Well, I blew it this time! On Thursday March 20 at 1:00 in the afternoon I got up from my desk to go turn off the gas under my rice, as the timer just went off. When crossing the room, I tripped over a chair leg and fell face down onto my cement floor.
I’m not a pretty sight–two lovely black eyes, a goose egg on my forehead, and a sore nose. It wasn’t the worst of it, though. I could not move my left shoulder.
My friend the fire chief and ambulance man, Sol Martinez, was on duty. After an ambulance ride to our clinic, I learned that the shoulder was dislocated and possibly broken. Time for a medivac to Juneau. We went to the airport and waited for the plane, which finally arrived. I was flown to Juneau, and another ambulance took me to Bartlett Memorial Hospital and admitted me. That was at 6:00 pm.
They must have taken 15 X-rays. My hard head was fine, but they learned the shoulder was dislocated. Fortunately, not broken. Thanks for small favors.
By the time I’d jumped through all the hospital hoops, it was 10:00 pm. At last, the shoulder would be fixed! I must say that modern medicine is remarkable. They sedated me, and within 5 minutes had the shoulder bone back in place. I woke up and remembered nothing of the process.
I had to spend the night at Bartlett House, a facility on the hospital grounds for use by such as I. My good friend, Michelle Drummond, came to spend the night with me. She brought a homemade chicken enchilada made by her husband, Ben Collman. A fine supper!
Michelle had to go to work early the next day, but I didn’t have to check out until noon. Michelle’s husband came at 11:00 and picked me up. Since my plane to Gustavus didn’t leave until 3:15, we went to breakfast and then for a treat, to the Friends of the Library bookstore. What a delight! I picked out about 30 books that Ben is mailing to me.
Came home at 3:15 and faithful friend Elaine Braman met me and took me home. Recovery will be slow, but it’s a blessing that nothing’s broken. I have to wear a sling for two weeks. Estimated recovery time is 12 weeks. Of course, I’m left-handed, and for a while can’t type. My thanks to Carolyn Elder, to whom I dictated this article.
I do have a cat anecdote to share. My cat, Mocha, definitely knew something was wrong and has been very attentive. Once I finally got in bed, he curled up right next to the sling and started purring loudly.
I’m sure I benefited from the therapeutic value of that purr. It vibrates at 25-50 Hertz (Hz), which is ideal for bone growth and helping to heal breaks. So, Mocha did his part.
The purr has several other benefits to us humans. It decreases stress, lowers blood pressure, and decreases risk of heart attacks. Promoting wound healing, it may improve breathing and helps decrease pain and swelling as well.
Mocha has been at my side ever since my accident, doing his helpful purr almost constantly. Thanks, Mocha! I can use all the help I can get! I’ll be back in two to three weeks.
Reference I used for this post:
https://www.hepper.com/health-benefits-of-a-cats-purr/