AnalogRTO
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Just thought I'd put this out there--be careful on a ladder!!!
It's been two weeks now since it happened. I was trimming one of our queen palms in the backyard, up on the extension ladder to do so. As the frond I was trimming broke off, it hit one side of the ladder and it twisted and started to go down.
I made what was probably the smartest split-second decision to wrap my arms around the trunk of the palm instead of going backwards with the ladder; I was above a concrete patio and on the edge of it was a planter with large river rocks. I held on for a few seconds before I lost my grip and went straight down--HARD. My left foot took the brunt of it and started to hurt like hell.
My wife came out, helped me onto my good foot, and drove me to the ER. My left heel is broken from this, but my decision to grab the trunk meant I didn't land on my back or head, so no spine injury or head injury. Here's the X-ray:
I've been on pain medications since, saw the orthopedist the Monday after and have been going through getting it dealt with. They wanted to wait a minimum of a week before doing much beyond X-rays because they needed to let the swelling go down. I had a CT scan of it and saw the orthopedist two days ago to review that.
The calcaneous (heel bone) is in four pieces right now. Those pieces are all displaced in weird ways, so I go in Tuesday morning to have screws and plates put in to fix it back in the right position. I'm both looking forward to this (to get the heel to stop hurting constantly) and not looking forward to it (it's surgery after all, full general anesthetic, etc.).
It will be a few days off of work after the surgery, fortunately I have a good job where this isn't an issue and also have really good insurance. Like I said, I don't have a head injury or back injury, so things could have been a lot worse. Apparently, the wife of one of my coworkers works in a different ER from the one I went to and the same day I did this, someone came in falling from same sort of height off a ladder. The difference was that he hit his head; he didn't survive.
To those of you who get on a ladder for any reason, take care!!!
It's been two weeks now since it happened. I was trimming one of our queen palms in the backyard, up on the extension ladder to do so. As the frond I was trimming broke off, it hit one side of the ladder and it twisted and started to go down.
I made what was probably the smartest split-second decision to wrap my arms around the trunk of the palm instead of going backwards with the ladder; I was above a concrete patio and on the edge of it was a planter with large river rocks. I held on for a few seconds before I lost my grip and went straight down--HARD. My left foot took the brunt of it and started to hurt like hell.
My wife came out, helped me onto my good foot, and drove me to the ER. My left heel is broken from this, but my decision to grab the trunk meant I didn't land on my back or head, so no spine injury or head injury. Here's the X-ray:
I've been on pain medications since, saw the orthopedist the Monday after and have been going through getting it dealt with. They wanted to wait a minimum of a week before doing much beyond X-rays because they needed to let the swelling go down. I had a CT scan of it and saw the orthopedist two days ago to review that.
The calcaneous (heel bone) is in four pieces right now. Those pieces are all displaced in weird ways, so I go in Tuesday morning to have screws and plates put in to fix it back in the right position. I'm both looking forward to this (to get the heel to stop hurting constantly) and not looking forward to it (it's surgery after all, full general anesthetic, etc.).
It will be a few days off of work after the surgery, fortunately I have a good job where this isn't an issue and also have really good insurance. Like I said, I don't have a head injury or back injury, so things could have been a lot worse. Apparently, the wife of one of my coworkers works in a different ER from the one I went to and the same day I did this, someone came in falling from same sort of height off a ladder. The difference was that he hit his head; he didn't survive.
To those of you who get on a ladder for any reason, take care!!!