Two weeks ago, my boys and I were enjoying living the dream of summer life. One lazy morning, we decided to venture over to the local Walmart to pick up a few things. As we made our way to the front to pay for our items– they saw it:
The H20 Triple slide Slip N Slide:
Angels singing “Ahhhh”
This–is like no other Slip n Slide you’ve ever seen. There is an inflatable cushion to go down–giving you extra momentum–so you can slide down not one, not two, but THREE lanes. My younger son, Grayson was beside himself–with all the promise it offered of summer fun and joy. “Please Momma? PLEASE?!!!”
For $20.00 this is an easy 2 hours of entertainment. Definitely worth it. As soon as we got home, the boys got their swimming suits on as I rolled it out, inflated it, and hooked up the water hose. They had a BLAST. Squealing with delight as they took running leaps and slid through the ice cold spraying water. “Momma, you’ve got to try this!”, they pleaded. In my mind I was thinking–“Don’t do it. That water is COLD. It will be miserable.” But then… the Momma guilt set in. The echos of “You’re always so serious.” “You NEVER want to do anything fun.” started plaguing my mind. These are phrases my boys have never once said to me, but for some reason–I always fear they will.
So, I changed into my swim suit, strutted outside and declared– “let me show you how it’s done!”. I made a big show of doing some stretches and talking trash the whole time about how I would put them to shame with my advanced Slip N Slide skills. I took a running start. As I launched into the air it hit me: “hmm, I think I’m supposed to go head first on a slip n slide”. But it was too late– I was in mid air–headed feet first. One foot immediately slipped out from under me, but my right foot planted (I think there must not have been enough water). I felt a strange snap in my ankle as I smacked down on my bum and I noticed right away that my foot didn’t look right. It was turned WAY to the right with a big bulbous ball shape in the front where my ankle used to be.
An “instinct” kicked in as I sat there looking at my very misshapen foot. The bulbous ball looked like it needed to be pushed back in. So I pushed and to my great surprise it locked back into place. But, something still didn’t feel right. I was too afraid to try to stand up, so I scooted away from the slip n slide–meanwhile trying to maintain my cool as I explained to my boys that I thought I had just broken my ankle and could one of them go get my phone for me please.
I decided I needed to try to get inside to try to get some clothes on–not wanting to be wearing my swim suit at the emergency room (how embarrassing). As I tried to scoot, my ankle moved a bit and there was this weird crunching sensation– kind of like a smashed up bag of chips. The movement must have shifted stuff around because that’s when the pain hit. I tried so hard to not cry out in anguish as I gave my boys instructions through gritted teeth. Super Rockstar got there as quickly as he could and whisked me away to the ER.
Prognosis: Angle broken in two places.
My summer break with my boys went from– care free, do whatever we want–to–it takes Momma an hour just to walk across a room using her crutches and she requires a nap after each trip.
On the upside, I’m getting A LOT of help. Everyone in my family has immediately stepped into their new roles of caretaking–My Mom even came out and helped us for several days (Thanks Mom!). Super Rockstar is definitely bearing the brunt of it all. I feel bad–since he already works a full time job– and now gets the added bonus of being Mr. Mom, housemaid, errand runner, and trying to keep his wife from breaking any other bones as she stubbornly refuses to follow Doctors orders and stay seated with foot elevated.
I was really worried about how my boys would handle all of this–they have never been known for their great empathy skills, but they have surprised me with #1: not complaining about how this affects them and #2 how incredibly sweet they are as they ask me how I’m feeling and doing things for me.
I’ll keep you posted on how I do with this new “adventure” (I’m trying to stay positive)(the groovy pain meds are the only thing making this possible right now). The Blooper Reel of my life just keeps growing and growing….