Lets just say.......

You know just about the time I start wallowing in my bad fortune I learn of the fatal car accident that killed one of the lovely ladies that has been a part of the Society for Calligraphy. Carrie Imai called me and said that her longtime friend and student, Lois Graver, died on Monday after a speeding car hit her car in an intersection in the valley. She was coming home from yoga. Just like I was coming down the steps of my own house, a split second changed our lives. But, at least I have a life to still live. Lois was killed and there were a number of others injured in this morning accident. I don't know all the details but her funeral will be today in Northridge. (link to article in newspaper)   http://www.dailynews.com/ci_15352718    Once I understood a little more about this I decided to SHUT MY MOUTH about being badly done to. This family won't get their wife and mom back and at least I can lay around all summer and probably be as good as new at some point. So for today, I feel damn lucky that all I did is break my ankle with no head or other injuries and my deepest, deepest sympathy goes out to the family and friends of Lois. Let's all be grateful for today and every day.

What's up with cable TV?

I've gotten myself dressed and cleaned and straightened up with makeup today in anticipation of the visitors who will brighten my day. Rooney is by my side and I've taken my morning pills. Ray has tidied up the room and straightened out the bedding. I'm ready for the day. Now it's not that I'm that interested in television but it's "company". I don't like it to be too quiet. I know there are plenty of you out there that know what I mean. So you'll know what I'm talking about when I say, "I have 99 channels and there's nothing on!" I'm watching Chevy Chase in "Vacation". Which is a nice change. I've already watched Julie and Julia 6 times! Well, at least parts of it. OMG, the crap that is on television is amazing. And, I'm paying alot of money for this privilege. No summer is complete without watching "Aunt Edna tied to the roof of the family station wagon while on the way to Wally World." Pretty sad when all I have to look forward to is getting pins and screws put into my ankle in another week. Another WEEK! My summer is wasting away without me. Back to Clark W. Griswald and the "fam" on another incredible adventure!

What important things I should do while I rest

Now, I'm thinking, maybe there's something to this broken leg stuff. Marci brought me a chicken pot pie from Marie Callendars. I've been craving a chicken pot pie since I saw a commercial on t.v. I was getting kind of antsy thinking that I can't just get into the car and get something that I want that bad when Marci said she'd get it for me and bring it over. Well now......that was cool. So then my friend and student Lynn said she would visit on Monday and sent me the menu from Mendocino Farms and said to let her know what I wanted and she'd come over after work to eat with me. She also brought my favorite dessert that she bakes from time to time. It's a jelly roll type cake with a dollop of cherries in the middle. She puts them in individual cupcake papers and stacked nicely in a container. This time her mom made them for me. Mmmmmmm that will last for a few days. Abigail is coming tonight with a "snack" and Judy said she'd bring me lunch on Thursday. If I play my cards right I could be eatin' well for the duration!!!! Wait I forgot, Lisa is making cupcakes for tomorrow. I may be on to a "racket" ............

things to do while you are laid up with a broken leg

Thursday my friend and fellow studio group pal, Janet Martorello, came by to "be my servant". We spent the day with "Reiki, Jin Shin Jyutsu, Mudras, Meditation and Massage". She did healing methods on me that I'd never even heard of. But, I have to thank her for the care and time that she spent with me. She returned last night to "finish the job" by bringing vitamin E oil and Aloe Vera Gel from Trader Joes. She applied this to the blister on my ankle, hopefully it will heal quickly. I think the blister came from an abrasion from the fall.
But the question is, how do I get through 3 months with my sanity and still do the things that I can do from the confines of my home? JoEllen brought me a wheel chair, raised toilet seat and shower chair. Okay, how is it when I'm glad to have a raised toilet seat?....REALLY.........I remember when my elderly aunt fell and broke a hip and she's had a raised toilet seat ever since. I thought at the time, "OMG, I hope I don't live long enough to need something like that." But, I thought I would like to live longer than my 55 years, so I guess I'm going to have to use the raised toilet seat and eat my words! I'm finding that the things that I mocked in "old people" are catching up with me far too soon! Yet, the raised toilet seat helps me get off the toilet when you absolutely can't put any weight on one of your legs. My left knee is getting very tired of taking the weight from getting up and down. So I'm very grateful for the raised toilet seat.

I went to studio group yesterday at Francine's house. We did these fan pages as a collaborative project. I used my computer chair to get to the front door, my crutches to the car, Nancy Campbell brought her mother's old wheel chair to get from the car into Francine's and then crutches to get back in the car. Crutches to go back into my house,  I nearly fell up the stairs again on my way in. So Geri Bieber was behind me and Ray was in front of me as I went up the steps. Apparantly, I need to go back on YOU TUBE and watch that video again on how to walk and do stairs with crutches. Honestly, I don't know how anybody gets around on them, seriously, there must be as many injuries from crutches as there are from skiing or tripping on stairs!! Anyway, I decided I'd better do some weight lifting and exercising because I was completely exhausted and winded from getting out of the car to the house. I was so glad when I plopped down on my computer chair and pushed my way to the bedroom. Ray made me some microwave popcorn that Neala had given me and a cold diet coke and I was feeling pretty good, to be left alone with Rooney stuck to my side!
Now, let me just calculate what I have here. I have 2 borrowed wheel chairs (one for the car and one for the house) one pair of crutches (my own) one walker (the kind old people walk around with) (sans the tennis balls on the legs) I draw the line there.....ya right, how many times am I going to have to move the line that I won't step over! I digress......another walker with brakes and a seat, a rickety shower chair, a better shower chair waiting to be sanitized, a chair in the shower that got hauled in from the backyard when my rickety shower chair didn't work out, a comode to put over the toilet that has handles so when my other knee goes out I can lift myself off the toilet. Maybe I should just stop eating and drinking so I won't have to use the toilet, that seems like it would do away with a lot of superfluous furnishings.
On this Father's Day, I wish my brothers and brothers-in-law a good day. I remember my own dear dad and hope my husband has a good day living down his support of the Celtics among a city of Laker fans. And I'll watch old movies on TCM and wait for Marci Donley to bring lunch and visit for a while. Please feel free to send any suggestions for living with a cast on your leg and and other interesting things to do during the summer with a leg disability.

Broken Leg Details

Hi All,

I wanted to update you all about my condition. I was so happy and enthusiastic about coming to class on June 7th. I had a car-full to bring and share with you all. So as I was going down the steps to my car, I missed the step and fell on my chest. As my leg flew over my body and landed on a bench in my front steps, I got a glimpse of it and I immediately knew that the rest of the day was going to be ruined!!! OMG, I thought, "I'm not going get out of this day without a lot of pain". It's a terrible realization. My husband was helping me put stuff in the car so when he came back and saw me on the ground he asked if I was okay and I said, "look at my ankle". No more explanation was needed. He said, "should I call 911?" I said, "call 911 then call my school so they can call the students before they leave for class" I couldn't think of the number to the school's office so I got into my purse that was on the ground beside me and dialed the office and told them to call you all so you wouldn't be standing out on the porch wondering what happened to me. So when Judy called and I saw it was her on my phone I answered it thinking she was going to ask how I was doing and she didn't know anything about my accident. She said there is a note on the door that says class was canceled but didn't know anything more. I was kinda mad that they didn't say more than that. Besides who knows if that note was for you or for the other class that meets there, right? I wanted you all to know that I wouldn't have missed the class for anything other than an emergency. Then a little while later I called Judy back to see if someone could open the door and you could meet anyway and have the pot luck lunch. She said that everyone had gone home and she was on her way home. So there you go. I spent the entire morning, afternoon, and night in the ER at Marina Hospital and UCLA Santa Monica. I got home around midnight. It required one "set" and "splint" in Marina and 3 MORE "set and splint" in UCLA. Yikes! by the time they were going to do the 4th set, I had lost all my sense of humor, and told them that I was going to "go to my happy place" and they would have to do all the twisting and turning without me. This time it was the thumbs up after the x-rays. And I was sent home. I needed my daughter and grandson to get me up the "dreaded steps" and all I wanted to do is take a pill and go to sleep for the next 3 months. No....unfortunately I woke up at 8 am the next morning. And I've been waking up every other morning to the realization that my summer plans are shot! My Alaska cruise is off and I won't be able to go for my usual month in Utah. So, I am laying in bed with my leg elevated and on ice. The Dr. said that he couldn't do the surgery to put pins and screws into the bones until all the swelling had gone down. Otherwise, the healing is very poor and we don't want to have that, do we? So, I'm being good, trying not to obsess over the "confines" of a hard cast and "what if it really itches and I can't scratch it?" I am sure I will go insane!!! So I think I will post how I'm doing on the blog and any other ridiculous thoughts that will cross my mind while I waste away my favorite time of the year. SUMMER. Write to me or come visit. Love, DeAnn