Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The Fall - a.k.a. stupidity 101

I was contemplating what I would use for a blog entry this week, and low and behold, my own life story will now become one. I don't recommend anyone try this at home. So, you know when you have plans for the day, and you hope to get them done, and then, well, things happen. That happened to me today. Let me begin by telling you about a fall my son took a couple of weeks ago. He was playing hockey at our nearby rink and took a spill. Landed on his wrist. I took him to the clinic, but nothing was broken. He's pretty much recovered from that now. I guess I must have felt sorry for him or something, because, today, I smashed up my wrist and elbow. My claim to fame is that it was simply an act of sheer stupidity. : ( We are going to enter into the realm of satelite TV tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. I entered into this reluctantly, but my son wants to watch the leafs, and we just can't get them here in Ottawa, so he's paying part of the tab. Well, tomorrow morning the installer comes, and he needs to get on the roof to put the dish up. I went on the roof to clear a path for him, so he would not slip and fall. I didn't slip or fall while on the roof, just so you know. No, it was that dumb ladder thingy. I should have known better and had my son spot for me, but no, I can do all things through ME who well, can do all things, of course! : ) On the way DOWN the ladder, it came unhinged somehow, and I ended up falling about 7 feet. Landed on my feet, but I'm getting older, and not able to absorb the impact as well, so I also took some of the force on my right wrist and elbow, my outer right knee, and my hip. I was scared going down, let me tell you. By God's grace, I stayed upright, landed on my feet, and well, then the pain in the wrist and elbow reminded me that I didn't get off "scott free" (where does that term come from anyway? ) My son came running to the front door, as did my wife, wondering if I was ok. I told them I was (LIAR that I am). Well, about 10 minutes after cleaning up the ladder and looking at my bent eavestrough (? spelling), which I'll fix later on, I decided it might be a good idea to go to a clinic, just in case. I drove to the clinic in CentrePointe. Not an easy feat, in that I own a stick shift. I was able to shift with my left hand, using my knees to steer. Not recommended on your driving test. I ended up waiting for about 45 minutes, which was pretty good I thought. The doctor examined my elbow and wrist, and wanted x-rays. He wanted to avoid me having to wait hours at the hospital, so he called the x-ray clinic to see if they could be examined right away. I was fortunate again. The x-ray clinic was about 1/2 km down the road. I decided to walk it, to save parking fees. Once there, I waited only 10 minutes. Bonus I thought. Then came 9 x-rays of the wrist and elbow. They showed nothing broken. (I'm still doubtful because I can barely move my arm, but I'll give it one night to see). I walked back to the doctor's office. He wanted me to wait until the x-ray clinic phoned. I waited 3o minutes and then asked them to call me if they wanted me to go to the hospital. All the while, my wrist and elbow have gotten progressively stiffer. My outer knee will have a bruise, and my hip will too. As I waited in the waiting room, I just kept thinking, "You are pretty stupid Ronny boy!" I was also very thankful, because things could have turned out much worse. So, I'm now at home, typing with great pain, but trying to keep my arm moving to see if things improve. I have youth group tonight, so they'll all get a good laugh out of this. When your life is public you might as well let everyone know right away to get things over with. : ) It brought home for me the fact that life is very fragile. One moment all seems fine, the next, something can happen that changes everything. So John, I feel REALLY fallible today, FYI : ) Note to self, always get a spotter for that stupid ladder. I just hope satelite will be worth it. . . .

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ron and I often compare notes about who is the more fallible and who has messed up most recently.
Today Ron wins. (but the day isn't over yet :-)