Tuesday, June 13, 2023.

Tuesday, June 13, 2023.

  Today was my sister's 78th birthday.

   Ah, this is the day I broke my left shoulder and elbow. I was in my front yard, starting out on my morning walk with Elsa.  She cut through a planted area, probably to pee.  I was trying to dial a number.  I was wearing Oofos, and a nine-inch sprinkler head got caught between my foot and the shoe.  I couldn't free my foot. Because I was in full stride, I fell.  I must have gripped the retractable leash in my left hand. Elsa pulled away in alarm, pulling my left arm under my body. I fell on top of my left arm and shoulder with my full body weight.

   I was lying there with my arm pinioned under my body and my left leg suspended in the air. My phone was just out of reach, having fallen from my hand as I fell.  I yelled for Scott, my tenant. No response there. I wasn't too worried. Someone would eventually find me. I started yelling. I didn't call, "Help!" It wouldn't carry far enough.  I toned. 

   Sure enough, my yell attracted the attention of my neighbor across the street. She was shortly by my side. She proposed getting me up. By that time, I knew something was broken.  I had tried to move and heard or felt my bone shift.  I felt I needed to be lifted by two people with minimal joint movement on my part. I did ask her to free my left foot from its stuck position.  I told her to go inside and get Scott. 

   He came out of his room when she went into the house and called his name. The two of them got me upright. One of them proposed calling an ambulance.  I refused. I could walk.  I convinced Scott to get me to Urgent Care so my arm/shoulder could be X-rayed. We set out to the south, only to discover none of the Urgent Cares had X-ray services. We had to go to the hospital. 

  Scott walked me into the ER and left me to register while he parked the car. The ER was full, and I shared a bay with another patient, separated by a curtain.  We arrived about 9 a.m., and I didn't have a room until after dinner that night.

  I was X-rayed and CT-scanned. Scott was wonderful.  He never left my side.  I wasn't alone through this until the moment they took me to a room. 

   It was late in the afternoon when a doctor came to see me, Dr. Viven Chang.  She showed me the X-rays and told me I had crushed at least one of the joints. "See the gravel."  You will need surgery on both joints, an elbow reconstruction, and a reverse shoulder replacement because of your age and osteoporosis. 

   Then she said, "You have Kaiser. You can choose to be flown to Oahu for the surgery."  I noticed her facial expression as she said that. I said, "You look disappointed. Would you like to do the surgery?"  She said, "I would love to. I love solving puzzles."  I said,” I'm yours."  People who love doing what they do are always the best.  

   Finally, I was placed in a double room.  I don't know if there are any singles at Kona Community Hospital.  I was happy to be in a double. I like company- prefer it.