Last Monday night, July 20th, we picked up our 4th load of local hay. The kids and I got it done reasonably quickly (they are pros) and headed home. They wanted to wait for Larry to get home to unload it, but I just wanted to be done so I could have a beer.
Being impatient, I headed out, figuring I could get the hay thrown off of the truck bed before they got out and we could be done faster. I had about half the truck emptied when I lost my balance (or a bale hit me or something) and I fell backwards, hit the trailer (hitched behind the truck) and hit the ground. I heard a ‘crack’ when I hit and I immediately knew I’d broken my leg. After lying there for a minute or two and looking at my leg (which did NOT look right), I started yelling for help. I was in the arena, hadn’t brought my phone out and everyone else was in the house. I was lying under the truck, cursing myself and wondering if I could get to the truck horn (no) or if someone might come down the road (also no). After about 10-15 minutes of yelling, I started dragging myself towards the house. I had made out outside the arena when my family came running – they had come out to unload the truck and trailer, but as soon as they saw me, they ran.
At first I thought I could get in the car to go to the Emergency Room, but one small try dissuaded me. I asked them to call 911 and get me some Oxycodone (left over from a kid’s wisdom teeth removal). While we waited for the ambulance, I started going into shock. It was very interesting really.
The EMTs arrived and immediately took my vitals and covered me with warm blankets. They cut the leg of my jeans to get to my ankle, but I asked them to be very careful with my boot – I had on my good Ariats and those are expensive. They were able to get it off without harming it. I guess I was a bit out of it, as I kept apologizing for not taking a shower (I’d meant to after unloading the hay).
The nice EMTS loading me onto the gurney. I had an air cast at this time.
So, I got to ride in an ambulance (first time) and I must have kept losing time, as we arrived at the hospital much quicker than I expected. No lights or sirens, as I was stable. My daughter, Callie, followed in our van, while Larry and Zach stayed home to unload the rest of the hay.
After a rather unpleasant few hours (although I did get some good drugs and they knocked me out finally), the X-rays showed that I had dislocated my ankle and had some chips and a tibia fracture. Once the dislocation was put back into place, it wasn’t all that bad, besides my beating myself up for being stupid. They told me to go to an orthopedic surgeon and have the surgeon decide if I needed surgery, although they thought I would.
Callie took me home and we got to bed around 1 am.
I had a huge splint on my leg with strict instructions for no weight bearing (not a problem, really, I can’t imagine that even now, a week later). I got a scooter the next day, which made life much easier.
So, fast forward to Friday, when I went to the orthopedic surgeon. More X-rays and he said that the chips seemed to be in good places and that everything looked great. No surgery at this point, we’d re-evaluate in 4 weeks.
Me at the orthopedic surgeon’s. Note the pretty colors on my foot.
So, I’m catching up on my paperwork, reading LOTS of books, doing too much baking and being really grateful for the kids and my wonderful boarders. Good news is that all the foals are born, most of the hay is in the barn (and my wonderful hay lady, Vicki, is bringing the last 200 bales later this week!) and I’m using all outside stallions for breeding this year. Gotta find those silver linings!
I did get out to the barn the other day, dragged the arena and got to say hi to some of the horses. Galen thinks I’m a slacker. Right now, I have to agree.
Photo of my boot on the tractor. I won’t be driving a car anytime soon though – this was hard enough!