falling into an erector set

I fell into an erector set or so my husband says.. The first couple days after my fall I confused the correct term for the fixator on my leg with a fascinator on the royal lady’s head. Maybe because the bridge of metal screwed into my leg to keep it stiff as goose-stepping soldier’s leg does fascinate me even as it fixes my leg into a non-bending position.
It all began on a Friday night a couple hours after arriving at my son’s house for a visit. I grabbed the evening pills and started to followed my husband downstairs for water. A couple steps to the first landing I tripped and my knee hit the landing breaking the tibia in two directions. I bumped my head, saw the next much longer flight of stairs and threw my left arm out to stop tumbling and broke my wrist.
My husband turned in time to see my head bump and wrist breaking stop. I gasped at the pain in my knee and held my hand protectively around it. Pain ruled.
“I am calling 911,” I heard as pain suffused me. Within minutes the beeping of the ambulance and flurry of voices negated any discussion of how I could finish descending the stairs. Too narrow and winding for a stretcher, two strong young men had to carry me down to the stretcher and I did not care.
I did not let go of my knee. The immediate swelling of the wrist announced its simple fracture but the leg hid the secret of the pain sending me close to a faint. It screamed pain like I had never felt.
Arriving at the emergency room in an ambulance got me into an exam room quickly. Only having broken bones gave more life threatening cases priority. Still within the hour I had been x-rayed from multiple angles.
Really?! You seriously want me to hold my leg out straight for an xray? Yo want me to lay in that position?
Yes, they needed to see all the ways the bone connecting to the knee had broken. It had split down and across. About as serious of a break as was possible. Well my husband always says when I do something, I really do it.
The orthopedic resident measured out gauze and plaster strips to create splints for the simple fracture of the wrist and then for the leg. He lined up broken limbs and wrapped so that I obviously would not be bending or using either the leg or arm for a while. Having the leg in a temporary splint held it very still and relieved the pain. A pain killer and the heated blankets eased my pain and shock.
Four hours after the fall, I entered the orthopedic ward to wait for surgery to attach external pins and a rod to my thigh bone and shin bone ­ the fixator. I must endure it until the initial swelling goes away went away before internal surgery can be performed.
It sounds all very fine and well to say keep the leg elevated above the heart. With all the pillows and folded towels, I feel like the princess with a single pea hidden under 20 mattresses as I wiggle around to find a comfortable position.
That just is not possible. Especially as the days pass and the need to escape into sleep faded, m head said get up and move to feel better. The arm splint and fixator on the leg restricted that urge.
My usual independence must to submit to asking nurses, aides and techs to pick up the phone I dropped, move pillows under my leg, clean my body, help me move from bed to chair. Modesty and self reliance disappeared under the onslaught of pain and medical realities.
I tolerate it knowing that once the swelling goes down in another week or so
I will have a second surgery and rehabilitation will follow. I’m just happy and blessed to be suffering all this in a time of modern medicine with all the professionals, medical interventions and modern inventions to speed my recovery. To bad that won’t happen as fast as the fall that put me here.