I broke my left arm on Friday. I had just come back from picking up Sami from school and started to prepare lunch. Up on a stool and into a cupboard above the fridge to get some apple cider, I was on my way down and my knee got caught in my skirt. I couldn’t get my foot down on the floor, fell, and broke my fall with my hand. And thus broke my arm.
My previous plan had been to write a blog called “Let Go. Move On”, building on another post I had written (you commenters remember) about always moving forward. I might still weave some of those thoughts in, since some of them seem appropriate right now!
The minute I looked at my arm that my hand was dangling off of, I thought, “I just broke that.” Clean break all the way through. The next thought and each deliberate thought after that was to deal – and deal beautifully. I was alone with Sami, so I had to act quickly in case I’d faint. I grabbed a salad bowl, filled it with ice with my well hand and thrust my left arm in there. With the right hand I called 911 and fed Sami snack. Next, I aligned sitters and luckily for me, neighbors seeing the ambulance started pouring in, so I asked them for what I needed in a bag for a hospital stay. I didn’t feel much pain, but I knew I had to manage shock.
The rest is procedural. Got to the hospital, got evaluated, spent the night, had surgery, spent last night – and now here I am, about to get discharged.
What I want to leave you with is my thought process through all of this. I told myself, someone who has to manage my own drama often – that there will be no drama around this. I will deal and I will be great. So I proceeded to joke with the EMS guys, doctors and nurses, gave reports to near ones about the facts of what was happening (no drama!). And when I felt apprehensive before the surgery, I reached out to friends and one came to sit with me to reassure me beforehand.
I was amazed at the aftermath one decision to be great yields.
How so much of what we experience in life has to do with attitude.
I forever honor you or anyone who makes that decision every day of your life.
Written with both hands (=the beginning of physical therapy) and with love always,
Jo