On the mend, a mention from Hans and a visit from Jack

Apologies for not sending email and for the mass post, but...

I am now able to sit for short periods of time at the computer and thought the best use of that time would be to tell you all what's been happening for the last week or so.

The short version of the story is this:

Last Monday I slipped on the stairs going into our basement. I fell down only two or three, but I fell hard enough to do some damage.

I ended up with a fracture of the left transverse process of the L4 vertebra...Which in my non-technical terms is a fracture of one of my vertebrae, but not the vertebra part, the little wing bit that hangs off the side of the vertebra.

This injury has, unfortunately, made me pretty much housebound. I am currently navigating the house with a walker and I have all kinds of fancy equipment from the Red Cross Equipment Loan Program. This program is one we're now going to support annually. How lucky we are to have access to programs like this!

And just in case I wasn't aware of the wonderful community I am part of, this injury really reminded me of that. Alex was home when I fell because it was our first day of holidays. He got K, our landlady, who sat with me and helped me support myself while we waited for the two crews of paramedics. My wonderful aunt, Tiki, came to the hospital and kept Alex and me company, kept us both calm and harassed the nurses whenever I needed more pain control.

I fell in such a way that I was supporting all my weight on one arm, so K's assistance was invaluable. I was in such an awkward position that they needed five paramedics, a clam shell, and a heck of a lot of morphine to get me up the stairs and out of the house. It also took two ambulances to transport me to the hospital, but that's another story!

The doctors, x-ray technicians and physiotherapist at the hospital were super. It took a long time to figure out what was wrong, but after eliminating hip, femur and pelvis problems, they found the fracture.

After a long night and only a few hours sleep, Alex and Tiki came back to the hospital, with my uncle, Brian, who took the morning off work to get me settled. They brought me home and left Alex to help me into some clean clothes (I had none at the hospital...they're all chopped up and in the rag bag!) while they visited the Red Cross and got us some food.

My Mom arrived on Wednesday afternoon to help us for a few hours before going to a workshop. She came back on Saturday and is here for the week. We have decided that I will go home to K-town a week early with her so that Alex doesn't have to worry about me.

I cannot believe the tremendous support we have received from our families, my colleagues at work, the Human Resources Department at work, the marvellous women I know through Guiding and our other friends.

The prognosis is good. I am mobile right now, but very slow and require a lot of assistance. The doctor is going to reassess me every two weeks, but she felt that I should be feeling much better in the next two to four weeks and hopefully will be back at work within six weeks.

We've started getting visitors (my Dad is coming today!) and that is the best medicine so far. Visitors have kept me from going nuts...

This lovely little boy brought his Mommy and Daddy over to see us on Sunday. We had a great visit and I was feeling well enough I was actually able to hold him (we all got to hold him, doesn't my Mom look happy!)

Jack and Shannon

Colleen and Jack

Jack and Alex

He's wearing the toque I made a few weeks ago...

Look at the cute toque (and the even cuter baby)!

Since my accident I've become a toque making factory! Oh, and the surprise knitting from that same post is this:

Rebecca's Christmas present from 2005!

One last thing...Hans asked how I find things to write about almost daily...I don't know...some days I don't have anything to write about, so I don't, some days there's lots...I noticed my posts were more frequent during the summer and while I was taking a writing class...mostly because we were encouraged to write as often as possible about anything and everything...so all of you have become subject to my ramblings!

Thank you everyone for the the wonderful, warm wishes you sent after our engagement and for the support we've had in the last week. I don't know what we would have done without each and every one of you! If you're in Vancouver and you're not busy, come visit!!! I like visitors!

I won't be able to post very often as I can't sit for very long and the office is a difficult room to get into at the moment...I'll be thinking of you and I'll be back eventually! I can do fun stuff like write letters, so I might get "old fashioned" on you for a while!