Revenge of the Chicken Wings!
By ElicBxn
@ElicBxn (63643)
United States
April 19, 2012 5:21pm CST
The roomie LOVES chicken wings. A LOT she loves them. Even if I ate fried chicken, I find wings too boney and I don't like the sauces.
So, yesterday we went to the local branch of the public library, to get the new roommate a library card and check out some books.
Because the new roommate is totally blind, I took her ahead to the car, not like I can point her in the right direction...
Well, this library is built near a creek, so they have built it up on a thick foundation. I took the blind roommate down the ramp and watched for the roomie to come out so I could pick her up.
I saw her orange shirt come out and took my eyes off her to move the car. When I looked again, she had disappeared.
I thought for a moment that she had gone back in, but I kept looking, and finally spotted a scrap of orange over the bottom of the railing.
"Oh my, I think she's fallen," I said to the blind roommate, and parked the car.
It was pretty warm, so I left the car running and told her to lock the door. I dashed up the ramp and, sure enough, the roomie was laying on the ground, her books spread out around her.
After I made sure she was not unconscious, I started to pick up books. That's when the first lady came out from the library to see what had happened.
Now, those of us who are older, kind of like to lay there for a bit to make sure everything is still working. That the first shock wears off so you can see if anything hurts worse than the rest...
The library lady, and then a second lady who came out both kind of wanted her to get up faster than I think she was ready.
When she finally got up, she went in the library and they put a bandage on her elbow that she scrapped pretty bad on the brick wall.
They wanted to know if she them to call EMS: no.
I decided that we needed to see if we could get her into the after hours at her doctor's office, but after getting on to 183 and still being on hold, I asked if she might not want to go to the hospital instead.
She decided that since we hadn't been able to talk to a person at the doctor's office, that we should go to the hospital. Since, at that point, we were actually closer to the hospital than the doctor's office.
Well, they got us back and took x-rays and determined that she had for sure broken her right radial bone just below her elbow. They weren't sure about the left arm at that point.
So, this morning we got up extra early, called the job sick line, and the extended program at the job and then the doctor's office.
The doctor's office got her in in about 45 minutes from the time we called, enough time to get her dressed and drive over. Because of the bum wings I had to help her dress.
From there, they sent her to an orthopedic surgeon. He came in and told her that she had actually broken BOTH radial bones just below the elbow, the right one worse. She had also slightly sprained her left wrist.
So, here we are, with the roomie with both arms in slings.
Have you ever broken an arm? Ever had both arms in slings? Ever seen anyone with both arms in slings?
5 people like this
14 responses
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
20 Apr 12
Awww bless 'er, how's she doing now?
In case you're wondering, I love chicken wings as well. I grill my own and they're yummy..but I've never had both arms in slings although my brother once broke his collar-bone after being run over on his bike. Quite painful, by all accounts.
4 people like this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
19 Apr 12
hi elicbxn oh yes I fell five years ago on my way to my favo rite restaurant for breakfast out on my first day of retirememt,i smacked the pavement pretty hard with my left shoulder. a couple rushed over asked me if I was alright I tried to get up but my left arm would not obey me. I told them I thought I had dislocated my left shoulder and they called tpe paramedics. the paramedics told me that they did not want me wandering around with a likely broken shoulder as I had said my doctor was across the street.I was lucky that they persuaded me to get to the ER and be xrayed. the orthopedic surgeon told me my shoulder was crushed it could not be set and I would have to have surgery to take out the bits of bone and put in a shoulder joint replacement.so I went to rehab hospital for three weeks of intensive therapy but I only got about a fourth usage back in my left arm.So I wore a sling all that time and afterwards wished I had told them to let me go home a lot sooner as I found I could cope even without being able to use my left arm.I can type bu t
thats about all, darn, but I have learned to cope well enough. lol
@ElicBxn (63643)
• United States
19 Apr 12
I had rotator cuff surgery in '05 so I had the right arm in a pretty major sling for a bit. And, yes, I'm right handed...
In fact, I'm the ONLY right handed person out of the four of us!
After my surgery, I came home and the roomie, at that time it was only the two of us in the house, had pulled her left tricep muscle so we were both without our dominate hands for a couple of weeks!
Not being one to want to be without my car, and my mother not really understanding that I shouldn't be driving, I went out and got a steering wheel ball for my van and was driving the next day - left handed!
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (160949)
• United States
20 Apr 12
No broken bones for me, Yay! Kinda hard to type with both arms in slings, poor roomie. It is never a dull moment, though. She will need a lot of help for a while I am guessing. So did she get pins in her radial bones. What kind of sauce do you serve with bum human wings? Shall we order up a large portion of blue cheese dressing.
@GardenGerty (160949)
• United States
21 Apr 12
Anyone who likes cats and blue cheese dressing cannot be all bad. Actually I am pretty sure the cats would like the blue cheese dressing.
@BarBaraPrz (47667)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
20 Apr 12
Oh my!
What caused her to fall?
Hope she heals up well and soon.
Guess this means she's not gonna clean any litter boxes for a while...
3 people like this
@ElicBxn (63643)
• United States
21 Apr 12
Because she doesn't see very well, she mistook a planter for the ramp and then suddenly stepped off the edge of the planter.
She's actually not feeling too terrible, the right is worse than the left but some things are still quite challenging.
She doesn't clean the litter boxes, but helps me lift the trash cans with the litter into the trash, and she's getting out of that for the next little bit.
I did delump all by myself tonight tho, didn't need any help.
1 person likes this
@mentalward (14690)
• United States
20 Apr 12
Good grief, Elic! It never rains, it pours, huh? I hope she has a speedy recovery with not too much pain. Is she going to do anything legal with the library because of her fall? From your description, it sounds like that building is not safe at all.
Yes, I know someone who had both arms in slings. My mother. She had fallen while cutting the grass and broke her right wrist. I had her home from the hospital just a couple of days when she had an "incident" with her then boyfriend, who could and did turn violent at times. He got angry with her because he thought she had stolen his address book (which just says he had something to hide from her) and yanked her out of her bed by her good arm, spraining THAT wrist. So, she had both arms in slings, one in a splint, the other in a cast. It was such fun at mealtime because I was the only one available to feed her until she was able to use one of her hands.
Is anyone going to have to help your roomie with feeding herself? You can actually have a lot of fun with that, you know. "Open the hangar and let in the airplane!" or "Here comes the choo choo, open the station!"
3 people like this
@mentalward (14690)
• United States
20 Apr 12
Yeah, I've always been way too trusting. Well, until recently. At least I've FINALLY figured out what I've been doing wrong and will NEVER allow anything like this to happen again.
1 person likes this
@blue65packer (11826)
• United States
20 Apr 12
Oh my goodness! Both arms in slings! I have never seen or head that happening before! Your poor rommie! I have never had a broken bone. I had a cyst removed form my left wrist 10 years ago. The first week I wore n ace bandage. Then I had the stitches taken out and hadto wear a cast on the wrist and arm(becasue of swelling I had in the arm) for 2 weeks! That is closest I got to wearing a sling!
3 people like this
@danishcanadian (28955)
• Canada
20 Apr 12
That sounds like quite an adventure. I've never actually borken a bone, but I came very close when a horse bit the middle finger on my left hand. I was in grade 5 that year, and hated my teacher. I really loved that I got to give him the middle finger all week long. It was aesome!! The guy was also afraid of my mother, because she yelled at him for yelling at me. LOL At the end of the week when it all came off, I asked him if I had any home work.
"Dont't worry about it," he said.
AWESOME!!! He was too scared of my mother, and Fearless Faye (female Principle!!) to give me any homework.
2 people like this
@ellie333 (21016)
•
20 Apr 12
Firstly hope your roomie heals quickly bless and no I have never seen anyone with both arms in a sling, my brother had one arm in a sling then went to have the plaster off immediately fell and ended up with the other one in a sling but not both at the same time. huggles. Ellie :D
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63643)
• United States
21 Apr 12
My sister broke her left wrist really badly and was in a cast from the middle of March until the end of June and then the rest of the summer in a plaster splint and ace bandage. Then, the following year she broke her foot in about the same area, 8 weeks before she was to go to Japan!
@jerzgirl (9327)
• United States
20 Apr 12
OMG - that's horrible!! I have a friend who broke both arms at the same time when she fell off the hay wagon on her farm. I thought she was the only one, so WOW!! And, I know what you mean....when we fall, we do stay put until we know what hurts and where. It may look funny to others, but it's how we know what part we can move first. We're just not as resilient as we used to be. We don't bounce so much as splat these days and, since we generally put on weight as we age, we also hit harder than we used to. Ouch!!!! I hope your roomie gets better soon!!
2 people like this
@ElicBxn (63643)
• United States
21 Apr 12
Thanks. She's actually down 100 lbs from where she was 3 years ago. That doesn't mean she's at her target weight yet, but she's down.
The roomie has been slingless on her left arm, since its the wrist that is hurting there rather than the elbow. She still can't do a lot of things since she can't push, pull, lift or twist either arm.
@tamarafireheart (15384)
•
20 Apr 12
Hi Elic,
awww! your poor roomie, hope she will be alright soon, yes i have broken my arm a few years ago, boy was it painful, its still not quite ring with my arms, at the moment i am suffering from sever back ache, the top half of my back, so I am taken it easy today, hugs.
Tamara
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63643)
• United States
21 Apr 12
Happily, the bones are not badly fractured, in the left one the sprained wrist actually hurts worse.
I did something to my back last week after the cat boxes and had to take it really easy for most of the next week. I'm happy to say that we did the cat boxes BEFORE she fell down and broke herself!
@JenInTN (27514)
• United States
2 May 12
I haven't ever seen someone with both arms in a sling. That would be rough for sure. My youngest once broke her arm but just one. We had enough trouble with that. It was right in the middle of summer and everyone but her was swimming in the pool. I felt so sorry for her one day. I had heard that if you wrap that cast up in a trash bag, that it would keep it from getting the cast wet. Yeah right. She jumped in one time and the minute she came to the surface her bag was sagging because it was full of water. I had to eat a lot of poop at the doctor's office over that one. We had to recast the next day.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63643)
• United States
3 May 12
Oh man, I hear that. Now, back in the mid-1970's I had a prof that fell off his motorcycle... actually the cycle fell on his leg... and they put him in a fiberglass cast. he could bathe, within limits because if they get wet you use a blow dryer on them.
and the trash bag thing, you have to wrap it and then tape around the top, but you shouldn't immerse it...
Oh, speaking of casts...
My sister, who swam competitively, fell off a horse and broke her arm. She did that in the middle of MARCH and finally got out of the cast in the middle of JULY!
She was at camp as a CIT, and she HAD wanted to be waterfront, but couldn't.
@cerebellum (3863)
• United States
20 Apr 12
When I was a baby I broke my arm getting out of my crib. I don't remember it of course, but there are pictures of me hitting my brother with my cast. My mother said I hit him with it all of the time. He was older than me and a bully so I guess I figured I could finally get him!
My mother fell outside of a library once, and had to have a lot of dental work done. The owner's of the building paid for it. She didn't sue them, but she got their insurance to pay for all her medical bills. There was a portion of uneven stepping stones around the flag. It wasn't the sidewalk though, so she really shouldn't have been there, but they paid it anyway.
@topffer (42156)
• France
20 Apr 12
It is not fun, and I am not sure that chicken are involved: I don't like chicken wings, but I broke an arm like her, only by falling in a street when I was walking. I was going to Italy two days later for some holidays, and I spent all my holidays with a sling. It is crippling enough to have an arm in sling, two is probably terrible : I believe she needs somebody to help her for everything during a month now...
Thinking about this accident again, I don't understand how she could have broken two arms in the same fall?
1 person likes this