Tale of Two Casts

Adam broke his elbow last week, he got to have a blue cast. He was jumping on the trampoline and landed wrong. Luckily he did not require surgery. He was still feeling some pain last weekend when they were here. He was quiet..well quieter than normal. He has to have the cast for four weeks. My arm has been having sympathy pain for him all week...casts are just miserable. They are heavy, they are itchy, they are hot.

Adam, our youngest grandson.

I have had my share of casts, no fun. The last time I had a cast was in 1989 ( knock on wood), I stepped off a step and I broke the fifth metatarsal in my left foot, I went to the Doctor and they x-rayed and casted me....it hurt like heck. It was early spring, I got out my ever faithful crutches and hobbled along, I was not supposed to bear any weight on it. Fine, I am an old hand at this, I can clean cabins on crutches and scrub floors on my butt, I can even drive since it is my left foot. ( Sometime I may tell you about the time I had my right leg in a cast..and tried to drive. LOL) I have had many casts..I am a klutz. The one thing I missed was the ability to get places fast, so I became a pro on the lawn mower, and it worked just fine as long as I remembered to put in some gas, and take my crutches along.

Resort 1989

One afternoon after school I needed to go down to the docks to mow the lawn, I told our then teenage daughters where I was going. Of course the four Shelties followed me, they followed me everywhere. Wouldn't you know it, I forgot my crutches, at the house, on the sidewalk.. I mowed for awhile .. I ran out of gas. I just sat there on the mower, no boats are on the lake, no neighbors are out in their paddle boats or on their docks, it is quiet. I holler for the girls, which just makes the Shelties bark. HELP! TRICA! JENNIFER! ANYBODY! No one is hearing me. I hop to the dock on my one good foot, laid down to rest, and mull over my options, the dogs and I could paddle around the lake in a boat, I could just wait for Far Guy to come home from work, I could wait for a neighbor to come along, I could wait for my children to miss me.. I had a nap. Sometimes I do that when I get all stressed out, some people pace and fret.. ( I couldn't have paced anyway, I suppose I could have hopped while fretting. ) I had a nice nap, when I woke up I tried encouraging the dogs to get help, they were worthless, they just licked my face and whined. I hollered again for help and the dogs barked. I thought briefly about hopping on one foot up that steep hill, and then down the other side to the house... but I am a klutz. I thought about crawling home on my hands and knees.. I decided to just wait for a bit. . the girls should be getting hungry, they know their Father will be home soon, they should be noticing that I am not cooking anything. Supper is at 6 :15 to 6 :20 every night, there are no excuses to be absent, it is the only time of the day we are all together as a family. Well Far Guy finally came home, the dogs take off barking, he notices my crutches on the sidewalk, he asked the girls where I went.."OH to the docks a long time ago, funny shes not back by now, she should be cooking supper." Far Guy rescued me, he brought me my crutches and then some gas. A few weeks later I decided I had enough of that miserable cast, so I climbed into the bathtub filled with warm water and proceeded to cut the thing off with a scissors.. Far Guy had to come to my rescue that time too..except with a pair of side cutters and a tin snips. The Doctor probably never would have noticed either, except I got a really bad case of poison ivy from my dogs, and had to go into his office.. He said "Where's your cast?" UMMM.. in the garbage. My fifth metatarsal healed just perfectly too..the x-rays confirmed it:)