Broken

Yep, this is what Santa brought me for Christmas.  I would have gladly returned it to him if I'd had the chance!  but, I figured if you've gotta have one of these during the holiday season, why not make it fun, right?  So, I asked the technician to wrap it in red and green.  It's been a bit of a pain what with the first snowstorms of the season having blown in the last few days.  Can't get it wet, can't help shovel (and around here, that's a monumental task for Music Man to tackle by himself).  We've had to enlist the boys (not always cooperative) help with that.  Maestro did a bang up job on the front walk yesterday, I was proud of him for pitching in...almost willingly.

I did this stepping out my front door.  The threshold on the jamb is lose...I know not to step on it, but I was reaching behind me to grab the door while trying not to drop a bag on my arm, rushing out the door after the kids.  Stepped on the jamb and my foot started to slide forward off it.  Felt myself falling, so tried to step down before I landed on my butt and instead heard the very loud and distinct "SNAP!" when the fibula bone broke on the bottom 2 inches and the ankle turned to mush with a very bad sprain.  Yep, that was some pain.  Music Man happened to be outside when I did this, he came rushing to me and all I could say was "I heard is snap bad"...then I just clung to the railing, sitting on my butt, trying not to pass out from the pain.  I couldn't even talk.  I had him run the kids to school (thank goodness he was home that morning a bit later) while I tried to get myself back in the house.  Crawled in the door and got myself on the couch and laid there until I felt I could get upright without fainting.  Not the most fun I've ever had, for sure.  I waited a day to go to the doctor because one, I've sprained my other ankle about literally 1,000 times in my life, and I don't rush to the doctor for that anymore.  I wanted to see if the swelling would go down, as it had ballooned up almost instantly, so they could better diagnose it.  And two, we have lousy insurance with the new job, we have a $9,000 deductible for the family, so I knew any x-rays they would most definitely want to take could come out of pocket.  So, I wanted to wait it out a bit to see if it would be better the next day.   But, by the next morning, I still could put no weight on it, I knew I needed to get to the doctor as it was most likely broken.  And it was, the little bugger.  Unfortunately, "slow down" is not in my vocabulary, and I'm sure that's not helping the healing process one bit.

I'm thankful in this situation for a couple of things, believe it or not.  One I'm eternally thankful that I am in a walking cast and don't have to be on crutches.  This chubby body and crutches don't mix and in the winter to boot, no thanks. I've had to do that once before when I crushed the big toe on that same foot in November years ago.  No fun at all.

I'm thankful for my husband picking up the extra chores of laundry washing, and the chicken care.  I did get up there one day before the snow to clean out the coop, and the ground was so uneven, I almost killed myself.  So, I can't go out to them as they are up a fairly steep incline (as is all this property) and I just can't safely do it. I miss my girls for sure, though.

And, I'm so very thankful for my friends.  My friend, Lynne, did so much for me in this fiasco, from taking me to the doctor (she's a nurse and came to check it out...then said, yeah, you're going to the doctors), to carting my kids around, to finding me crutches and clothes that would fit over the cast....the list goes on.  We've bandied about the idea of leaving Chester because the price of homes is so high here, but we'd be leaving such a wonderful support system of friends behind.  And it means the world to me to have help when I need it.  It's not something I'm used to, but it's so wonderful to know that your friends will be there when you call. She cares for me in more ways then physically, and I'm deeply thankful for her (and her whole family, really). 

So, as we approach the new year, I don't really have resolutions, but there are things in motion around here that we hope will bring some positive changes for us in 2013.  Best to you all in the New Year.  Be safe, be healthy, be happy and have peace.

Happy New Year, ~Peacemom