even though i have avoided semi-public announcement of my current situation, i felt inclined to blog this morning, and so this is the only large event that has occurred as of late.
ok. to begin at the beginning.
august 1st found me sprawled on a riverbank after having falling from the top, and landing quite heavily on a jutting root and a few rocks near the water. the first thing that crossed my mind after landing was, "damn i landed on my back, am i paralyzed," and while the pain was enough to make one hesitant to move, my second thought after assuring myself i had landed just to the left of my spine, "is anything broken." Finishing the hike was torturous but the dogs had fun. and for the next two or three days i hobbled around convinced i had fractured my pelvis. the pain was incredible. fortunately i had a good friend fly in the very same day of the accident, and he was there when it happened (equally horrified by my calamity) so graciously, although my guest, he probably served more as my asssistant until he flew out the following tuesday.
he had driven us everywhere since the accident, so tuesday he got us to the airport and i drove home and strait to the doctors office at st. francis hospital to get it all checked out. hours of waiting later i crawled onto an xray table and turned in all the painful positions the radiologist asked me to, even returning at his request to have more exams (god nows how many different kinds of "rays" went through my abdomen) to rule out spinal damage. only to find out later that my doctor was out of town and wouldn't read the results until wednesday. that was a bit disappointing to say the least. so i got my excuse from work for that day and drove home, moaning all the way, to wait.
once home i realized getting out of the car was nearly impossible. getting up the hill to my front door even more daunting, and once in the house i had no idea what to do. sitting down was painful so i hobbled around in the kitchen fidgeting with the mail that had accumulated on the counter. at this point it was around 6pm. the continuing tragedy began around 6:30 when i dropped a bill on the floor, accidentally of course, and kneeled--ever so carefully--to retrieve it. what can only be explained as the feeling of being hit with a cattle prod landed me in the floor in less than a second, and there i stayed for a few minutes, completely frustrated with my situation, and quite depressed from then 4 days of untreated severe back pain. all i could do was bawl and call my mom.
an hour later mom picked me up and we drove to newnan piedmont emergency room. at that point the pain drew tears immediately so i'm sure i looked like a mess. surprisingly they got me into a room after about 45minutes of waiting in triage. then went through the same routine of getting on an exam bed, telling the doc where it hurt, and heading for the xray room. but this time i had a little more care. kim, the radiology nurse, was fantastic. she wouldn't let me do a thing for myself, which i was thankful for. getting on the xray table was excrutiating, then turning ONTO my hurt side was as you can imagine, quite bad. so once that was over i finally got the answer that nothing was broken.
while i was relieved to not have 6-8 weeks of recovery and possible surgery ahead of me, i was overwhelmed with the disappointment of still not KNOWING what was causing the pain. the ER doc diagnosed me with contusion and severe lower back strain, gave me some heavy pain medication and told me to stay out of work for a week and follow up with an ortho as soon as i could if the pain didn't subside within a few days. being that the pain hadn't subsided in the 4 days since the accident, i was the slightest bit unenthusiastic of the notion it would miraculously remedy in two or three more, nor was i satisfied with the diagnosis.
fortunately as the days passed and with assistance from the pain medication i was able to do a little bit more with a little less pain. i saw the orthopedic doctor on monday who diagnosed a deep bone and muscle bruise of my left pelvis and left lower ribs. he prescribed an anti-inflammatory and was glad i had taken the pain meds and muscle relaxers sparingly (that stuff will knock you out for a day or more, not good) and then yesterday--11 days after the accident--i drove my manual honda for the first time with only moderate discomfort. granted i only went down the street and back, but it was a step in the direction of healing that i'm glad of. being home-bound for almost two weeks has been difficult. but going to work before i'm a little more put-together would naturally be impossible, so here i am. day 12 of what will most likely be a month or two of slow but sure recovery. the pain in my back is now more isolated to the hip area and what used to be occasional severely sharp pains has evolved into a constant ache, like having a migraine headache in my back....of course not pleasing and keeps me up at night more often, but i think it's a sign of healing. i plan to return to work monday, and see how it goes from there.
And as i close this novella--here's my shout-out. my sincere appreciation to Robbie and Mom, who carried the bulk of the weight of my injuries, the Newnan ER team, my dogs Maggie and Basil who have been very patient with my inability to take them for walks, my boss and coworkers Sarah, Melanie, Tonya, Jenny and Henry who have been very understanding or have checked in on me from time to time (despite my antisocial tendencies), and to dear Amy and the hilarious "ladies club" (as i call them) of newnan who took me under-wing and hauled my crippled butt out a few times so my cabin fever wasn't quite so bad over the past two weeks. Thanks. I mean it.
The End!
