September 26, 2005
The Fall and The Injury
Following the big storm last week, we had lots of branches and debris in our yard that needed to be raked up and hauled away. Not usually a perilous activity, mind you, but I managed to injure my back pretty well in a fall from the pickup truck.
I was loading yard debris into the pickup truck bed with a wheelbarrow and managed to step back just a little bit too far. Barely missed the edge of the tailgate and WHAM I found myself on the ground, looking up at the stars at about 2:20 in the afternoon. Not good.
So, I take a few seconds to decide if I should try to get up, or if I should call 911. I choose the former. I call Heidi to let her know that I've taken a pretty bad fall. She's justifiably worried. I get in the shower to get the grit off and to clean out the scrape on my elbow. Man, this HURTS, I kept saying to myself. Then the swelling started.
The swelling is pretty major now (it's Monday at lunchtime) and I have an appointment for x-rays this afternoon. My friend Tom the chiropractor saw my back this morning and had two simple pieces of advice 1) get to the doctor and have x-rays taken and 2) ICE your back. I expect to see Tom quite a bit over the next couple months after the swelling goes down and the bruising subsides.
Bruising? Oh yeah. I figured I would have a small but major bruise on my back. Wrong. The bruise is substantial and something akin to a special effect in a scifi movie, color-wise. Along with the help of a Treo cameraphone from Sprint (together with Nextel!) I was able to snap a beautiful low-rez photo to show the doctor. I hope the x-rays show that nothing is broken or seriously injured. Bruising I can handle - I can do without having a broken tailbone or something like that. 3-4 feet does not seem like a long way to fall, but asphalt is not exactly soft and squishy.
WARNING: Falling 3-4 feet onto your driveway can cause MAJOR injuries. I was fortunate to not have any more serious, but this could have been much worse.
Mind you, I never expected to post a photo of my hindquarters on the web, but let this photo serve as a warning. No comments on the fact that I need to lose some weight, people. And no offence intended for those of you who know me... I'm usually much more modest than this photo depicts.
So, I'm working (somewhat uncomfortably) from a Lay-z-boy chair today until I can get into the doctor's office at 3:20 for x-rays. I'm glad for the wifi access from my laptop, as I am pretty sure I'll be making use of it in the next week or so. I hope they can figure out what is making my toes so tingly.
Anyway, lunch is over and I need to get back to work. Perhaps I'll post an update on the results of the x-rays later.
And maybe in the not-too-distant future, I'll actually finish cleaning up the yard.
Posted by MEK at September 26, 2005 01:06 PM