The whole embarrassing story

Last week I wrote about how to get up after you fall. At the end of that column, I told you I fell. Here's what happened.

My daughter Rachel had come for a short visit with her son Eli. She arranged to meet with my daughter Rebecca and take me to lunch. I was happy with the outing. I don't get out too often. Anyway, we went to a Mexican restaurant. I had three tacos and a salad with cactus. I had never eaten cactus before. It came in an interesting salad and was a little spicy. Still, it added something special to my yummy lunch.

We were just finishing our meal and getting ready to head back to the farm when I decided that I should go to the restroom before going out into the cold. I wasn't exactly sure where the restrooms were, so I looked down one hallway and I saw what I assumed was a Spanish word on a door. As I leaned closer to see that it was the men's room, I caught my toe on a folded tray stand.

In a split second, I found myself tangled in the legs of the tray stand and falling to the floor. The tray stand came down with me. I reached out to stop myself with my left hand.

My left hand hit the floor, followed by the tray stand, and then the rest of me. My weight mashed the wooden stand against my left hand.

I didn't hit my head or anything else, but my hand sure hurt. I sat there for a second trying to figure out what happened. Soon my daughters were at my side trying to help me up. A gentleman also aided in helping me stand.

After that embarrassing fall, I continued on to the restroom where I had been going in the first place. There, I looked at my left hand and saw that it was starting to swell. This was not a good thing. When my daughters saw the swelling and the purple coloring coming to my hand, they insisted that I go to an emergency room.

X-rays were taken. These photos soon showed that I had broken a bone in my hand. A splint and bandage held everything together until I could see an orthopedic surgeon. I met with a surgeon a couple of days later and was told that I would need an operation to put the bone back together.

In another two days, Rachel and Rebecca were taking me on another outing. This time we were heading to the hospital for my operation.

It turned out that the bone was in multiple pieces and had to be put back together with screws and a plate to secure the bone in place.

I went home the same evening, riding with Rachel on snowy roads.

Rachel was able to stay with me that night and on through the weekend while I found my way around living with one usable hand. At least I didn't break my right hand.

My hand is now in a cast for at least six weeks and the doctor is keeping a very close eye on it while it heals.

It's a good thing that my word processing program has a dictation app. I'm speaking to the computer right now to write about this mishap. The computer doesn't always understand me but it sure is a lot better than trying to type with one hand.

So, there you have my embarrassing moment. Life changes in seconds. I'm doing OK. I will continue to write about my life as best I can using the dictation program.

Take care and watch where you walk.

Susan Manzke, Sunnybook Farm, N8646 Miller Rd, Seymour, WI 54165; sunnybook@aol.com; susanmanzke@gmail.com; www.susanmanzke.net/blog.