Memory Monday...Part One

Dr Fix It

My BFF

Home away from home

July 3, 2007...one misstep changed my life. I was in Utah visiting family while my kid went to camps at BYU. My Sis and I had a fun evening of shopping, fries and a Nielsen's frozen custard concrete for dinner. It was midnight and my glass slipper shattered...well, actually it was my tib fib plateau. I slipped down the stairs, only the last three. Literally shopped til I dropped! Not my finest moment. My manly son Jordan and brother in law John helped my sorry butt into a chair. This next part is kind of a blur, it involved paramedics, not the soap opera kind, barfing, moaning and gnashing of teeth. These conscientious EMTs were trying to save me a buck and insisted on carting me to my sis's van so she could transport me to the ER. Now I have great insurance but I was too busy moaning to explain this.

They called ahead to the hospital and alerted them of my arrival. Nurse Ratchet was waiting with a wheel chair and told me to hop in. Seriously?! The Doctor and nurse were very kind and apologetic after reviewing my x-rays. Poor EMTs even got an earful from Dr Kindly. Initially, I thought I had blown my ACL, but no my friends I had the mother of all leg fractures. I said, "At least I didn't break my hip!" Dr Kindly said this was worse. When he said, "I hope you don't have any plans this year." I began to worry.

I was quickly transferred to the University of Utah hospital. Surgery was scheduled for that afternoon. Dr Fix It performed the Humpty-Dumpty procedure. Two steel plates, 9 screws and cadaver croutons put me back together again. I spent 10 days at the U of U hospital. All five siblings were in town, a rare occasion. I got to see each of them, though not at the same time. This was to be the last time I saw my brother Scott.

Tom called every day to see if he should come. I kept telling him there was nothing he could do but soon I was lucid enough to know that I needed him to just come and hold my hand.

Unable to bear any weight I was confined to bed and...a bed pan! SICK! No showers, no shampoos, no way! Can you say sponge bath? I discovered the dry shampoo shower cap. Heat in the microwave, place cap on head and massage into scalp. When you finish your hair looks like you dumped a bottle of product on it, but your scalp feels cleaner.

The days were long and the nights were longer. Friendly nurses and aids would sit and talk me through the darkness.

A fractured knee requires a lot of equipment. Brace from hip to ankle, Continuous Passive Motion machine, (torture chamber) moon boots for circulation, wheel chair, walker...this was just the beginning.