I'm re-posting a Blog post that I wrote in mid-December. Last August I fell and shattered my wrist. Today is the one year anniversary of the great fall that changed my life. My wrist and shoulder are still healing but today I'm counting my blessing on how I have recovered from my injury. There are so many things I once took for granted that I don't anymore. Every day I feel so lucky to be able to stand in a shower, squeeze a tube of toothpaste, put a sweater over my head, tie my shoes, use a can opener, drive my car, take my dogs for a walk and pick up a penny with my left hand. Best of all I can still hold a camera and take beautiful images of my clients.
Anyone have a similar experience they would like to share?
Anyone have a similar experience they would like to share?
December 2012
Well I wasn't really attacked. Just over three months ago I was dragging a 40 pound of dog food across my living room floor when I somehow my got foot caught on a throw over my couch and fell straight back on my wrist. I went down like a tree. I jumped up thinking I was fine until I saw my wrist hanging the wrong way and swelling so quickly I could hardly remove my watch. Immediately I canceled the Senior session I had in an hour, put the darn bag of dog food away, fed the dogs, put the rest of the groceries I had just bought away and called a friend to meet me at the emergency room.
So through all of this I never once thought of calling 911 since the hospital is only a couple minute walk from my home. I headed out the house and up my drive when I realized I still had groceries in my car. So I grabbed the bag and headed up the street to find someone home to give me a ride to the hospital. At the second house my neighbor was at home. The poor guy looked afraid as he opened the door since by now I was white as a sheet. He immediately asked how he could help. I told him I needed him to take my groceries, help me remove the light meter that was handing off my belt loop, that I couldn't get off, and give me a ride to the ER. Did I mention I had to use the restroom before I left the house. It was more than a struggled to get my jeans back up since I was using one hand and couldn't get them buttoned. Plus I hadn't been able to undo the knot that fed through the loop of my jeans that was attached on the other end to my light meter that hung at my knees.
The ER visit didn't go well, it wasn't just a broken my wrist, it was a badly shattered wrist that required surgery the next day. It took two surgeons three hours to put my wrist back together with one plate and six pins. Later on I found out that just that hardware or implant cost $18,000. I have been lucky not to have any real experience with medical bills in my life so all this has been quite a learning experience. I spent six weeks in a cast and then unfortunately when the cast was removed I found out my hand had become swollen and developed something called complex regional pain syndrome. This syndrome is incredibly painful and required lots of occupational therapy. Then an MRI found I had hurt my shoulder during the "crash" which meant additional physical therapy. Next I came down with a virus and landed back on the couch for a week.
Today I can laugh out loud as I write this. I wanted to wait to post this when I felt I really was on the road to recovery. I'm back photographing both on location and in the studio. In fact 10 days after my surgery I was photographing a Senior session in downtown Port Townsend using my bulky cast as a portable tripod and balancing my Nikon D700 on it.
I will post more later but just wanted clients to know I never stopped photographing except for the period just after my surgery. I have completed two beautiful wedding albums and have had a wonderful time with all the Seniors I have been working with to get there sessions completed and images picked for the yearbook. It is not too late to book a Senior session or any session to have images for Christmas gifts, just give me a call, 385-2662, to set up an appointment.
My next post might be the 10 things I missed most not being able to use my left hand or the 10 things I'm most grateful for after surviving a tough three months. I feel very blessed with all the help and support from my family, friends, medical staff and clients. Blue skies ahead...
