Alternative way to spend a month

To recap, I spent a month rehabbing from my broken femur, and came home a week after the school year started, toward the end of August. The cat was happy to be home, and so were Laura and I. Rehab continued at home, and I became darn good with the cane.

I was confident enough to use it in my right hand, to support my still mending right leg. Approved practice is opposite hand to “bad” leg, and if you’ve ever needed to do it, you know the drill. But, I digress. Actually, I did not sacrifice a month to putting my cane in the wrong hand. I was practicing it because I had a goal.

A new shoulder! I consulted with the young shoulder fellow, demonstrated my reasonable ability to be mobile using the cane in my right hand, and we set the date, which I no longer recall. I know it was before September 20th,  the anniversary of breaking my femur. 

And so, I had a reverse shoulder replacement, and came home the next day. It was like magic. Yes, it hurt, but not from arthritis!

I remember I came home on a week day. I remember sleeping a lot. General anesthesia does that to me. A lot of sleeping it off. Waking up and needing a trip to the loo, too. 

In the middle of the night, thumping along the twenty paces to my bathroom, I passed my walker, set aside in my bedroom. I was so sleepy, and tired, I thought how nice it would be to lean on the walker and finish the trip. I hung the cane on my closet doorknob.

My right hand engaged the walker’s grip. My left hand, secure in a body sling, wondered what the hell I was up to. That had not entered my brain, though. I gave my mobility device a push.

Just like a cartoon, I was over the top. I tucked my head, hunched my shoulders and went for the roll. It would have been a perfect landing, except I was too close to the wall, and my right hip took a good smack. I slid down, sat up, considered my options.

Laura was sound asleep and the next day a school day. I scooched along the wall and reached the phone. I called 911 and asked for our local dispatch. I said I needed Valley Fire to pick me up and put me back to bed, after I went to the bathroom. Yes, my front door was unlocked; when I came home from the broken leg, etc., I’ve left it unlocked, just in case I ever would need VFD to pick me up.

I knew one of the EMT’s, who told the other it was OK. If I wanted helped back in bed, so be it.

But the next day my hip hurt. And it hurt worse the next day, and worse the day after.  So, I took the trip to the emergency room…

To be continued, but only one more day. I need to go read some blogs. I’m a month behind there, too.

So much catching up!