My Tibia Plateau Fracture journey begins. Mar 28 2021 part 1

On March 28 2021  the day of my Tibia Plateau Fracture.

I was so out of it for a long time that I could not write about it then. So a lot of this is from memory and may be impaired by forgetfulness, shock and pain killers. But I fractured my Tibia Plateau that day and my life has not been the same since.

It started out like most days, had my coffee in the morning, and did some work. I work in the field of social media. So I can do most of it from home. It was a Sunday and like every Sunday I talked to my sister. And then took my dog, Aaron, for a walk. Rounding the curve heading for home is where things changed. Late March in Prince George can be almost every type of weather you can imagine. This day was nice and warm. There was melting snow and slush everywhere. And some pockets of ice. I remember stepping on the curb and my foot sliding down a bit. So I stepped again. That is when I fell.

Disaster happens

I tried to get up but it felt like my leg had been replaced by a piece of limp spaghetti. There was no pain but had ZERO strength to stand. I kept saying to myself “Aaron please do not pull”. I was horrified he would start to pull not knowing why Mom was not walking anymore. But he did not. I would come to learn how great a dog he is and how great his sense of intuition is. I remember thinking to that I did not know if I was lying on the road or on a friend’s lawn and all I needed right now is to get run over by a car. So with great difficulty and some pain I rolled over to make sure I was on the lawn. I think maybe more of the Tibial may have happened then.

In my mind I laid there for 10mins or so but I am sure it was a lot less. I tried to stand again but still my leg felt like a wet noodle and would not support me. Someone came by and I still do not know who that was but said he had his level 3 first aid. I told him I knew the lady that lived here could he go get her.  I was so glad the injury happened where it did. Soon other friends came to my aid.  I felt safe and not alone. Cyndy took Aaron home for me and got my wallet. I still remember everyone debating about what to do. But in mind as a coping mechanism, I am going through what felt like 10000 questions all at the same time.

“how come the leg is still weak?”

“should an ambulance be called?”

“How is Aaron?”

“How am I going to get home?”

“What did I fall on?”

Panic setting in….

And when I ran out of questions I just replayed them in my mind. It was a coping mechanism. It was either that or panic. A friend later said I was very stoic. But she was not in my head lol in my head I was far from stoic. Someone had the idea to get a chair for me to sit on. So a kitchen chair was brought out and a neighbour was able to lift me up and get  me on to it. After debate they were going to get me into a car and take me home but as soon as I went to stand I let out a scream that could be heard on the other side of Canada.

I was running out of questions and panic was coming on. I went to stand on the leg and realized I was getting no support from the knee at all and a decision was made to call the ambulance and go to the hospital. A phone came out of seemingly nowhere and the ambulance was called. I remember talking to the dispatcher as I am sure that she wanted to assess me but have no idea what either of us said.

The ambulance came and for some reason, there were 2 of them but one left pretty quickly.  The ambulance that was left had one female and one male attendant. I remember thinking he looked 12. But as it turned out of all the movement I did that day it was the smoothest with him and the less wear on the tibia. He had me put my arms around his neck as he did the work to lift me and the gurney was slid behind me. That was so smooth.  My neighbours all wrote down their phone #s so I could call for a ride home.I had no idea how long and involved my stay at the hospital was going to be or how important those numbers would turn out to be. For more…