mek.highcroft.com

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.

Economic Impact

It's starting already - the discussions about the price of gasoline, the Wal-Marts that are closed, the economic effect of a catastrophic hurricane. Gas prices rose past $3.00 a gallon today, not much of a surprise. Bread, toilet paper, all these things will get more expensive for a while as transportation companies pass along fuel costs to businesses and along to consumers. "Oh no, here comes the recession" is the tone of voice I hear.

The damage may exceed 40 billion dollars, I think, and insurance companies will be assessing and paying out to their clients for a long time. In 4-6 months, the Gulf Coast will see a new building boom such as has not been seen in decades. Over the next five years, entire towns and cities will be rebuilt, neighborhoods will once again be filled with playing children and parents heading to work or school or church. Communities will be stronger and church attendance will skyrocket. Our economy will stabilize as refining capacity is again brought online, drilling platforms reset over their wells, and fisherman, cruise lines, and vacationers head back out onto the water.

We'll see some policy changes at our insurance companies, we'll see policy changes at FEMA and we'll watch volunteer organizations like the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and community groups getting the attention they deserve for the work they do right here in America. We'll refocus on our country for a while. We will hope that other countries will help us rebuild as we did after the tsunami, the earthquakes, the mudslides...

Does calamity make us a stronger country? For a short while, yes. Will the situation in the Gulf states get worse before it gets better? Probably. Perhaps news organizations will note the irony of the destruction and death in the Gulf States here in America, while we continue to press on toward peaceful resolution of the conflict in the Gulf States half a world away. Perhaps not.

I'm sure I'll keep paying more for gas. Perhaps I'll be one of those guys who rides his bike to work. Maybe this is a good time for starting a fitness program of that sort, right? Perhaps the sarcasm is just a bit heavy just now.

In a perfect world, I'd be able to head south with a chainsaw and a vanload of food and water, hoping to help in some infinitessimal way to clear away the damage and bring some comfort to people fleeing their destroyed homes. I am sure thousands of people are feeling exactly the same way. Still we are smacked in the face with the stories of economic downturn - I guess the humanitarian efforts are just not interesting stories. I believe they need to be at the heart of our society - you know, people helping people because it's the right thing to do.

The stream of consciousness writing will stop for now... maybe more later if I continue to stay awake when I should be sleeping.