Me and the Wheelchair

Sunday while visiting with my Mom I managed to get into a wrestling match with her chair; wheelchair, that is! My shoe somehow got caught by the chair and all I could see was me doing a sommersalt over the seat and winding up in some awkward position in the floor from where I would cry out in my most dignified, embarrassed voice "call 911!" As exciting as this image seemed in that second, I determined I'd keep on my feet no matter what. I did while feeling my foot develop some kind of OW!OW!OW! DAMMIT! OW! That hurts! sensation.

I had been moving the chair to get it out of the way; we were headed out to lunch with Mom. I was sure I would have a sore foot but didn't think much more about it. By the time we went to the car after lunch, I was having trouble walking. Jamelah left me in the car and took Mom back to her apartment and got her settled in. When we got home, I pulled off my shoe expecting to see some mangled mess, but nothing different. I took my Sunday afternoon nap and when I woke up I stood up only to find I could not stand any weight on my foot at all. I cried like a sissy little girl then I yelled at Jamelah for help. I had to pee and I wasn't sure I could make it to the bathroom. I sent her to my sister's house to borrow Phyllis's old walker and she brought it back and I was able to hobble in to the bathroom.

Bathrooms are made for getting great ideas and I had one. I remembered the vicadan (I know this is spelled wrong, spellchecker; get over it. I'm not going to look it up. everyone knows what I'm talking about) the dentist had given me when I had a root canal the previous fall. Yes! So, off I went to sleep. That was a good idea. We entertained the idea of heading for the ER but they prefer you to see your primary care doctor so I thought I'd just wait and call the doctor first thing in the morning for an appointment; the pain med was working just fine; no hurry. I still had 1/2 bottle of vicadan left.

Morning came and I began the calls to the doctor's office (Dr. Burkhardt is an orthopedic surgeon who did both my knees and few other odd jobs on me. He and I are on a first name basis now.) Seriously, the soonest they could get me in was 3:30 on Thursday. My foot could be broken but I would have to wait until Thursday to get an appointment. I told them I was not picky I'd be completely happy to see the PA. I just needed to get my foot xrayed to see if I had broken it. Well, she explained to me again: the soonest they would have someone in the office to approve the order for an xray would be Thursday afternoon at 3:30. If I wanted an xray before then, I'd have to go to xpress care or see my primary care doctor. "Thanks" hmmmmmmmmmmm. I made the appointment. I called my Primary care doctor. She would see me at 3:30 Monday afternoon. If they had a cancellation they would give me a call to come in sooner.

Dr. Johnson and her staff were extremely sweet to me and mentioned the word "stubborn" a couple times especially when she asked me how I had gotten to her office and I looked at her rather perplexed and said "I drove, I didn't walk!" I had not taken any vicodan all day just so I could drive and I figured that I'd have to drive myself to Marshall and get xrayed after she got through with me because that's how that works. The Albion clinic would be closed by the time I got out my appt with her.

All true except going in for the xray part. She did not give me a slip for an xray: she sent me straight to ... you guessed it ... the ER! and told me not to get someone else to drive me there. Luckily my nephew had stopped over and was helping with "stuff" before his ISOM class at New Hope, so he drove me to the ER and abandoned me there (not really). Jamelah would stop for me on her way home from work in Battle Creek.

I explained how I had lost the match with my mom's chair to the staff at the hospital. For some reason they found me slightly amusing and took really good care of me. After the xrays were completed the doctor told me I had been wrong. The chair did not win; my foot did. I was a bit confused by this and he laughed and said "your foot won; not the chair. Fortunately for you, there are no broken bones, just bad bruising. It should heal quickly and you'll be fine." Yea! and with a new script of vicadan (however you spell it; no one can spell it right when taking the stuff. I'll look it up later). Jamelah had arrive by then. She hadn't had supper so we headed through Wendy's drive thru and I got a Frosty. Wouldn't you say I deserved one by this time?

My foot hurts and I'm trying to get back up to my regular speed quickly. I have to work Thursday. I don't have time to gimp about. But, it looks like I will be "gimpy" for a while now. Just thankful that my foot won and not the chair.