My Accident at Home

We had a great day yesterday! Stan's younger brother, George, and his wife, Shelley, came to spend the day with us. Most of the day was spent getting caught up with one another. Given the fact that we all enjoy food, we decided to have some barbequed ribs for dinner. We are once again having problems with our central air unit. Since it was very warm outside, it was even warmer inside. Cooking anything in the kitchen was going to add to the heat in here that we alreay had. Stan and George decided to run downtown and pick up some chips and pork and beans. While they were gone, Shelley and I kept an eye on the ribs cooking outside.

Our grill is located on our deck which is attached to our dining room. To get to it, we just had to walk out of our french doors. No problem. Right? Well, the answer is yes AND no. Going to the grill, I noticed that one of the boards "dipped" a little as we walked on it. Coming back into the house, I stepped on the same board. This time, the board BROKE! I was a goner!!! My right side from my toes to just below my hip disappeared below the deck. You talk about pain being involved, it was.

Everything happened so quickly that I was basically in a state of shock. I looked up and there was my hero, Stan. He stepped over me so that he could asess the situation. By the looks on his and George's faces, I could tell things were even worse than I thought. Soon, Stan was gone.

George and Shelley were gathered around me offering support. Leighlyn and Karla had been in the bedroom. As soon as they heard what was happening, they came out to see what was wrong. They stuck around to offer any aid possible. A couple of minutes later, Stan returned with his electric saw and a few other tools. I knew that I was totally unable to move anything on that leg. Tingling sensations were present though. I thought that I had just broken my leg. Whenever I tried to look at my leg, I was told that I needed to look elsewhere.

When I heard his saw humming away, I became even more concerned. LOL! Had my leg broken to such a degree that Stan was going to have to cut part of it off??? Fortunately, that was not the case. The problem was that my leg was totally stuck between three of the other floor boards. That explained why it could not move at all. Stan ended up having to cut out the 3 boards. Once he had done that, I was able to move my leg again. With some help, it was free and clear again!

I made my way back into the dining room and sat down so that I could see what issues there were. I discovered several major scrapes that were bleeding somewhat. I saw that one of my toenails had been lifted up as it plunged from the top of the porch to under the porch. It has a MAJOR bruise. Worst of all was the area of my leg that had been trapped in the boards. There is a bruise that just about covers the entire portion of my leg that was trapped.

I never went to the emergency room. The bleeding was very minimal. I was able to stand and walk on that leg. It was just full of pain. I didn't think that the hospital would have done much than just clean up the blood and send me home. We were able to do that right here and it would not cause the doctor to have to be brought to the hospital for basically nothing.

As soon as I was out of the porch, I took some Extra Strength Tylenol. Something stronger would have been great. Because of my bleeding and heart issues, they are not allowed. I can have prescription pain killers but I prefer to stay away from them whenever possible so that they can do their thing when I am in really bad pain. A couple of hours later, I took more Tylenol before I went to bed. I was a bit uncomfortable for the rest of the night. I am confident that my leg will return to normal little by little and lot by lot.

The deck needs to be replaced. It has been here for about 12 years and has steadily weakened. Last night is proof that it has gotten to the dangerous level.

VLE-B