First, there was the near-total destruction of my left ankle. The doctor said I broke every bone possible, and then some…
CT Scan of my broken left ankle
Then there was the record-breaking windstorm that swept through my town and took out our power for 8 long nights and days.
A house a few blocks away from my own home. This one is a total loss.
And then it snowed…
I am so grateful to have a gas-powered hot water heater (we had hot showers!) and a gas stove cooktop, and a wood stove. It was still cold in my bedroom but the main part of the house was almost pleasantly warm and my live-in nurse brought me tea each morning.
This is how I slept in my chilly 48° (9°C) bedroom. I had to keep my ankle elevated higher than my heart or my nose, and I didn’t want to bump it at all — it was still broken, still shattered, and being held still in a temporary cast — so I slept on top of the bed with additional blankets.
“Keep your hand at ankle above the level of your eyes nose.”
Since we still had hot water — and trust me, I know how precious that was! — I was able to shower very carefully while in my temporary cast.
[click on pics for captions]
Our power came back on while I was in the hospital post-surgery. SuperDad brought me home on Thanksgiving Day. Just a few minutes after settling me in, my in-laws came through the front door. They came to my room to visit with me and then they went back out to the kitchen and took over preparations for the big Thanksgiving meal.
So this is my life for the next few weeks: elevation and scheduled doses of pain medications. There’s quite a bit of hardware in that ankle:
What are your plans for the weekend and coming weeks?
Spokalulu 
Ohhhh you poor baby. I so feel for you. Let your wonderful family look after you. You need to focus on mending. Sending warm, healing thoughts your way. And hugs.
Oh, this all looks so familiar! I am SO glad you have people living with you to take care of things. It’s amazing to me that a simple fall can cause so much damage 😦
How is it even possible to make so much damage to your ankle? Enjoy being taken care of by DH and his parents – you deserve it, after years of gorund service for hubby and kids!
*ground service
You are having a crazy awful time of it. Thank goodness you are surrounded by wonderful people.
Goodness gracious Karen, I have been so busy lately, I hadn’t seen that you broke your ankle…and so badly too! I’m so sorry. How in heaven’s name did you do that?? When I had foot surgery a couple of years ago, I had to keep my foot up high lake that, too for 2 weeks. It was okay the first few nights when I the drugs were still blurring my mind but it got old fast after that. (It was in January and at least we had heat) However, it was entirely worth it as my foot heeled much more quickly. At least that is what the doctor said. All the best to you and the family and I’ll pray that you are up and moving better before Christmas gets here. Stay safe and be warm. Say hi to Dave.
Oh my goodness! All you needed was a swarm of locusts to complete the misfortune! I’m glad you got help, some rest and power restored.
Trust me, if we didn’t have the wood stove, gas range, or gas-powered water heater, it would have felt like a swarm of locusts! I’m so glad our power returned before we dropped into the sub-zero temperatures where we’ve been all weekend.
On Fri, Nov 27, 2015 at 4:56 PM, Spokalulu wrote:
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Adding my prayers to those already given. Sending my love and HUGS!!
OH MY GOODNESS KAREN!!! I’ve been following along on FB but this summary really drives home how insanely TERRIBLE this all is! You poor thing. I’m so happy you have such a wonderful support system, but good heavens! This is a lot to handle. Here’s to speedy healing.
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I trust that you have made a full recovery.