OOPS - Part IV

Continued from last week

We arrived back home from the hospital around four o’clock.

Larry came around the van to help me out. As I put my foot down, I realized that the boot had a plastic bottom—and it was new and slick. It felt as though it was going to slide out from under me. I was glad Larry had my good arm to keep me balanced. In addition, the sole was about an inch or more higher than my other shoe, making me off-balance to start with. And the bottom wasn’t flat. It was curved! It didn’t give me great confidence, to say the least! Plus, it was heavy. I loathed it!

The others had returned from their trip. Before we left, I had told them all the food in the house was up for grabs, so they had made themselves some toast to tide them over until dinner. They had also discovered a DVD I had put out to lend to a friend at church and were watching it.

I said hello, and then Larry helped me up the stairs.

The first order of business was to cut off the rest of the sleeve of my shirt. I would wear a jacket, so no one would know I only had one sleeve. (Larry would have to cut me out of the rest of the shirt when we got home. Fortunately, I had bought it through Amazon, so I was able to replace it.)

Then I tried to clean up my face and cover the abrasions with a little makeup. It looked a bit better—not quite so scary. (A few days later, the entire socket around my right eye was a vivid shade of magenta. I knew from the start I’d have quite a shiner! We didn’t get any photos of it at its worst.)

I brushed my hair as best I could with only one hand—and my left one at that.

We went downstairs to join the others. Of course, they wanted a complete update on what had transpired, and we wanted to hear about their trip.

They had seen a few whales, but only tails and backs. None breached while they were out. And they spotted lots of dolphins. I was very glad we had gotten them back on time so they hadn’t missed their trip.

Larry had my prescription to fill, so he left for Costco. Linda decided to join him. He returned with the magic pain pills, and Linda got a large bag of popcorn (Boom Chicka Pop).

We gathered ourselves together and set out for the Harbor Grill. Having not eaten all day, dinner sure tasted good! I think all of us enjoyed our meal.

When we returned home, we finished watching the video they had started earlier (the American version of Shall We Dance. I prefer the Japanese version and had loaned it to my friend a couple of weeks earlier. She wanted to see the American one, so I had set it out to take to church for her.)

By this time, I was getting weary, so I went upstairs and got ready for bed. Of course, I was completely helpless… Thank God for Larry. He began to call himself my NIT (nurse-in-training).

At the hospital, the doctor had advised me to take one of the pain pills at bedtime to stay ahead of the pain. So, I did and slept well.

Sunday, February 23, 2020

We had made arrangements to go to church with Dave’s niece, Rachel, and her family in Aliso Viejo, so we got up early. It required a LOT of extra time to get ready!

Larry used a garbage bag to cover my arm so I could take a shower. He then wrapped the excess around and used packing tape to hold it in place. Quite a challenge.

I decided to wash my hair, but it didn’t go well. I got shampoo—the dandruff stuff—in my eye. It burned! I yelled for Larry to get me some eye drops. He was frozen in place and didn’t seem to understand what I needed. He finally got the message and handed me the drops. They soothed my eye, but my attempt at a shampoo didn’t go too well.

The shower was less than optimal, but I felt better after getting clean.

Then came the challenge of wrapping my head in a towel, removing the bag on my arm (and dripping all over the floor while trying to get it into the trash can) and getting my body dry. Between us, we managed the operation.

Larry was recruited to dry my hair since I only had one hand—my left one. He did pretty well for being the first time. I decided not to try to curl it. (I would rethink this a couple of days later when I couldn’t stand it anymore.)

Next came the challenge of dressing. Together we decided a tank top would be easier to get over the huge splint. I could put a stretchy jacket over it, and I would look somewhat normal.

The bra was the first challenge. I couldn’t help much, but somehow, we got it on. My underpants were also a challenge because of my swollen ankle, but we managed. My pants weren’t too hard, once we figured out a strategy.

Then, came the brace for my ankle.

I lay down so Larry could position it. He was the only one who had watched the doctor put it on the first time, but he couldn’t figure out how to hook all the straps. Since I hated the thing anyway, I decided not to use it. (Had my ankle been broken, I wouldn’t have had a choice.)

I have very few memories of my dad, who died when I was seven. One of them is of him sitting on the floor wrapping my ankle. I had LOTS of sprains when I was a kid. Dad always wrapped them with an Ace bandage.

We had Ace bandages…

So, Larry wrapped the ankle. I had a pair of sandals from Hawaii. They had Velcro straps over the instep to hold them in place. When I stood up, my foot felt MUCH better. The sole of the sandal was about the same height as my other shoe. I felt more balanced.

We ate breakfast and then went to church. We stayed for the group discussions afterward. Rachel had asked all of us for lunch, so we went to their house. What a lovely family! We had a great time and enjoyed all of them. We ate on their patio, and the day was beautiful.

When we got home, we changed clothes. One of Dave’s requests was to see the mission. He had read our book, The Memory Keeper, and wanted to see Mission San Juan Capistrano for himself. So, we went.

I walked everywhere except down to the vats and garden because of all the uneven stairs. I waited while they explored there, then we covered all the rest of the buildings and gardens. My ankle held up well.

By this time, we were hungry, so we went to Ruby’s for burgers.

We returned home and decided to watch another movie. Bob suggested Ford Versus Ferrari, so we found it on Netflix. We enjoyed it very much. Linda broke out her popcorn, and we had a great time.

I had little pain all day, and have never taken another happy pill.

Monday, February 24, 2020

We had a leisurely breakfast and then drove our guests down to San Diego to catch their return flight to Canada.

As they left, they told me they were so sorry about my injuries. I thanked them for coming since they had taken my mind off everything else, and I enjoyed them very much.

On the way home, I told Larry I was sorry to have scared him. I realized he was more in shock than I was for the first few days. I have always said in an emergency, he was the person I wanted to be with. He’s always been cool and logical. Except, this happened to me. By the second day, he stepped into the support role in the way I had expected him to.

Believe me, I was truly grateful for his help!

More next week.