Hi everyone,
I thought I’d catch you up on everything I can right now. My hubby is still waiting to hear when his next surgery will be. We are doing the best we can trying to navigate with tubes coming out his back. I did find some cargo pants at Walmart and am going to try and make the linings of the pockets about 4 inches longer so he can put the tubes AND the pouch for collecting his kidney “output” in. Yes, we are still having to measure his output.
Since he isn’t able to mow the grass on the riding mower, he showed me how to use our “other” riding mower and last Friday I did it all by myself. As I was riding by the back of our house, I glanced over at the porch, which has 2 doors going into our house… one goes into the kitchen and the other comes into my sewing room. (I do have “my” door blocked with a bookshelf full of fabric right now). For some reason I remembered something Cindy said to me when we first moved in here. She said I should make a sign for the porch that said, “Jeanne’s Stitching <<< This way!" and then below it "Jeanne's Kitchen >>> This way!” I never made that sign but always remembered it…
However, today my rhyming title for this post has a whole different meaning.
The reason I had to take some time off last week was actually because of me.
I did the riding mower on Friday and the push mower Saturday. (The riding mower was new to me, but the push mower was something I did to help my hubby out and I always thought of it as exercise.) I was almost finished with mowing the courtyard…
… and the grass around the fountain. It’s pretty easy to get the push mower IN the courtyard… you just hold the mower level and push it off the concrete walk… it flies in and you start mowing around everything. Getting it OUT, when it is still running is a bit harder. (I spotted 2 little areas I had missed). You have to keep the mower level and have the wheels roll up the concrete sides while you try to pull the mower out. The mower got stuck and I was pulling with all my might, when all of a sudden it came up the sides and I flew backwards landing flat on my back in the grass and hard ground and the back of my head hit last…really hard. (I tried to think of a Batman word in their comics… and what I came up with KA-THUD!!! As soon as my head hit, I felt like a ring of fire exploding around my neck and grabbed my neck with my hands. It was VERY painful and I wasn’t able to raise my head off the ground. The mower was still running, but I didn’t know how close it was to my feet as I couldn’t lift up my head. I had to roll on my side and got up. I actually mowed about 5 more minutes and then called it quits.
My neck really hurt but I didn’t tell George how much. I took some Tylenol and went to bed earlier than normal.
When I woke up Sunday morning, I couldn’t lift my head off my pillow… it was like I was pinned to the bed.
I actually decided to go to church by myself but didn’t feel great. In the afternoon I started feeling worse and decided I WOULD go to the doctor Monday morning.
When I tried to get in bed Sunday night, my head felt like a bowling ball was attached to my neck and it was pulling down my head and really hurt.
Monday morning I got up and called Family Practice and got an appointment at 9:45… George and I met my dr… a 1st year resident who we liked because he seemed really concerned. After talking with me, he stepped out to discuss me with the doctor on call and came back in and stood in front of me with his hands on his hips and said, “Do not pass Go! Do not collect $200! Go directly to the ER!” He said to get to the ER (It was across the street at the hospital!) as quickly as we could, and for me not to turn my head… just look straight out. He said, “you might have a broken/fractured neck!” I was not prepared for that…he said they would do a CT-Scan and find out what was going on.
The CT Scan showed no fractures or bleeding… but a slight concussion and a cervical sprain and strain to my neck. Thank the Lord!!!
The muscles and ligaments under my chin to my collar bone are still very sore as are the muscles in the back of my neck. They gave me a muscle relaxer to help with the stretched out muscles. It’s the same stuff we gave Reuben near the end to help him relax. :o)
So, I switched roles with George being his caregiver… now he’s watching out for me. He said he had been watching me mow the grass with the push mower but had just sat down when he saw I was almost finished. He missed the big fall!
I am slightly better… but not doing much. I can lift my head about 2 inches off the bed when I’m laying flat and can hold it there for about 2-3 seconds. The bowling ball feeling I was having laying down has lessened. Yes, I am still caring for George… just not bending over.
Well, that’s what has happened here the last few days… see, Joy isn’t the only one who has capers…😉
Kristoffer is coming over to mow the grass tomorrow!
Now seriously, I just wanted to tell you the story so I could thank the Lord publicly for how He saved me from being seriously injured. It could have been a much different outcome and I really don’t want to think what might have happened. I’m just glad the Lord caught me and softened the blow as much as He did!
Now back to some dolly talk… tomorrow you are going to see the sweetest American Girl doll dresses from Sylvia in NH.
I hope you’ll come back to take a look! Hopefully sometime this week I might be able to get back to sewing on Felicity’s Colonial Patriotic dress…
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh, my goodness, Jeanne! What a scare you had! You probably should have gone to the ER immediately, rather than waiting to see the doctor and being told to get over there. Falls on your back, and especially if you hit your head the way you did, can be Very….VERY….dangerous! The Lord was definitely protecting you that day!!
Back in 2020, when I fell on my back after Ron fell into me, my back hit the concrete with a SMACK, but my head landed with a light Tap. I figure either my head was tipped forward when I fell, thus slowing it, or an angel was setting it down gently! I did learn two things from that experience, which I will pass along to you: 1–after “a certain age” muscle relaxants aren’t always appropriate for us as they can cause constipation, etc., so do discuss that with your doctor, and 2–if you have a fracture in your vertebrae, it may not show up in x-rays right away. Mine did not; however, a month later, when my back was still bothering me, I had more x-rays done and there it was, an “old” fracture in one of my vertebra, where none had been before! So, follow-up x-rays in a month (including your back) might be a good idea.
In the meantime, I think we’d better get you a supersize roll of bubble wrap, and wrap you up in it!! (My friends have threatened this with me, as I tend to fall more than I should.)
I’m glad George is well enough that he can sort of look after you (while you look after him….), and really glad that Kristoffer is coming to mow!!
Don’t force yourself to get back to sewing too soon; I know it took me quite a while before I could sit long enough to sew at the machine, no matter how much I wanted to.
I am looking forward to Sylvia’s pictures tomorrow!!
P.S. I have noticed, since getting my new computer, that I now have to sign in every day that I post something on your blog. It used to be that I could click on the email link to your blog and all my info was there. Now…it’s not. If I post more than once on a blog, the second and following times, it’s there, however. (and yes, I have turned “on” the “Save my name…” part. Every Day.) I don’t know if that’s because of my new computer or something in your system. No hurry, as it’s only a slight inconvenience, but if you talk to your computer guru, you might mention it to her.