It Takes a Village To Take Care of Me!

Hi All,
Just an update on my sorry state of affairs...

I placed a call to Peggy (the Parrish nurse, family friend and local saint) Monday morning to ask her advice on where to go for help. Within 5 hours Hurricane Weber hit our house.

Peggy and a student nurse came here and helped me figure out how to move from place to place safer and taught me what to do and what not to do. Peggy assessed my needs and by 6 pm Monday night I had rails on the toilet, a potty chair for the bedroom and a quad cane to help lift myself into a standing position.

Mom Schultz, Mom Querin and Nancy have been invaluable in staying here and helping during the day when Steve has to be at work. Trixie will be coming over tonight while Steve goes to a concert we had tickets to. (boo hoo)

Friday, with a combination of Nancy, Mom S and my friend May Lee, I'm taken care of until Steve comes home at noon.
Then I get to go to the trauma specialist at the UW fracture center. So tomorrow after that we should know better what my situation will be for the next 6-8 weeks.

I'll let you all know what we find out.
Thanks all for all the best wishes.
Much Love, Martha

I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!

I have some bad news that i have to tell you all. Friday nite, here at home, I was stepping down into our sun room and stepped on one of the dog bones left laying on the floor. I twisted and fell. I heard and felt my left ankle crack and knew it was real bad. Both ankles hurt real bad once i was on the floor, I have never in my life felt such intense pain. I lay on the floor for almost 15 minutes while Steve tried to calm me down. He tried to get me up to sit on the sofa and we found that I could not put any weight on my right foot either. Steve called 911, and after a fun trip down our stairs (buy 2 very strong paramedics!) and an ambulance ride in a snow storm, I got to the UW Hospital ER.

After X-rays were taken, the Doctor came in and said "oh boy, you really did it"... I broke both ankles!
The doctors were trying to make a decision on what to do with me, cause if both ankles were put into casts, they would have to send me to a nursing home for rehabilitation! The right foot was not fractured as bad, so they put it into a boot and my left foot/leg was put into a cast. That way they could send me home. :)

I can put weight on my right foot (with the boot on) and can stand briefly and use a walker to switch between the bed/sofa/chair/bathroom and I use a wheelchair to get around the house.
I am to see a specialist at the UW fracture center sometime in the next week and she will determine if I can continue having the boot on the right leg. (boy, I hope can cause i don't want to think of the options :(
The cast on my left foot will need to be on 6-8 weeks.
I will know more once I meet and talk with the specialist.

I am going to have to learn how to get around and take care of my personal needs before I can be alone or go to work. I will find out tomorrow from my insurance if can get some assistance in the home so Steve can go back to work. My Moms are going to help, but they would not be able to lift me.

so that is my sad story.

Weird!

Take a look at the following picture, let me tell you .... it is not animated. Your eyes are making it move. To test this, stare at one spot for a couple seconds and everything will stop moving. Or look at the black center of each circle and it will stop moving. But move your eyes to the next black center and the previous will move after you take your eyes away from it--Weird !

Tour of Epic Systems

Joe Martinelli took us on a tour of Epic Systems in Verona where he works. It was a wonderful afternoon. It is the most amazing place filled with so much beautiful artwork.
You can check out the photos on my webshots.