Another Mess

Photo was taken back in January but rather reflects my mood of late. Cloudy with a little light here and there.

We had not had sunshine for five whole days when Friday the sun came out. Being my usual energetic self, I put on my pink rubber gloves, grabbed the six foot ladder , window cleaner and some news paper to wash the front windows. I had gotten six large , six small and the long one over the door completed when I needed a break before I finished the last 2 large and 2 small ones.

First of all I must explain, our garage is a cluttered mess. Inside door of the far wall is a six foot metal shelf with enough space between it and the wall to store two ladders. On the wall beside the little ladder cubby are two tool hanger for all sorts of yard tools. I try to keep the tools not used down in the basement, however ever now and then they work their way up and do not make it back down. This was part of the problem as tools were not only on the rack on the wall but were on the ground thus I did not take notice of a temporary visitor.

I thought while I caught my breath and rested I would sweep out the corner where the ladders usually reside.

Remember the sun was out bright and I had come into the darkness of the garage with the purpose of sweeping the corner. I grabbed the broom and without any thought at all (kind of like a true blonde moment) I took a giant swipe at the corner. There I encounter the temporary visitor and it was truly a very bad one.

For those of you who have never had the pleasure of doing any post hole digging, you will not know about this tool. It is very sharp and pointed on the bottom and stands at least seven feet tall and it is a pure rod of iron. Not a tapping bar but a bar used to break rocks up in the post hole. It was standing up leaned against the wall where I was gonna sweep. Yep, I dislodged its slumber against the wall and it came down with crushing force on my defenseless right big toe. I only had on tennis shoes and socks as I needed the lightness of them to go up and down the ladder.

It sled seven feet down and gained momentum as it landed and then bounced off my toe. At first I was numb with pain and then it finally hit my brain. I began to jump around in a bent position as I could not straighten up and yell and scream with big ALLIGATOR tears rolling down my cheeks. Maggie began to dance around me and jump at me as she thought I was playing. Finally I crawled to the backdoor and into the kitchen to the freezer, where I knew we had pliable ice packs. I secured the first one I came upon and then proceeded to head back to a small stool in the laundry room.

Did I dare take my shoe and sock off as my imagination had me with no toe attached. After I took off the shoe and sock and saw it was still attached, I held the ice pack on my toe and cried, cried and cried some more.

After thirty minutes I was able to hobble back to the computer and pull up information on WebMD.

There is absolutely nothing but ice every 2 hrs for twenty minutes for the first 2 days, elevate the foot above the heart and take some anti inflammatory drug. If it is broken you can tape it to the other toe. At the very end of the information is that if it does not get better in 3 weeks then go to your doctor. THREE WEEKS. WELL IT COULD FALL OFF BY THEN.

I hobbled back to my bedroom with a new ice pack and put my foot up on two pillows and laid there and cried. Now I was crying cause I was mad at myself for being careless. I should have known with the extra stuff in that area that a possible accident was waiting to happen. Also, the sun was still shining brightly and I was down for the count.

My big right toe was now the size of Texas and as black as our President. With every heart beat, it throbbed like it was heading to the moon.

My foot could not stand anything on it so I slept on top of the covers. I was able to put on light socks yesterday and last night but this morning I had to rip them off as I was getting sick at my stomach as they were rubbing that toe which has now gone down to the size of Tennessee and is ever shade of a paintbox.

My objective today is stay up with the help of my exercise tennis shoes. The toes are roomy so I plan to try and put them on shortly.

The kitty justice is to not be an air head but to secure the area before you clean.

LESSON LEARNED THE HARD WAY