How Do You Make It Through The Day????

Bill asks me this all the time!

To be honest, I'm not sure myself sometimes.

Case in point; Our new enclosed porch is really nice to sit on and eat,
read a book or just hang out. I've left the door open for the
dogs to come in and out from the yard whenever they'd like.
Apparently the flies too this as an invitation to come in.
UGH!! They are so ANNOYING!

I don't like to use a fly swatter as it requires that I stop reading
in order to dispatch the said fly. Not only that, Seeker has decided
that the fly swatter is a really fun tug toy!

So, plan B! I did a classical 'Red Neck' thing and hung one of
those sticky fly strips above one of the windows!
SMART HUH!!

Later it was getting rather stuffy, so I opened the window.
It was windy that day, guess what happened?
Yep, that darn strip, along with any stuck flies got
attached to my face! YIKES!! That stuff is sticky!!

So last night, I'm standing on something that, NO one armed,
or otherwise intelligent person would be standing on, and
fell off! I was of course on the hallway stairs. THUD!!
#$(*#&%#_(&Q_#&$*

Bill came running, "WHAT THE %$#&#@ did you DO!!!
Did you hurt your arm again!"
"NO, it's my ankle." I replied.
"What the #&^%@ were you doing?" he asked.

I blew off that question and examined my ankle.
"Wow, it's NOT suppose to look like this!!" I said,
showing him my ankle.
An EMT, Bill would NOT MAKE!
He couldn't look. "Is it broken?" he asked.
"No, I don't think so." I replied.
"Can you get me a bag of ice with water in it?"

He returned with the ice. I have a couple wraps from
my wrist and used those to wrap up my ankle.
Then I did what any sane person would do.....
I took two pain meds and ...
"Googled" treating a sprained ankle.

It was amazing, my wrist didn't hurt anymore!
Luckily I didn't try to catch myself with my
right hand. I just dropped, apparently onto my ankle.

I deduced I have a 1st degree ankle sprain.
Treatment; ice, elevation and wrapping.
Those will be easy!
I took a couple pictures, but they don't do
it justice. It's nicely swollen with some purple shading.
Okay, a lot of purple shading.

What could possibly happen next?

This morning Julie, the gal I ride with, to see if
I'd walk down and let her horses out on the grass.
She still lives in town and I'm only 1/4 mile from them.

So, open the first gate and am having some difficulty
with the second when ZAP!!
Right on my ARSE!!
I called Julie to let her know her electric fence is working!

I think I'll stay inside the rest of the day!
In a chair, with a very safe book!

Did I Really Listen to THIS!!!!!

Check out the shoulder moves and the hair!!

OMG!!! LOL!!!

I'm pretty sure the Vinyl is upstairs.

YIKES!

Girls Just Wanna Have FUN!!

How fun is this!!!

Tina and Chandi - Britain's Got Talent 2010 - Auditions Week 1 @ Yahoo! Video

Life Goes On...

Wounded or not, life continues on the 'Windy Hill Fowl Farm and Puppy Ranch'.


These little turkeys hatched on 6/10 & 6/11. I was fortunate enough to get to them before their mothers pecked them to death like they did the other 7!! UGH! It might be because two Turkey hens are sitting on the nest and not just one? Next year I'll do things differently. They sure look delicious, um, I mean CUTE!!

Now I check the next twice a day to see if any others have hatched. They are still sitting on 18 or so eggs and timing is EVERYTHING for their survival. Right now they are on the enclosed porch in a shoe box with a lamp leaning over the box for heat. They need to be kept at about 99 degrees for awhile. It sure would be easier if MOM had just done it! Bill will make up a nursery out in the building later today. They are close to getting OUT of the box! One poor little guy keeps getting turned upside down like a turtle and can't get back up! It's lucky I check on them often.

June has been a pretty tough month for us. I'm hoping we can make it through the rest of it without BILL getting hurt. He seems to be the only one that's gone UNSCATHED so far! I broke my wrist on 6/1, Mad was at the vet's with a bladder infection 6/2. Saphira, the colored pony had a horrible swelling on her belly, umbilicus and udder, so the vet came out on 6/3. Thankfully Julie came down to hold her. Saphira, not the vet. She'd been bitten multiple times by 'black flies' and was having an allergic reaction to them. So, a steroid and histamine shot later, she seems to be good. Adam, well, he was scuffed up from his fall with me. He also had flies attacking his face and swelled up. Thank Goodness for Hemorrhoidal cream!! It helped relieve the itch and swelling. It's looking MUCH better and the hair will grow back. No body wants butt cream on their face, but it sure made a difference!

Kruz had a sty on his eye lid removed on the 10th, he's doing fine. Seeker slipped in the tub yesterday and spent an hour limping on his right front leg! UGH! He likes to lay in their when it's hot, we don't run our central air and apparently that's the coolest place in the house. So, as you can see, Bill is the only one without injury!!

Speaking of Bill! Wow, has he ever come through! He is now quite the horseman, as I'm not able to put halters on the horses to take them out to the pastures. He puts them on and leads them out for me! What a guy! There are not multiple chores he gets to do, LUCKY HIM!! He seems to be taking it all in stride.

My typing is still one handed and frustrating! Hopefully physical therapy will start after the cast and stitches come off out Friday. In the mean time, I could really do with a 'one handed keyboard', did you know they actually MAKE such a thing!

One last thing, some humor that either Meme or Martha sent me.
Too funny NOT to share!
Hug your Dog! Kiss your Pony!!

Operation!!

I loved that game! G

Surgery was Friday 6/4/10. Bill dropped me off at 12:15. Yep, just like someone dropping their dog off at the vet. Thing is, we wait for our dogs! Even on surgery days. Would you leave your children?? In Bill's defense, I told him to go back to work. What a waste of vacation that would be!!

They'd changed my surgery time 3 times since Tuesday. At first it was 1 PM, then 2:30 and finally they settled on 2:15. Bill went with me to check in and promised to be back by 3:00 in case my surgery didn't take the whole 90 minutes.

They took me promptly back to "lucky room #7". The nurse, Connie, had my plastic bag of "goodies" and I had my tote bag with a book and sweatshirt. I know those places are cold!!! Of course I had to ask if there was anything Orange in there! Nope, just blue and gray!! BORING!!

She left me to change and was the first thing I turn loose in the hospital...but a stink bug! That made me laugh out loud. I can't seem to get away from those little buggers! I open the curtain and sit in the chair with book in hand. I'm not getting in that bed any sooner than I have to.

Enter Dr. Psky, he's a nice guy! He tells me what they are going to do and explains I might end up with some external hardware if he can save all my little carpal bones. He wouldn't know until he got in there. I asked "When can I go back to work" (we'll see), "When can I ride again" (we'll see), "I have an agility trial tomorrow, can I run a dog?", finally he says, "Can you at least wait until I get the stitches out?" He asked if I had any more questions, I had just one. "So how much pain will there really be?" He said that since I was sitting in a chair reading a book that I shouldn't have any problem at all. EXCELLENT!! He marks my 'cast' with a P (so they know what they are working on) and leaves.

In comes Connie. She makes me get into the bed. RATS! On the plus side, she gives me a "Teddy Cuddler" - this plastic cover that fills with warm air! I WANT ONE!!! She also wraps my left arm with a warm towel to 'pop' my veins. I'm snug as a bug in a rug. Hum, speaking of which....wonder where that little stink bug went?

she takes out a little insulin needle and explains it contains lidocaine, it stings. So I'll feel a little poke and a big sting. After she's done she says, "Well you should have felt a big sting". I told her it did sting, but what could I really do about it. She just laughed. So then she pulls out the needle for the IV! I told her, WOW, now there's a needle! I wouldn't stick that in my horse! She thought that was pretty funny too and told me, "see why I gave you the lidocaine"? GOOD JOB HER!!

She takes my vitals, BORING!! BP 114/72, pulse = 56. She helps me fill out my extremely boring health history. She said they don't see a lot of "boring" patients anymore, so I was a treat! WOW! Now that's something I don't hear every day! Next I get this antacid reducer stuff. She called it the sweat tart without the sweet. It was really tart. I drank it down and told her it was really good. She said no one had ever said THAT before. I explained that it was probably because I haven't had anything to drink since 9PM the previous evening.

Next came the anesthesiologist, Nancy L. She said that they were ahead of schedule so I'd be going in early. YIPPEE!! She looked at my chart, declared me 'boring' and asked if I got motion sickness. I told her no, but my friend Martha does! She just smiled and told Connie that I didn't need to have the "sweet tart stuff", Connie told her, "Too late and she liked it". This made Connie's eyebrows go up. Yep, I'm scary!

Now, Jeff told me to really look forward to the pre-anesthetic, watch a clock if possible and when the clock starts to shutter back and forth, that means it's working! It's really cool!! Well, Dr. Nancy said to just 'skip" it as they didn't need me any calmer. So they told me a couple stories about the people they had to retrieve from the ceilings. G

Into the Operating Room we go. It's cold and OMG!! Is that the Beatles?? I move over to the next bed and ask, "Is that what we'll have to listen to?" The tell me it's whatever the doctor chooses and what would I prefer? I respond, "Five Finger Death Punch" and someone turned out the lights! HOW RUDE!! I didn't even get to count!

Next thing I remember, I' in recovery, putting on my clothes and attempting to walk. I guess I didn't look too stable as they wheeled me out. It was after 4 by now and I'm sure they wanted to go home! Probably saved them some water vomit in the new Parking Ramp too.

Bill said Dr. Psky said I did a good job of smashing it up. They could fix a carpal bone or two, I'll find out which ones when I go back next week. Sounds like I could loose some flexibility, but considering I'm still on the right side of the grass, that's not that big of a deal. I found a little diagram that shows all 8 little bones so I'll know exactly what's missing. I have a Titanium plate and 10 stainless steel screws. It needs to stay in a year or two and then could come out if it's bothering me. One of the most difficult things for me will be no lifting of heavy weight with this hand for at least one year. He has yet to define "heavy", so I'm not sure what that really means yet.

If you check the dictionary under "Good Patient", you will not see my picture. G That being said, if you look under positive attitude, good sense of humor and determination, there you will find me!

So I'm home, meds are good, driving restriction bad. Typing one handed is frustrating, although I hear they made one handed keyboards. The dogs LOVE the afternoon naps! Looking forward to things getting bad to normal! Whatever that is.

Surgery is Over!!

I'll post a post-op xray later. Worst part?
Post op nausea!!! UGH!!! I hate vomiting!
Hey, at least it was in the grass! G

I'm glad I only drank water at the hospital!
Too bad about the toast,
had that after a nap when I got home,
lost it while I was slowly touring the garden!!

No external hardware, he couldn't save that bone.
Plate with screws that I can keep if it doesn't bother me.
Otherwise it can come out in a year.

More later.....running to........um..

yogurt, not sure I'll be able to eat that anymore.
UGH!!!!
Didn't get the toilet lid open in time.
What a mess..I should have tried to make it outside!
I cleaned it up. Bill's sleeping.
I'm suppose to have a responsible adult watching me
for 24 hours!

I'm glad for the 3 dogs!!
They haven't left me out of their site!

Break Out The Pain Meds!!

Last night I finally caved! Hey, I lasted 36 hours! My fingers were the size of sausages and I didn't sleep well the night before, so pass me a pill!!! Of course it's 3 something am right now, so it didn't help THAT much!!

I know, Adam and I are very lucky. He did NOT do anything wrong. It was a hole, he stepped in it going at pretty good speed. He tried to keep his balance, and just couldn't. It happened so fast, one second we're posting at an extended trot, the next we're both falling forward. The only thing I remember seeing is his terrified eye about 3-4' from me. I wonder if he saw the same look in my eye? Then we were both up, and out of the ditch. I guess we both bounce. G I don't remember landing and I don't remember getting to my feet. It was that fast. It's true, your whole life can change in an instant. We get another chance!

I'm learning what I can and can't do with one hand. The can't do list is actually rather short! I'm not fast and things are frustrating!! Such things as typing, that can drive you crazy in a short order.

Getting dressed isn't too bad. Pulling a sweatshirt over your head can be tricky. You'd be amazed how often you pull on your wrist tendons!! OUCH!!! If you REALLY need to use the restroom, you'll probably want to go ahead of me.

My hand is turning the prettiest purple, if I need to loosen the wrap today I'll take a picture. Oh, better charge the battery!!

I think the splint they put on Tuesday was too tight! You know how you can wake up with some sheet crease in you skin and it's rather painful? That's how I spent most of my day yesterday. It wasn't the wrist that hurt, it was that horrible binding sensation. I finally just took everything off, wraps, gauze, padding and splint, and put it back on looser. My Jimmy Dean's were most grateful!!

Things are definitely more challenging 'off handed'!! I can't tie my shoes, but that's okay, I rarely did anyway. I can't put a halter on the ponies to take them out to pasture. I'm also not sure how well I got my left armpit shaved. I know you really wanted to know THAT!!!

Surgery is tomorrow at 1:00 and should only be about 90 minutes. I'm sure I'll want to get out of there more than those working there! Hopefully Dr. Psky is thinking more about my wrist on Friday afternoon than his golf game! I'm sure looking forward to having that behind me!!

being a master gardener is DANGEROUS!!

i took today off to do some master gardener work. it was suppose to be a nice day and i thought i'd take Adam out for a ride. so, eastward we went at about 9 am this am. we started a out at a nice walk, and not finding any native plants in the ditch we worked up to a brisk trot.

i spotted some promising plants, so i told adam, "you watch the road for ground hog holes, and i'll watch for plants". yes, i really do talk to him when we ride. somehow i think we got mixed up and thought he was watching the ditch, because we went DOWN!!!!!!

luckily, he tossed me over his head and he rolled over sideways...i think?? I just know that other than a few scrapes, he's fine. he could have broken his leg. if he'd landed one me it would not have been much better. we were now 1.5 miles from home and Adam was about 200' away. he didn't know what to do. i talked to him quietly while holding my wrist. as i'd approach, he'd walk away.

this is a road rarely traveled, but a truck turned off the highway. he asked if i needed help catching the horse. i told him that Adam wasn't afraid of cars, so if he'd drive up in front of him he would likely stand. he did, and Adam did. i was able to walk up and take hid reins.

the guy asked if i needed help back on. Adam is a good 16hh and i ride English. i was pretty sure my wrist was broken and if i got on, i wasn't sure how i'd get off. he then asked how he could help and i asked if he could put his tailgate down if i could sit and have adam follow behind. he did and it worked!! TG! this guy was so nice and he took us home. i think he departed quickly so he didn't have to unsaddle him! G

once adam was away i called work to find a place to go. rigged myself a splint of pvc pipe and orange vet wrap. from that clinic to the hand surgeon. im schded for surgery fri at 1pm. apparenty i've shattered my wrist, distroyed my carpal bone and snapped off that cute little round bone. so...for the next 6-8 weeks youll have to put up with very bad typing!!

pictures below..... the hole!!

the landing - 4' ditch....



the pony...






the splint...


the second splint.....
the 3rd splint....



the xray.....

the sweeling....


the end.....