

byFrenchman88

374 followers

2 years ago

Hello WA family!
I'm climbing my way back. I am recovering from an accident I managed to get involved in back in October. I'm okay now, but it was a rough road, and I'm not out of the woods yet where the pain is concerned.

My story starts with my brother-in-law moving in with my wife and me while recovering from some life issues. Where he was staying was no longer safe for him, and we took him in. At 52 years old, he was also fighting inner demons, a meth addiction, and all the baggage that came along with that. But his safety was our prime concern. So we always said we would offer him a hand-up rather than a hand-out.

I was very firm with him because this would be the second time we helped him out several years ago, and it was not altogether pretty. I told him I would not have a repeat of our last visitation. He assured me over and over that this time would be much different. My wife and I prayed about it and continued praying for him to get the help he needed, an income and another place to live. He assured me he was working with Social Services to get an apartment. But in the back of my mind, I knew this could all be lies to appease me, so I remained skeptical.

My wife admitted she felt the same way. But something was different this time as

he landed a job at a thrift store within a few months so he could buy his necessities, cigarettes, etc. I began to see his attitude changing, but I couldn't remark on it to him because, at the drop of a dime, he can get instantly cocky. Which then sends him into a downward spiral.

After about six or so months, my wife called Social Services to ensure they were, indeed, working on getting him an apartment. But, of course, we've dealt with this before, so we know we must "Trust but Verify" if we don't want things to get out of hand. So, as it turned out, they said they were working with him on an apartment and getting closer to making it happen.

Hallelujah! A few months later, he got the call that they had secured an apartment for him, and immediately he had mixed emotions. Excited to start over fresh and nervous about being unaccountable, somewhat again, and what could happen this time. Even though we are somewhat close in age, I was excited to be the adult bird pushing the baby bird out of the nest.

He began to warm up to the idea and get excited. And that's when I made a fateful move. I was so excited he was finally leaving that I suggested we take him to IKEA to buy some things for the new place. So I took the day off from work, October 18th, and we took a road trip (about an hour from my house.)

All was right with the world. We got there early, so there were plenty of parking spaces close to the front entrance. If you know Ikea, you know if you sign in with your card as you enter the building, some perks can come your way. Even a free cup of coffee is a good incentive. But, of course, I couldn't find my card, because I couldn't find my wallet. I figured I had left it in the car, so I said I'd return quickly and headed outside.

Walking on the sidewalk, I started scanning the road and lot for traffic. Then, with my head up, looking for cars, I unknowingly "ran out of sidewalk," and my foot plunged an unexpected 8 inches downward. This action pulled my body forward and out into the street. I felt like Fred Flinstone with my legs and feet rotating furiously, attempting to regain my balance. At last, I couldn't keep upright and came crashing down directly on my right side. SNAP! was the first thing I heard. I looked up, and fortunately for me, the oncoming traffic had seen me and stopped.

People from every direction came to assist me, and as they were lifting me to my right side, I immediately saw stars, lightning, red hot pokers jamming into my leg. So, the pain and lack of support on my right side were unbearable. Finally, a couple of what looked like linebackers reached under each arm and started lifting me toward my left side, and almost in unison, a worker was pushing a wheelchair under me for support.

I told them my family was in the lobby, so they pushed me over to her. Immediately she thought I had talked someone into pulling a prank and pushing me with a wheelchair. "Come on!" she said. "What a joker, my husband," something I am pretty capable of under different circumstances. When she saw that I was not kidding, she saw that I was very pale and probably in shock; she said, "we've got to go to the hospital!"

I glanced at her brother standing next to her and said, "Now, hold on a minute. Let's think this through." While sitting in the chair, I felt no pressure and very little pain; only when I tried putting weight on it did I want to die. But I forgot about that; after all, I was in shock, and so far, I was comfortable, and I wanted to get rid of my brother-in-law (in a loving way.)

So, we shopped for another 4 hours because, in my shocked condition, I made the most sense. Of course leaving was another story; this was the most painful thing I've ever experienced, almost passing out once. Without going through the gory details, it took me about 30 minutes with two people helping to get me into the car, and off we went to the emergency room. Again, every slight bump or stop sent me through the roof.

It was in the Emergency room where they informed me that I had broken my right hip. Ohhh boy! They had to admit me and then schedule surgery for the following evening. Surgery was a success, but boy, was I in a lot of pain. Morphine was my saving grace. Physical Therapy was brutal, but they said they've seen worse. I explained to the PT guy what happened and how painful it was, and he said, "Yeah, no doubt! Your leg was hanging in the breeze." I had broken the bone that connects the femur to the ball that goes into the socket. So not the hip itself and not the femur. Ohhh, that made me feel much better!

In summation, I work a full-time job that allows me to work remotely from time to time, so my boss told me to take as long as I need virtually and come back when I can. But, my endurance was not even 50% at first, and I finally worked up to putting in a full day's work recently. So it's taken me some more time to get to the point where I can start writing again. I was off this week from work, so I started getting back into the swing of things.

I pray I'll get into full swing again, writing, site building, and interacting with the community soon enough. Subsequently, I've got a lot of unanswered notifications to look at and address.

Thanks all for your support!

Kevin