Pastime of Sydney- 2009 Adventures

Well, it looks as if being on the water could be safer than being on the land!

We both became very relaxed on our holiday and Penny in particular was a bit worried about leaping straight back into lots of things. Well, I (Dave) have found a way to ease back into busy-ness slowly (three months) even though none of it was intentional (just tiredness and carelessness and misfortune).

We had only been back a couple of days and have not even unpacked the boat. I was cleaning leaves off the garage roof and out of the gutter. It is not particularly high. Since falling off a two storey roof 15 years ago I have been really careful with ladders but on this occasion, I had not noticed or realised the significance of the rotten, slimy, wet leaves on the concrete. Down went the ladder with me on top of it. I think I landed on the ladder which made things worse. The pain was excruciating and I could hardly breathe though my chest and neck were unhurt. I lay there moaning hoping a neighbour might have heard the noise or noticed but nothing happened.

I was extremely uncomfortable but then I realised that for some reason I had previously turned the inflated rubbed ducky upside down in the garage. It was so inviting! So, I crawled slowly to it through the dirt and leaves and painfully hauled myself onto it. What I did not realise was that the 40mm gash in my left hand was filling up with dirt and mulch- which would be difficult to get out later.

So, I lay there for a while until the brain started clicking again. I had been working for several hours and was not sure how long it would be before Penny or William might realise that I had not reappeared and there were no noises of work. Where I was, there are then 77 steps up to the top level of our house where Penny and William were. Fortunately, there is a cordless phone with intercom in the garage. So, I dragged myself across the floor and I still do not know how I got the phone, but I did. Then I dragged myself back to the rubber ducky because the pain was too great. Then I called on the intercom and asked for help. All of this probably took 20mins or so but it is hard to know.

I was fortunate that Penny and Will convinced me to go to the hospital. I was mainly worried about getting the hand stitched and did not think I had broken something though the pain was pretty bad. We should have called the ambo but of course I said no. So, it was a pretty painful trip and I really regretted not being in an ambulance but the Mona Vale Hospital and staff were marvellous when we got there and all of them have been great right through. People moan and bitch about hospitals but I am full of praise after this experience. If I had not gone to the hospital, I would almost certainly have done much worse damage to the hip. The femur is broken just below he ball joint of the hip. They operated the next day, straightened things out and screwed the bones together. They even had X-rays to show me what they had done as I came out of the anesthetic! The op took just under an hour. One thing I found interesting was that the pain and discomfort was much less after the operation. It kept being delayed as smash victims (eg 100km/hr jet ski crashes) and the like got wheeled in. I was getting worse up to then, but afterwards was so much better and turned off morphine and even panadol only a couple of hours after coming around. I had assumed I would hurt more from the surgical wound and from the intervention. Whereas the only thing was a badly swollen and sore left foot which apparently was from being on the traction table.

They did give me the option of almost three months flat on my back and then a huge rehab programme for the depleted muscles so it ended up being a "no brainer" to have the operation. The only slight worry with this approach is if the blood supply is insufficient and the whole ball joint dies or the lubricating fluid prevents healing. That would mean an artificial hip in a year....But, the chances are good and the specialist came to see me just before I checked out of the hospital and was feeling pretty confident. I must say that I just about flaked out while the doctor was going through all this on my right side while on the left, another doctor was putting deep injections into my left palm (apparently the skin there is thick and tough so it hurts more) and stitching it up. So, I turned white, things started spinning, my blood pressure dropped to 90/50....but, they fixed me up AOK.

After the operation, I was determined to get onto my feet (actually foot!). So, the nurses and physios instructed me in crutches and I had training sessions on the fire stairs so that I would be able to manage at home. Somehow, I convinced the discharge doctor that I would be able to manage going home Tuesday night rather than Wednesday. She made it happen so here I am at home. After discussions with the Occupational Therapist, Penny went off to rent various objects to help me around the home.

At the moment, the crutches are tough because I have a 40mm (stitched) gash in my left palm and a badly sprained wrist (all from the fall). Penny has rented various devices to make going to the toilet and showering possible. Paul (in Perth) went and assembled a shower device which he is posting over so I can avoid getting into shower cubicles. Avoiding a fall is paramount.

Anyway, I am coming to terms with being restricted and working out how to achieve things rather than worrying about what can't be done.

I am really lucky in some ways. Last year, I badly hurt my shoulder (lifting a small piece of PVC pipe). Then a couple of days later we went to France. For the first time in my life, I had something that did not fix itself. So, when we returned, It was three months of intense physio and exercises. I even had Yoniama and acupuncture which were firsts for me. It got to about 90% and then became completely healed on the boat. Then, I hurt my right knee running (which I had been doing for about 8 months). Had some physio, but it was still fairly bad when we left for Tassie. It became completely fixed on the boat and we did lots of walking which undoubtedly helped. So far, the shoulder and knee have been perfect and I am hoping they hold up. If either of them was still crook, I would be a basket case.

If Penny had not been so wonderful and exhausted herself visiting and running round, I would have been in hospital more like a week after the operation. William has also been fantastic and his strong shoulders have been great assisting me up and down.

One cause for chuckles. When I was practising on my crutches, I asked the nurses if I could do some sole practice up and down the long ward corridor. So, I set off. There were lots of patients, visitors, people in suits, doctors etc. I had got to one end and turned around when the laundry man came up and suggested I might like to wear a hospital gown around the other way. It was then I realised that I had paraded my naked bum all the way down the corridor! AAARRRRGGGHHH! I suppose that if one is going to do this sort of thing, then the ideal place is a hospital corridor!

Cheers,
Dave