The Big Fall

Having had two legs for the first sixty years of my life I kind of gotten use to looking down and seeing two feet. Now when I look down I see one foot and it actually doesn’t look weird to me. I guess to me it is what it is. With that said, just because it doesn’t look weird to me doesn’t mean I’m use to it. It’s actually quite the opposite. 

People take for granted the luxury of two legs. Besides the obvious benefits of being able to walk and run having two legs comes in handy for other things. Great example, try rolling on to your side in bed using just one leg. Go ahead and try and feel my frustration. It ain’t easy! Also try rolling onto your stomach from your back with just one leg. OMG! It’s almost impossible. Having two legs is awesome. Having one leg not so much. Think about it. I can no longer tap both of my feet when a catchy tune comes on. Instead I find myself just waving a stump in the air which totally throws off the rhythm of my good leg and foot. My point is having two good legs and feet is vital for much more than just be able to walk.

Which brings me to my big fall. People don’t realize that if you wake up in the middle of the night and have to go to the bathroom how important two feet are. When we wake up we are not truly wide awake. We are on autopilot. We get out of bed and semi-stumble to the bathroom to take care of business. Our two good legs guide us to our destination keeping us upright and automatically without thought making adjustments as we stumble to our destination. You don’t have that with one leg and a walker.

So there I was, I had woken up and needed to get to the bathroom. I woke up my wife and got out of bed using my walker. I hopped along to the bathroom which distance wise is not very far but I was still half asleep not really looking at where the legs of the walker were. I got to the bathroom and began to pivot and that is when it happened. One of the legs of my walker got caught up on something and because I was hopping things did not end well. 

Down I went right onto my stump, cutting my arm along the way on the vanity. The pain was immense and i lay on the floor, Sharon and I both panicked not knowing what to do next. I needed to get up but couldn’t do so in my own.

JUST SO YOU KNOW: I’m a big guy 6’4″. A few pounds lighter minus a leg but still pretty heavy!

I kept pleading with my wife to help me get up. She was already trying but I just kept saying please help me get up. I was in full panic mode and almost to the point of tears. I honestly don’t know how Sharon did it but she was able to lift me up and get me standing with my walker. Once up we retreated back to the bedroom and Sharon called 911. It didn’t take long for the EMS to show up and wisk me off to the hospital where the ER doctor looked at my stump, cleaned up all the blood and examined the staples and sutures. He determined that the staples all seemed to be intact but in two small spots the healing skin had come apart and that was why it was bleeding. He wasn’t real concerned with it patched me up and sent me on my way.

The next day I had already had an appointment with my doctor the surgeon who performed the amputation. He was not happy at all but that is a whole other story. In the end my big fall set the healing time for my stump back a week or two. 

Despite this I learned a good lesson about my new life. There are going to be alot if changes in my life and I need to pay more attention and stay vigilant in recognizing problems that may come my way.