I had a really rough weekend. On Thursday morning, at work, I slipped on ice, fell, and broke my leg. “Non-displaced fracture of the posterior distal tibia.” On the x-rays it looks like one lobe of the tibia is cracked diagonally, with “something” else on my shin– that’s where my leg hurts, but the doc says it’s not a second break as I had thought. I’m sure there’s some spraining involved in the ankle as well due to the pain and swelling. I was informed that the break could have been much more severe had I not been wearing my supportive hiking boots.
Mostly I’ve learned that nature doesn’t intend for the body to move certain ways. And also that you can’t do everything by yourself, like I usually do.
What did this mean for yours truly? It meant that I couldn’t show Beau at the UKC Mid-Winter Classic in Novi, MI over the weekend–The show ran Friday-Sunday. Since I was pre-registered and would lose the money if I didn’t go, my workman’s comp doctor okayed me to go–but only if I didn’t put ANY weight on the foot, elevated it, and iced it, and got to the doctor first thing Monday morning for a cast. I did that. I had to pass Beau around from random stranger to random stranger, but he showed like the Champ he is and ended up winning Best of Breed in Friday’s second show. The second judge on Sunday said he’d likely have repeated the performance had he not been carrying so much winter weight (I agreed on that–he could stand to lose at least 5 lbs). Of course, with me laid up for 6 weeks, it’s not likely that he’ll be skinny any time soon.
He did impress me with how well he handled me being in a wheelchair (a couple of parents wouldn’t let their kids pet him because they thought he was “working”) and how well he did in the ring with strangers. He’d only been exposed to a wheelchair a little bit before this weekend– when my dad used one for a week or two after his motorcycle accident in ’04. He definitely never had to work from one and he took it all in stride.
I’d like to thank Penny & Elanor with the BSDs, Karen with the GSDs, Theresa with the Rough Collie (and formerly GSDs), and the woman with the Aussies (whose name I didn’t get) for helping with my boy this weekend. Tanya Raab and several others suggested that I’d be happier with a wheelchair, but I was stubborn until the walker I was using on Friday finally frustrated me with how SLOW it was. The staff at Rock Financial Showplace and the Security company were great with helping me get a chair at the facility (I don’t own one since I don’t need one for any length of time). Also, a huge thank you to everyone who offered to handle the goofball, everyone who helped me move my boy’s crate, open doors, get to my car, and everyone who stopped to say hello because they heard how much bad luck I’d had. It’s nice to know that UKC really is a FAMILY, not just a family-friendly environment!
I’m back to work tomorrow morning–not doing my usual work at the wastewater plant, but a “sitting only” job, per the doctor. Assuming everything goes well, I have 6 weeks of my leg in a cast before I get back on the trail. I did request a green cast to match my hunter green work uniform pants, but it wound up being LIME. This cast is on for 1-2 weeks (depending on how loose it gets from the swelling going down) and the next one will be black or some other more respectable color.
Penny, if you’re reading this, I’m making some fleece pads to use for heat on Beau’s back! He LOVES them. Thanks so much for the suggestion.