27 October 2010

Pride goeth before the fall

Last Sunday morning I got up late. Late for me, anyway. I've always been an early bird. So Sunday when I woke up and saw it was 7:20, I was surprised.

I got out of bed, got dressed, and made my way downstairs. As I do nearly every morning, I put water in the kettle and set it on the stove to heat up. I got down the teapot and put a teabag in it.

Next I got a pouch of cat food out of the box next to the refrigerator and put it in one of the blue plastic bowls that Bertie eats out of. I walked out of the kitchen with it to the stairs that go down to the entryway and garage.

27 October 2005
the Restaurant Agnès Sorel in Genillé, near Loches


As I passed through the doorway, I thought about pushing the light switch that turns on the ceiling fixture in the entryway. But I walked on past it. "Oh, there's not need to turn it on. There's a nightlight down there anyway," was the thought that went through my mind.

I started down the stairs, which are made of travertine, a kind of limestone. They are wide and they curve down, making a half-turn before they reach the lower floor. It was 7:30 by now, but it was still pitch dark.

27 October 2007
La Renaudière and its vineyard


I was nearly at the bottom when I suddenly felt myself step into what felt like thin air. As I fell, I felt the heel of my right foot catch the edge of a step. I think it was the next to last step going down. I don't know if I hit the bottom step too, but I do know that I hit the tile floor pretty hard.

By then, I was vocalizing, but "Oh no! Oh no!" was all I could say. I was sure I had broken my ankle in the fall. I heard Walt answer me from two floors up. He was obviously on his way down the stairs.

27 October 2008
the last of the grapes


I was lying there in a puddle of cat food. It's the wet kind — some kind of little meatballs in a goopy sauce, a gelée. Bertie loves it.

My first impulse was to stand up. I did it. So nothing was broken, I thought. Good. I started picking up little pieces of cat food off the floor and the rug. Most of it was on the tile floor. I remember being on my hands and knees, scooping up bits of ground meat and globs of gelatin and putting them back in the blue bowl. I'm glad it's unbreakable.

27 October 2009
Walt was taking the TGV to Paris, on his way to New York.
It was also the day of our friend Jean-Luc's funeral.

That's how I sprained my ankle for the second time in five years. The last time must have been in the summer or autumn of 2005, just before I started this blog. I can't find anything about it in my old posts. That afternoon, I was just walking down the gravel road through the vineyard, I remember, and stepped either on a rock or into a hole and my foot turned over. It was very painful but I managed to limp the rest of the way home. I never actually fell down.

This time, nothing was broken and I thought the best thing to do was to walk a little, so after I fed the cat I took the dog out for her regular walk. I walked quite a ways, in pain, but not excruciating pain.

27 October 2010
Côt/Malbec wine from one of my favorite vintners
near Saint-Aignan — very good for easing pain.
That's the Saint-Aignan church on the label.

The excruciating pain came later in the day. I took some of the anti-douleur pills Walt got from the pharmacy when he hurt his cervical vertebrae while working on our painting last summer. I moaned and groaned all afternoon. The swelling set in.

Yesterday I thought my right foot looked kind of like a manatee. Ever walked on a manatee? The manatee doesn't like it. It's painful. But by Monday, and since, the pain hasn't really been too bad. I just have to take it easy for a few more days and avoid any more accidents. Soon, I hope, I'll be back to normal. And I'll be able to go for another walk with the dog.

14 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear this, and hope you are all better very soon. Light is a big help! I'm a couple of years older than you, and I don't take chances anymore!

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  2. Oh, Ken.... sorry to hear about this. If it's a sprain, it will heal pretty quickly. I think you should keep it elevated as much as possible... that will hasten the healing.

    Judy

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  3. Sorry to hear about your mishap. I broke my ankle two years ago. The best advice from the doctor for getting down the swelling was to put the foot in a tub of very cold water for as long as I can and then switch to the hottest water possible, again, for as long as tolerable. This really helped the swelling a lot. Take care. Not a nice mess cleaning up that cat food...

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  4. My sympathy to you and Walt in remembrance of the irrepressible Jean-Luc.

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  5. A manatee isn't the best looking animal on the planet, and using it as a description of your foot makes it even less appealing.

    I'm so thankful that you didn't break your ankle and learned a useful lesson now that you are up here with me in your sixties- an decade that my friend Betty and I refer to as "young old".

    SF Giants are hosting a WS game today- go Giants!

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  6. during my trout fishing outings over the last 30 years, I've had plenty of twists from rocks, muskrat holes, logs etc etc.

    the worst was in '99 while fishing the Clark F in Montana - after hooking a trout, I jumped 2-3 feet down from the high bank to land it - I hit a loose rock and my ankle went one way while my 230 lb body went the other. After waking from a 2-3 second blackout, I knew this was more than a sprain.

    I found a decent stick to use as a crutch and off I went on a mile + walk back to my car - it hurt like hell anytime I twisted it just a bit - I even gutted the trout along the way.

    I got back to the car and off to the ranch where I put on a bag of frozen peas to staunch the swelling but the ankle turned a nasty black and blue - a couple of days later I made to an emergency room where the doc confirmed I had a badly broken ankle that later had surgery and a plate with 6 screws was installed to help the stability!

    so it goes - I'm still at it and happily tripping along the way to my trout! Trout

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  7. So sorry - it's no fun is it? It may be too late now, but

    Rest
    Ice
    Compression
    Elevation.

    Or in other words, put a cold poultice on it, strap it up with an elastic bandage and put your feet up as much as possible.

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  8. during my trout fishing outings over the last 30 years, I've had plenty of twists from rocks, muskrat holes, logs etc etc.

    the worst was in '99 while fishing the Clark F in Montana - after hooking a trout, I jumped 2-3 feet down from the high bank to land it - I hit a loose rock and my ankle went one way while my 230 lb body went the other. After waking from a 2-3 second blackout, I knew this was more than a sprain.

    I found a decent stick to use as a crutch and off I went on a mile + walk back to my car - it hurt like hell anytime I twisted it just a bit - I even gutted the trout along the way.

    I got back to the car and off to the ranch where I put on a bag of frozen peas to staunch the swelling but the ankle turned a nasty black and blue - a couple of days later I made to an emergency room where the doc confirmed I had a badly broken ankle that later had surgery and a plate with 6 screws was installed to help the stability!

    so it goes - I'm still at it and happily tripping along the way to my trout! Trout

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  9. Ken, From your recent mail I wrongly deducted that it was just a light sprain. This really sounds serious. Take it easy and get well soon! Martine

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  10. So sorry to hear you are injured. It just shows how easy it is to hurt yourself without really trying. And how dangerous cat food is. (Dogfood is much safer - less slippery, LOL.)

    I echo all the advice given above. Ice, elevation, rest, painkillers and ample quantities of alcohol. To ease the pain and help you to relax. And absolutely no washing up for at least six weeks. (Standing at the sink is a definite no-no.)

    Hoping the ankle gets better soon.....

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  11. Really sorry to hear of your accident and hope it heals quickly!

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  12. I've had sprains and I've had my first break (a bone in my foot) and the sprains were a whole lot worse. Autolycus has good advice. RICE is the standard for all injuries like yours.

    Another important thing to remember, as you discovered in the aftermath of your stroll with Callie, is that your ankle is very unstable right now and you can make things a whole lot worse. That's why keeping it wrapped or otherwise stabilized when you put weight on it is very important for the next few weeks.

    Find yourself a nice cane and use it (in the hand opposite the sprain, not on the same side) until you have confidence in your ankle again. It will heal, but it won't be as fast as you want it to be. Meanwhile, ibuprofen is your friend -- both for its anti-inflammatory and and analgesic properties.

    Hope you're feeling better soon!

    ...Susie

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  13. Probably just a bad sprain, but don't overdo it for awhile.

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  14. I'm behind a day, Ken. I fell in Amsterdam when my foot went into a hole (missing cobbles). That evening I put ice on it and kept my whole leg elevated at least 18" and sometimes almost at a 80 degree angle. I didn't sleep well, but the next day I was able to walk all over the city with my daughter and we even went to a Harry Potter movie that night. It was after Christmas and the weather was frigid. That probably helped, too. In the middle of the movie (I sat on the aisle) I had to stretch my leg a few times but other than that the rest of the trip went fine. I guess I was lucky.

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