Last week we were busy trying to get the chicken house finished so the girls would have a roof overhead and a safe place to roost and lay their eggs. They had been roughing it long enough in the lean-to we set up near the house and it was time to give them a new, permanent home.We ended up buying a kit since we had run out of wood scraps and pallets and didn't really have enough time to waste while we figured out how to build it.
By 3:30 pm we had gotten the four walls raised and were ready for a break. On this occasion a break was exactly what we got, and a bit more than we had planned on.
We gathered Sophie and she and Nick started out for their daily walk around the pastures. At the last moment I changed my mind and decided to join them instead of going inside to begin preparing dinner. We were barely five-minutes into our walk when Sophie decided to go for a run, which she did, right around from behind us and in a blink she was in front of us and I was up in the air! Just a quickly I was down on the ground writhing in pain. Just before I hit the ground I heard the unmistakable sound of a bone snapping.
I knew immediately my leg was broken near the ankle. Well, that put a quick end to our evening walk, and all walks for quite a while to come. Neither of our cell phones have a signal in the pastures, but my cell phone is from "Jitterbug" and it has a red button for emergencies. I have never used this button, in fact, I never signed up for the service so I had very little hope that there would be a response when I began depressing that key several times in quick succession.
To my amazement there was voice on my cell phone asking if I needed help. How many ways are there to say "yes I need help"? As calmly as I could possibly be under the circumstances, I told him I was lying in a pasture and my leg was broken... please send help... and I gave him our address.
In no time at all, but what actually felt like hours, he said help was on its way and would arrive in ten minutes.
Meanwhile Nick had tied Sophie to a tree and was still trying to get a signal on his cell phone. He also got a pillow and jacket from the car to try and make me comfortable while we waited for help to arrive.
To make a long story short.... help arrive and drove me to the hospital about 40 minutes away. After spending a long, painful evening in the emergency I was finally delivered to my new home away from home on the fifth floor the Sentarra Hospital in South Boston, VA where I sit now writing this post.
I have had surgery to repair the damage done to my ankle and leg bone, and have been slowly recovering from a very bad day.
Tomorrow I leave this hospital for a stay at a rehabilitation hospital for an undetermined length of time. The next weeks will be filled with doctor visits and daily bouts of physical therapy. The sooner I finish with rehab, the sooner I can go home and hopefully resume "Life on the Farm".
Until then, I will post updates when I can.
UPDATE 11/23/2016
Well, the last four weeks have been awful, bedridden and with no cell or internet service, but the good news is I have just gotten the okay to begin using crutches and start trying to get back to normal. Although the leg won't be totally healed for months, at least I can start moving around again and get back to life at the farm.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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