From the Lioness' Den...

What I did on Vacation

Vacation was terrific! Well, mostly...

We camped with Leo's sister & her family.  Between us there were 4 adults, 5 kids and 6 dogs.  We boated, fished, and played on the lake.  The kids rode the jet-ski, tubed, and waterskiied.  Shelby had never waterskiied before but got up on the 2nd try.  She loved it.  She also drove the jet ski for the first time instead of just riding - not alone, but she was in control.  The fishing wan't great, but at least we caught a couple.  Mostly the ones we caught were too small to keep.  But, I caught a 20-inch walleye (the first fish caught the whole trip) and Leo's BIL caught a 7 lb 11 oz catfish. On Wednesday evening after supper we took all the dogs down to the water to play.  We were there for about an hour then we decided to head back to the campsite and make a fire so the kids could make s'mores.  As we headed back, my dog decided to go over a couple logs.  No big deal, I thought.  There was space in between them to step.  I made it over the first one, then the dog jumped as I was stepping over the 2nd one.  I didn't make it over that one so good.  I caught my foot on top of it, and fell, landing with full force on my knee on concrete.  It tore my knee all up - it looked like hambuger.  Leo ran back to the campsite to get the pickup to bring me back & his sis stayed with me as everybody else headed back with the dogs.  I told her it hurt almost as bad as when I broke my arm a few years ago. 

After we got it cleaned up, Leo asked if I thought he should take me in to the ER to have it checked & see if it got cleaned out well enough so it wouldn't get infected.  So, off we went.  I had been hobbling around on it, so I figured it was ok, just make sure it's clean.  When we got to the ER, the doc said he was gonna order a couple xrays.  I said, no, I don't think we need xrays.  He said, "We're gonna do the xrays.  You're a stubborn one, I can tell already" Who, me???  After the xrays came back, he said it was as bad as he had thought - the kneecap was fractured. So, he stitched up what was left of my knee - 11 stitches in all, gave me an IV of antibiotics, a tetanus shot, and a knee immobilizer to wear for 4 weeks, then told me that after that I'd have to switch to a different brace for another 2.  I have to follow up this week at home with another set of xrays - if they show that it's begun to heal, continue as I am.  If it is separating, then I will probably need to have surgery to put a wire in & fix the break that way.  I realllllllly hope that it heals on its own.

Leo's boat had been having metal shavings in the motor that he wanted to have checked out by a boat mechanic that he knows there. He took the shavings in on Sunday afternoon when we got there.  The guy said to bring the boat in Monday afternoon and he would look at it.  Not.good.news.  I'm not very mechanical, but it sounds like a gear went bad, broke a couple teeth off the gear and a chain reaction happened, ruining all sorts of things.  Basically it sounds like the entire motor is going to need to be rebuilt.  The motor & boat are about 23 years old and most of the parts in it are original.  So, Leo told the guy to go ahead and fix it since he already had it completely torn down and apart.  As of yesterday when we left, the motor still wasn't back together.  All the boating we did was in his sis' boat. I, of course didnt' do much after Wednesday except sit with my leg up and on ice. 

Not a real good week, but it was still better than being at work, as far as I'm concerned.

Tomorrow is back to reality and work.  Yippee.

Untitled Comment

8:32 AM, Aug. 6, 2007 .. Posted by davey327

Sounds like a lovely vacation. :) I hope your knee turns out alright. That's what you call a freak accident isn't it?

Can't ever be simple, huh?

12:34 PM, Aug. 6, 2007 .. Posted by AndeeDawn

Welcome back! You've been missed!

I'm so sorry to hear about your knee. That had to have really hurt. OUCHIE! Try to take it easy on it--don't over do it back at work.

It sounds like the rest of your vacation was very relaxing.