Post by bluegoatwoods on Jun 7, 2020 13:43:05 GMT -5
I guess it was about a month ago now. The weather wasn't quite summer-ish yet. Still a little cool and wet. I took a scooter ride and got caught in a rain that wasn't expected. Plus the temperature went down. I got under shelter before I got soaked to the very bone. But I got fairly wet and wasn't dressed for it. I got pretty cold.
But when the rain passed, the Sun came out. I couldn't quite decided if I was so cold that I needed to go home right away or if I was recovering enough to keep on riding. So I decided to go visit a relative by marriage who lived not very far from this spot. I figured I'd chat with him for twenty or thirty minutes and then I'd know whether or not I was warm enough to stay out.
So I knocked on his door. He told me to come on in. But I told him that I shouldn't do that because of the corona virus. We shouldn't ought to be trading germs. I asked him to come on out and we'd spend a bit of chatting in the yard. So he came out.
But he stumbled in the doorway. I already had my back to him. But I recognized that sound, of course, and I turned back to catch him if necessary. Or possible. But I was too late for that. He had caught himself on the outdoor garbage can that he keeps by the side door of the house.
He had a troubled look on his face. But I interpreted that as him being annoyed over the stumble itself. But he was a little bit slow about standing up straight from there. I wish I had picked up on that. Instead I asked him, "Well aren't you going to come out into the Sun?"
He started to follow me and then he stumbled in the other direction and crashed into the fence at the property border. This time I caught him quickly under the armpits. I had begun to wonder if he was good and drunk. But I was nearly nose to nose with him and I didn't smell anything. So I asked him, "Are you okay?"
And he straightened up and said, "Yeah, I'm okay.....I have seizures". And then he straightened up and started walking out toward the road. I was watching him and thinking, "Does that mean that you're having a seizure now?"
But he was walking upright and seemingly competently. He walked about ten feet to where my scooter was parked. He stopped and turned back toward me and said, "Hey! I like this scooter!"
I had just managed to say, "Thank you..." when he did a face-plant right into my scooter. From the scooter's right side. Even though I was watching him, his exact movements are hazy in my memory. But I think he must have used his hands on the scooter to brace his fall. The scooter flopped over on it's left side as though it had been hit by a wrecking ball and my cousin flopped back the other way onto his butt and then onto his back.
As I approached him he said, "I've broken my leg. You'd better get Anna." (his wife) I wasn't absolutely convinced of a broken leg at that point. But his certainty in the matter told me that this was more than just a boo-boo. So I went and hollered for his wife and told her that he'd hurt himself and needed her help.
Then I started heading back to him and he said, "I can see the bone". That brought visions of a bone sticking through the skin into my mind. But I had to get that bike back up first. I said, "I'm sorry..but I've got to get that bike back up or we're gonna have a fuel spill". But that took no time, of course.
As I went back to him.......hoping I guess to move him to a more comfortable spot.........he pointed out to me a spot just above his right ankle. The skin wasn't broken. But I could see what should not have been the butt end of that main bone......tibia?.........pushing up against the skin. And moving a bit. That was a bit squeamish.
He said, "You'd better tell Anna to call an ambulance". I went back to the doorway and called in, "He's gonna need an ambulance".
She screamed back.......loud enough for the whole neighborhood!, "He doesn't have money for an ambulance!!"
He screamed back, "I'm covered!!!"
I told him, "If she won't call an ambulance, then I will. But we'll give her another chance first."
And I went back to the door and hollered, "He really needs and ambulance!!" And she said she'd call one.
Then it was just a matter of waiting. I tried to make him more comfortable, at least. But he could not move at all and it was awkward. I got a piece of plywood propped up by a cinder block behind him. But I couldn't get it very close because he couldn't move his hands from behind him. He was using them to prop himself up. And all movement was painful. Eventually he leaned back against it out of exhaustion.
But the ambulance didn't take very long at all. The paramedic who was dealing with him most had a whole string of questions. And at one point he had to turn to Anna and say, "Ma'am, would you please stop shouting over his answers?" My wife and her family are an excitable bunch.
When they picked him up to load him on the stretcher his foot dangled off of his leg in a way that made me want to puke. I went over to his wife and Mother-in-law......sitting on the front porch steps...........and asked them what they thought of that they acted as though they hadn't seen anything. Maybe I had a better view of it.
Anyway....at the hospital they inserted a titanium rod that stretches just about from knee to ankle plus various screws and....I think....a plate or two.
I've visited him three or four times since and he's doing better than I'd expected. He's cheerful and expects to walk lightly on it sooner than I'd have guessed. I'd have guessed half to three quarters of a year.
He appreciates my visiting. He says I'm the only one so far. I don't quite get it. He has a good reputation in the family. And I don't think they're concerned about germs since I think they're actually more careless about that than, for instance, my wife and I. I think they've been mixing with at least some other households all along.
So I guess that puts me at risk over visiting him. But I'm not too concerned. If I lower my risk, then I'm satisfied. I won't insist on zero probability. That's impossible. Plus I definitely must visit this poor guy.
For many years I've had the habit of carrying some soap and water in a spray bottle plus terry cloth towels. With covid I've simply hardened that habit. When I'm out and about I wash my hands an awful lot. I'm going to have to rely on that.
But when the rain passed, the Sun came out. I couldn't quite decided if I was so cold that I needed to go home right away or if I was recovering enough to keep on riding. So I decided to go visit a relative by marriage who lived not very far from this spot. I figured I'd chat with him for twenty or thirty minutes and then I'd know whether or not I was warm enough to stay out.
So I knocked on his door. He told me to come on in. But I told him that I shouldn't do that because of the corona virus. We shouldn't ought to be trading germs. I asked him to come on out and we'd spend a bit of chatting in the yard. So he came out.
But he stumbled in the doorway. I already had my back to him. But I recognized that sound, of course, and I turned back to catch him if necessary. Or possible. But I was too late for that. He had caught himself on the outdoor garbage can that he keeps by the side door of the house.
He had a troubled look on his face. But I interpreted that as him being annoyed over the stumble itself. But he was a little bit slow about standing up straight from there. I wish I had picked up on that. Instead I asked him, "Well aren't you going to come out into the Sun?"
He started to follow me and then he stumbled in the other direction and crashed into the fence at the property border. This time I caught him quickly under the armpits. I had begun to wonder if he was good and drunk. But I was nearly nose to nose with him and I didn't smell anything. So I asked him, "Are you okay?"
And he straightened up and said, "Yeah, I'm okay.....I have seizures". And then he straightened up and started walking out toward the road. I was watching him and thinking, "Does that mean that you're having a seizure now?"
But he was walking upright and seemingly competently. He walked about ten feet to where my scooter was parked. He stopped and turned back toward me and said, "Hey! I like this scooter!"
I had just managed to say, "Thank you..." when he did a face-plant right into my scooter. From the scooter's right side. Even though I was watching him, his exact movements are hazy in my memory. But I think he must have used his hands on the scooter to brace his fall. The scooter flopped over on it's left side as though it had been hit by a wrecking ball and my cousin flopped back the other way onto his butt and then onto his back.
As I approached him he said, "I've broken my leg. You'd better get Anna." (his wife) I wasn't absolutely convinced of a broken leg at that point. But his certainty in the matter told me that this was more than just a boo-boo. So I went and hollered for his wife and told her that he'd hurt himself and needed her help.
Then I started heading back to him and he said, "I can see the bone". That brought visions of a bone sticking through the skin into my mind. But I had to get that bike back up first. I said, "I'm sorry..but I've got to get that bike back up or we're gonna have a fuel spill". But that took no time, of course.
As I went back to him.......hoping I guess to move him to a more comfortable spot.........he pointed out to me a spot just above his right ankle. The skin wasn't broken. But I could see what should not have been the butt end of that main bone......tibia?.........pushing up against the skin. And moving a bit. That was a bit squeamish.
He said, "You'd better tell Anna to call an ambulance". I went back to the doorway and called in, "He's gonna need an ambulance".
She screamed back.......loud enough for the whole neighborhood!, "He doesn't have money for an ambulance!!"
He screamed back, "I'm covered!!!"
I told him, "If she won't call an ambulance, then I will. But we'll give her another chance first."
And I went back to the door and hollered, "He really needs and ambulance!!" And she said she'd call one.
Then it was just a matter of waiting. I tried to make him more comfortable, at least. But he could not move at all and it was awkward. I got a piece of plywood propped up by a cinder block behind him. But I couldn't get it very close because he couldn't move his hands from behind him. He was using them to prop himself up. And all movement was painful. Eventually he leaned back against it out of exhaustion.
But the ambulance didn't take very long at all. The paramedic who was dealing with him most had a whole string of questions. And at one point he had to turn to Anna and say, "Ma'am, would you please stop shouting over his answers?" My wife and her family are an excitable bunch.
When they picked him up to load him on the stretcher his foot dangled off of his leg in a way that made me want to puke. I went over to his wife and Mother-in-law......sitting on the front porch steps...........and asked them what they thought of that they acted as though they hadn't seen anything. Maybe I had a better view of it.
Anyway....at the hospital they inserted a titanium rod that stretches just about from knee to ankle plus various screws and....I think....a plate or two.
I've visited him three or four times since and he's doing better than I'd expected. He's cheerful and expects to walk lightly on it sooner than I'd have guessed. I'd have guessed half to three quarters of a year.
He appreciates my visiting. He says I'm the only one so far. I don't quite get it. He has a good reputation in the family. And I don't think they're concerned about germs since I think they're actually more careless about that than, for instance, my wife and I. I think they've been mixing with at least some other households all along.
So I guess that puts me at risk over visiting him. But I'm not too concerned. If I lower my risk, then I'm satisfied. I won't insist on zero probability. That's impossible. Plus I definitely must visit this poor guy.
For many years I've had the habit of carrying some soap and water in a spray bottle plus terry cloth towels. With covid I've simply hardened that habit. When I'm out and about I wash my hands an awful lot. I'm going to have to rely on that.
