Looking Back................ Getting Home

Part 1

I couldn't wait to get out of that emergency room. Not remembering what happened during the procedure made me uneasy. I just wanted to get back to the privacy of my home.

First we had to get my prescription filled. It was clear my recovery was going to be difficult. There wasn't much chance I'd get through without taking the pain medications prescribed by the doctors. I could still feel what seemed like every little movement in my body translated to pain in my arm.

The ride home was not as traumatic as the one to the hospital had been. I was able to sit in the front seat but every little bump seemed like we'd gone through a huge rut. I could already see what the docs had been trying to explain about this gravity cast. I was going to have to lie low whether I liked it or not. Any kind of moving around on my part was going to translate into pain.

Still the first thing I did when I got home was call my friend, Linda. I was worried about the effect the accident had had on my horse. There was no telling what had gone through the Arabian geldings mind about this wreck.

The last thing I wanted was to ignore the possibility the horse had been frightened by this experience. I needed to know if there was a problem or not. The only way to do that was to get Aidol saddled up and ride him. I knew there was no way I could get back up on that horse so I asked my friend if she would do it for me.

Aidol knew Linda. She had been the first one to begin working him in the long lines back when the horse was first started in training. She knew his little quirks and she knew how he displayed fear. If the horse showed signs of trauma, Linda would know what to do and more importantly Aidol would trust Linda to get him through it.

The only catch was I needed to haul the horse to her. She didn't have the time to come to us and she couldn't do anything until the following Monday.With Dave working that meant I would have to be the one hauling the horse to Linda's place.

I didn't even think about how that might translate to my "treatment plan" until the time arrived to take another pain pill. Only then did it occur to me I couldn't drive while on this medication. I would have to skip a dose or two so I'd be safe to drive.

That first night at home was a killer. I wasn't allowed to lie down to sleep because it would affect the gravity on the arm. That meant I had to sleep sitting as straight up as possible in a chair. I don't know about you but sleeping in a chair is NOT my thing.

There was no "getting comfortable" with this injury. It seemed like every position put pressure somewhere it wasn't supposed to be. I didn't want to move because it was going to hurt and if I didn't move to find a better position, I was going to scream in frustration. I felt sorry for my family. I was not a good patient.

I did get through that first night and the next one too. I won't tell you I got a lot of sleep because I didn't. I counted the hours until daylight. Then when daylight came I found myself counting the hours until noon and so on throughout the day. It was a painful injury. There was just no getting around it.

I spend most of my time in that chair. Daytime, nighttime, it didn't matter. The only place in the house that worked at all seemed to be that one chair. Getting up and down out of that chair was horrible. I dreaded having to go to the bathroom or to get something for myself. This was and still is the most painful injury I've ever had. I'm relieved it's now safely in the past.

I did manage to be Aidol over to Linda's place on that following Monday. It was a difficult drive. Trying to drive my old truck that had no power steering had never seemed like much of an issue until now. The half hour drive to Linda's was bumpy old country road and felt like sheer torture. If I'd had any ideas about cheating on my recovering this trip was killing all those thoughts.

The most difficult part of the drive was the unpaved driveway leading into the farm where Linda worked. I actually bit a big hole in my lip trying to get through that portion of the drive the pain was so bad. I didn't even realize I'd bitten my lip until Linda mentioned something about the blood running down my chin. More evidence I should still be home sitting in that darn chair.

Aidol seemed to be taking everything in stride. He unloaded out of the trailer for Linda like he'd done it a million times before. Linda saddled him up without incident. If the horse had issues it wasn't obvious here.

Before she got on the horse, she lunged him. There was no evidence there of anything unusual either so she decided it was time to get up on the horse.

Because we really didn't know what to expect, Linda started off cautiously like she would with a horse that hadn't been mounted before. Aidol just looked at her with this quizzical look on his face. The gelding was probably wondering why she was taking so long to get on his back and go.

But Linda took her time wanting to be sure there were no residuals from the accident hanging around. When she did finally through her leg over the saddle the horse just stood there like a rock.

From there the ride proceeded just like any other ride.
Aidol was a champ. He walked, jogged and loped both ways without incident. There was nothing about his behavior to suggest he was traumatized by my fall at all.

I joked with Linda the horse didn't realize me falling off backwards was NOT what I was trying to do. All the new trail things I'd thrown at him seemed so foreign to him, he just thought it was yet another one of the "crazy things" mom wanted.

To be continued...........

This pic is Scandlous with Dandy. I think he's about two days old in this pic.




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