Happy Shining People: A Shattered Wrist and a Few Lessons Learned

So... I have learned a valuable lesson on why ladders are awesome and why they were invented, sources say back in the Mesolithic period some 10,000 years ago. I am a slow learner I guess.

It was a Monday morning. 15 minutes past the mass exodus of my family. I was trying to get some cases of water bottles up on to a really high shelf in my closet. So I grabbed our handy dandy extra tall bar stool from our kitchen and hauled it into my closet. The baby was starting to fuss and ready for his morning nap. I thought I'd be so smart and just hurry and toss those suckers up there and be done. I navigated quickly onto the slippery fake leather stool top (and in hindsight sort of sloppy like I must admit) and once up top, the stool leaned forward and I fell violently backwards.

My first reaction was "I just broke my back!" Once I shook my head and got my wits about me I made sure I could still move my arms and legs. Phew! still moving. YES! I then proceeded to stand up and to my disappointment, my left wrist was oddly tilting to the right. Dang! I knew it was broken. I didn't even really feel it. I was more worried about my bottom and my tailbone which I knew took the brunt of the fall. By this time my adrenaline was rising and I started a minor panic. What to do now? I called Ben... he was just going into an important meeting so knowing this was not life or death, I called some friends and wow did they ever come to my rescue. In the mean time I tired my best to ice and splint my wrist and once my friends arrived they helped me get dressed, do up my bra, hold my hair back so I could brush my teeth, put my hear in a pony tail and help me to nurse my sweet little baby kins, then off to the hospital we went! The rest is history! Details below.

So... lessons learned.
* 1st of all ladders are the bomb. Never again will I hoist myself up on a stool to do household tasks, nor will I allow my kids to do that either. The once simple household tasks and self grooming rituals, are now next to impossible. Try cutting a watermelon with one hand or putting your hair in a ponytail one handed, not going to happen. So next time I am in a hurry to get a job done, I will consider this - Shattered wrist with metal plate + 7 screws OR to unbury the ladder from the garage... definitely ladder.
* Things can always be worse. Heavenly father sent me a very tender mercy to quickly put all this in perspective. On our way home from the surgery center, groggy and just ready to sleep, we stopped at the store so Ben could grab a few things and while in the parking lot I noticed a elderly man parked in front of me struggling to load his groceries. I didn't pay much attention at first but after a while I started paying more attention and as the old man shut his truck door I saw that he had 2 HOOKS for hands. I was agape. At that very moment, I was all the sudden doing great and my perspective shifted dramatically as I felt very grateful that I could still count all my digits.
* I have learned again how marvelous the human body is. Anyone who has ever experienced serious physical trauma knows how amazing our bodies are. The body knows exactly what to do and begins to immediately repair itself. Awe inspiring.
* I have learned through the loving example of others how wonderful my friends and family are. They have taken such great care of me. My husband and kids have really stepped up and have nurtured me so well. This injury occurred the Monday before Theo was to be blessed at church. By the weekend, we were expecting 12 quests to be staying with us. They still came and they took great care of me. Also, great friends have stepped up in amazing ways, bringing meals, spending hours folding our mountains of laundry (IluvU Kristen), sweeping our floor etc. Sometimes it isn't until you are the one in need that you come to remember (again) why we need to serve others. I have thought of this quote from President Kimball many times over the past 3 weeks.

God does notice us, and He watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other.

* And.. I AM much stronger than I think. "You can do hard things". That is what I always tell my kids BUT what I should say is "you DO hard thing". That's what we do. Hard things happen in life, we struggle through it and overcome it and you are better for it. This is a testimate to that.

Yes! I am stronger than I think. This picture was taken just a few hours post injury. "I can do this.. I can do this!"

In the ER - an hour after injury. Wowza, that hurt!

Once it was confirmed my wrist was shattered via xray, they had to put my hand in this little torcher device to stretch out my arm and wrist before they completely sedated me to reset all the bones. You can sort of see the bend on the outer side of my arm, up by my wrist. Yikees.

All smiles! 4 days post accident in surgery center awaiting my turn to go under the knife.

Bruising wasn't so bad pre-surgery... post operative, is was quite gruesome.

Saying our goodbyes :( daddy did a good job taking care sweet baby boo.

This was the plate they put into my wrist with 7 screws.

Day of surgery. They gave me this weird foam tower to sleep in and basically
wear for 3 days to keep my hand above my heart.They also gave be a nerve block in that arm to help control pain. Something they recommend on operations where postoperative pain is severe. That was so weird. I had a completely lifeless, limp and dead arm for 24 hours. Very strange but such a blessing.

1 week post surgery. I got to remove the cast and see why my arm hurt so bad. In addition to shattering my wrist I cracked the bone on the outer part of my arm that had been hurting almost worse than anything. Apparently the bone continues to seep blood internally until it heals and causes extensive bruising and something else called chemical bruising. Which is bruising where there was no trauma but very painful nonetheless. A very common thing but most people never know about it because they are put into a cast and never see it. It was every shade of blue, red, black, green purple and this creepy yellow I wish never to see again.