For as amazing as he is, he is also just as stubborn. He doesn't like to ask for help from anyone even though he will do anything for anyone. I love to hang around with him to 'help' when I can but he will usually not come to ask me for help.
A couple weeks ago my father was working in the shed on a tractor and post hole digger. He did not want to come get me to run the hydraulics on the tractor as he changes the pin in the post hole digger so decided to use the tall farm jack to adjust the height to get the pin in. As he was trying to adjust the jack, something went wrong and the jack slipped catching his hand between the top of the jack and the underside of the diggers main bar. He was cut deeply. He went to the house to wash it and thought he's just pull off the loose skin but it looked like there was flesh attached. Mom wanted to take him to the ER for stitches but he did not want to go. She called me to come take a look at it. I went down and insisted we go to Colby for stitches. He still did not want to go but we out voted him and took him to the ER anyway. He hurt bad enough he was feeling sick to his stomach and was a little light headed so he did not fight us too bad but still grumbled.
When the ER nurse looked at it they told him he definitely needed to have stitches. They began to clean it up and it hurt so bad that he jumped, yelped, and kicked. He was x-rayed to make sure there was no break in the hand which, gladly, there was not. When the nurse practitioner came in, he began to clean it up deeper and irrigate it, he could see the bone in the hand and a blood vessel began spurting blood all over his gown. They had to cauterize it to get it to quit bleeding. At this point he noticed damage to a nerve and thought we may have to be transferred to a plastic surgeon. Under further investigation he decided that the nerve was just nicked because Dad had full range of motion of his finger. Dad ended up with 12 stitches in a horseshoe shape in the palm of his hand.
After 10 days of keeping it clean and wrapped, he went in to have the stitched taken out. they left in 3 and said he could pull these out himself in a few more days. He is to leave it uncovered except he should wear a glove or some type of covering when working in the dirt or grease to still try to keep it clean. It is looking much better. My hopes are that from this accident he will think a little more about getting help. I am happy to help him even if it is just for a few minutes at last minute notice.
One week later I was in so much pain in my foot and ankle that I could not even touch it to the floor therefore could not walk. It had been building since Wednesday but Sunday morning I could not take the pain any longer. Mom took me into the ER. It turns out that I have gout. I was given a strong anti-inflammatory medication. It helped a lot the first two days but not I am at a standstill. Monday I could begin to move my toes and touch my foot to the floor to balance and walk with one crutch. Tuesday I was able to walk without the crutch but limped heavily and walked as little as possible. Wednesday I am walking a bit more but still have a lot of pain and some stiffness in the foot and ankle. I go back to the doctor for a follow up next Tuesday.
The worst part of it all except for the severe pain was trying to get me in and out of the house Sunday when going to the ER. Because I could not put any pressure on my foot I was trying to use crutches to walk. What a disaster. Dad pulled the ranger right next to the steps of the front porch. I used the hand rails to hop down the stairs to the Ranger then he drove me to the car so I could get in. At the ER they got me from and took me back to the car with a wheel chair. When we got back to the farm Dad, Derrick & Dana were sorting and moving cattle. Mom finally got the Ranger and brought me into the yard by my porch. As I was trying to hop up the steps with the crutches and hand rails and not touch my foot to the ground something went wrong.
I don't know if my crutch slipped or if I just lost my balance or what but I began to fall forward and thought my head was going to go through the glass door. Instead I began to fall to the left against the porch rail but I just kept going. I tried to grab the rail but that did not work and I fell through the railing breaking the crutch that had wedged between me and the rail. I ended up with my hips on the porch deck with my head on the ground below. Mom was screaming, "Help, Help, HELP, HELP!!" I was telling her I was OK but before I knew it Derrick had a hold of one arm and Dana had a hold of the other arm and they were lifting me up trying to scoot me back onto the porch. "No, just pull me into the yard." They did that and Derrick helped me roll over to my tummy. I crawled on hands and knees around to the steps, up the steps, into the house, and onto the sofa. I lay there panting trying to catch my breath. I do have a skinned knee and a bruise on my upper left arm along with a few sore muscles but that is not bad. At first I really thought I would be going back to the ER for head lacerations and stitches. Falling through the rail off the porch really was not the worst that could have happened.
At the time my mother was scared to death and scared Dad, Derrick & Dana also. Dad said Dana and Derrick flew over the top of the corral fence before he really figured out who was screaming and what had happened. I am glad they came to my rescue. Now it is really funny and we can laugh about it.
A side note to this whole story is that I had to go to the bathroom before we left the hospital but I did not want to get out of the wheel chair. We had to go to Wal-mart to pick up a prescription and Mom went in to do that as I stayed in the car. After I fell off the porch and crawled to the couch I still had to go to the bathroom. I did NOT wet my pants.
No comments:
Post a Comment