911

Friday, September 15^th, turned out to be quite an eventful day for me.  I had been to STEPS Fitness for the massage therapist to work on my shoulder and had returned home for lunch.  Once I finished my bowl of Grape Nuts, I decided that such a healthy lunch should be followed up with a bowl of ice cream!  As I moved into the kitchen, my right knee buckled.  Earlier in the day, I had successfully dealt with the knee giving way, but this time I had in hand a porcelain dish instead of my cane, and I hit the floor, hard.  I had a fleeting thought as I went down that my head would hit the island in the middle of the kitchen.  What reflexes I do have caused me to turn enough to avoid the head injury, but instead I came down with my full weight on my left hip (and the bowl shattered into many pieces as it hit the floor with me).  I could feel something shift in my leg, but there was no immediate pain.  That reprieve lasted only for the second or two that I was motionless.  As I tried to roll to my right, the sharpest pain I have ever experienced radiated out from my left hip.  I am confident the my neighbors next door, across the street, and maybe even passers by on Highway 12 heard the scream I let out!  I came close to blacking out.  I had snapped the femoral neck, below the ball of my hip joint.  I would learn this is the most common variety of hip fracture.

As I assessed my situation, I knew I had to get help.  Joy would not be home until 6 and it was only 2.  The first task was getting my cell phone out of my pocket.  It would, of course, be in my left pocket.  After about 5 minutes of effort I got to the phone and tried to call my wife.  During most of the day she keeps her phone on vibrate, so I left a voice mail and then called the school office.  Within what seemed like a minute of that, Joy was on the phone with me.  I didn’t want to panic her, but still needed to convey the seriousness of the situation.  We jointly decided that she should call 911 and explain that she was on the way.  It was a good plan, until you factor in that EMS got to our condo much quicker than we expected, and what Joy estimated would be a 10-minute drive turned out to be closer to 20 minutes.  She got there just as the men were making a decision to come in either by breaking down a door or through a window.  Thankfully, they didn’t have to do either.  Seven beefy men and one thin young woman were soon in our kitchen assessing my situation.  Turns out, the woman was the medical authority of the group and directed the men in the least painful way to get me on the gurney.  Joy and I quickly decided our destination, Centennial Hospital, where my most recent medical problems (a heart stint and a pace maker) had been dealt with.  I would spend from Friday afternoon until Monday morning at Centennial and have a partial hip replacement.

I have had a week now to think about all of this, and I have come to some conclusions.  First, there are people I don’t even know whose job it is to care for me.  When the EMS folks filled our kitchen, I had no idea how they were going to get me out, but they did, and with less pain than I anticipated.  Second, there are people who do know me who care even more.  Once word got out, I received texts, emails, calls, and Facebook assurances of prayer from friends, flooding in.  The morning of my surgery Joy told me (I was a bit out of it) that quite a crowd assembled to show their concern and support.  This has been followed by many other visitors--first to Centennial and now at the Tri-Star rehab affiliate here in Ashland City.  I have to admit that during some of those visits I nodded off a bit while a visitor was talking to either me or Joy.  I was embarrassed, but then I thought, I’ve been talking in people’s sleep for years!  Third, the people who know me best, care the most.  My family has rallied around me.  It says something good that both of my brother-in-laws prayed with me, and my sister-in-law spent the better part of two days in my hospital room.  My siblings were ever present and carried the message of my fall to our mom, telling her I had broken my hip so I could be more like her!  My boys and their wives showed constant concern.  Benjamin and Rhonda brought their daughters to see PopCorn (their name for me) in the hospital, and I will never forget the worried look on three-year-old Melody’s face as she asked, “PopCorn, is your hip better?”  Last, and I assure you not least, is my dear wife.  She has done everything from hold my hand, to minister to my personal needs (and that is quite a list), debate the best medical procedure for me with my surgeon, and handle all the details of hospitalization.  I know I am not the easiest person to live with under the best of circumstances, but add significant pain and I really become a piece of work!  She has handled all of this with grace.

I had been told early on that falls are a major problem with CBD.  I believe that was the underlying cause of my knee buckling and certainly it slowed my reflexes and reactions, making a bad situation worse.  Recovery will be harder and longer, but this episode has shown me just how many people the Lord has brought together to be a blessing in my life.  I firmly believe that my fractured hip is one of the “all things” Paul had in mind when he wrote, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”  I am a blessed man.