Jul 29, 2022
Ups and downs
This past Tuesday, the 26th, was an unusual day for us.
Colin left home about 4:15am and drove to the Abbotsford Airport, just west of Vancouver to do about 6 hours of helicopter aerial photography for a variety of clients in the Lower Mainland. Yeah for the jobs!!
Certainly an up day for Colin. Great selfie.
This is the pilot. Three hours in they did have to land at Boundary Bay Airport to fuel up. It wasn’t until they were back up in the air that the pilot realized that the helicopter had not been fuelled to the maximum. He thought they might be down 10 -14 litres of fuel. This was a big down as they were not sure that they would complete all of the photos on Colin’s list without having to refuel yet again which is costly. Colin gets charged for the time flying to get fuel and back again. At $600.00 per hour that can cut into our profit margin.
A house or two ( ? ) on a barge tied up on the Fraser River.
I have to say that I love Colin’s smile.
English Bay, Vancouver where the ships hang out to be unloaded and loaded.
So it was going to be a long day for me and the girls. Longer for them as Colin is the active one with them in terms of walking and playing. I was feeling bad that they did not get their morning walk. So before it got too hot out ( we have been having temps everyday up to 104F ) I decided to take them for a walk. An up for the girls but a big down for me. I have walked them before one at a time but never the two at once. This wasn’t an issue as it turned out. It was already hot so I decided to take them in the golf cart to the one end of a short trail that was mostly in shade because of the trees. Perhaps 1/4 was in the direct sun but is was a very short distance between the shade.
I made a point of wearing proper walking shoes as opposed to my normal Mephisto sandals. I always wear a hat in the sun and and because I knew that the trail was mostly in the shade I did not wear my prescription sunglasses as I want to be able to discern the path in the dappled light. Once I stopped the golf cart the girls were eager to walk. By now we had a routine that they are allowed ( by us – not the park ) to be off leash on this 20 -25 minute ( depends how fast you walk ) round trip trail. However they always have a leash trailing behind them.
Carlie was not happy that Colin was gone so long so at one point made a nest of pillows.
We were only 1/3 in when it happened 😯 At this point the girls were walking behind me. I tripped ( of course I did ) on a three inch tall tree branch that had been cut off. It was only two inches in diameter. It blended in with the debris and dirt. Down I went. Total face plant, straight down, flat out. Next thing I heard were the girls barking loudly. They stayed about 3-4 feet behind me. They did not approach me. There was no one for me to call out to for help ( if I could have, short of breath ). I told the girls I was okay and tried to get up. I will spare you the details but it was not easy and it was very painful. I think I was in shock so I kept walking to the end of the small trail. It took me a few moments to realize that I was bleeding at the knees and that my face was full of dirt. I then also realized that I had ruined my eyeglasses a with a multitude of scratches. So we walked to the end and from there we normally carry on for another 30 minutes. I asked them to turn around, Carlie did. Ciela however wanted to do her full walk. I had to physically make her turn around and we started the walk back to the golf cart.
We did make it back home but I was not doing well. Two knees bleeding, two wrists and palms marked with small gravel and aching with any movement, two very sore elbows, side left neck and shoulder, even my nose was scraped and bleeding but worst of all I could barely breathe. Did I have broken or cracked ribs? Certainly a big thing for me.
Colin sends texts and photos while up in the air. I made the decision to not let him know that I was injured because he needed to concentrate on what he was doing. It was only when he was on the way home that I told him. Of course he was upset. He picked up pizza for dinner once he got into Kelowna.
Of course he wanted to take me to the hospital. I was too stressed. By now I was just having wine. I had no idea how serious this was. But no way was I going to spend 8 hours in Emergency with all the sick people. For some stupid reason ( brain fog/stress ) I was taking Extra Strength Tylenol. How stupid of me. I am the one who is always telling others to take 800mg of Ibuprofen right away and then 400mg every four hours thereafter for the first day after a major incident. So this happened Tuesday about noon and I figured I would get better. That did not happen. I barely slept that night and was in a world of pain ( where did that expression come from ? ) Wednesday morning I could not move. I had a previously scheduled appointment with my doctor for Thursday so that was my plan for treatment. I added codeine to my meds before bed Wednesday. Did not make any difference to the pain level.
My poor nose. But I was most upset about my eyeglasses. I did find out on Thursday that my lenses had a warranty and they would replace them at no charge. Wonderful. A big up!
Long story short….sorry no idea why I am going on and on. I saw the doctor and she was very concerned and sent me immediately to the hospital for an X-ray. By the way she also gave me a tetanus shot. Guess we all should have one every ten years. FYI right now because of a shortage of staff most people are waiting 3 -4 weeks to get an X -ray. Colin had driven me to the doctor as I could barely move, never mind drive. So off we went, it did not take long at all. However the tech guy was concerned about my right side and would not let me leave for a long while. After checking with someone ( twice ) he said that I could go home. That worried me. He told me that my MD would have the results at the latest today.
On the upside the girls and in this case Ciela are giving me lots of love.
I did not get a call back yesterday from my doctor nor this morning. So about 12:30 noonish I called my doctor to check and all I got was a voicemail saying that they were closed from noon today until Tuesday morning due to the long weekend 😥 You guessed it, I was furious. My doctor was worried as I had shallow breathing. So now I have no idea about my ribs other than that they hurt. Now doing a mix of ibuprofen and codeine. It certainly is going to be a very long weekend for me. A huge downer.
I love my girls. Look at that tongue. That is an upper for me.
<< Older Posts Home Newer Posts >>
I am so very sorry you had such a horrible accident. Thankfully you were able to get yourself back on your feet and even complete the walk for your girls and back home. You are a brave lady. I do hope each day you feel a bit better.
Thank you Sandy and for personal email photo. I am just taking it one hour at a time right now.
Rest wine rest wine until you hear from your doctor. Keep us in the loop. Crazy, you are 104 and we are high 80s here near USA/Mexico border.
I like your medical advice my friend. Very strange about the weather.
Oh no, that sounds horrible! And to have to wait for your results would be incredibly frustrating.
The helicopter photo shoot on the other hand looked awesome!
Very very frustrating. Nothing I can do so now I am just relaxing.
If you would have any Fractured Ribs the Technician would have told you to go to your Doctor’s Office or the Hospital. Hoping you are feeling better before your doctor calls.
I was at the hospital. Right now here in BC it is a 3-4 week waitlist to book an X-ray due to lack of staff. Still in pain and just taking it easy.
Ohhh how horrible for you! And to be alone with the girls. So sorry to hear you hurt yourself. Try to relax and get some wine into the self medication remedy. I wish I could help out my friend! Hugs and kisses from us both wishing a speedy recovery
It was pretty awful and I am so tired of being in pain. Thank you for the kisses, the hugs have to be at a distance.
Do you not have Urgent Care centers? I find, if I go mid to late afternoon, there are no crowds as most people chose to go first thing in the morning after having a bad night.
This is a long weekend here in Canada so many places are closed. There is a huge shortage of medical staff. There is a brand new Care Centre that was to open in May but they can’t find anyone to staff it. Very sad world we are living in now.
Oh dear, hope it is not too serious and you get to feeling better soon….
Actually I think I pulled something today be bending over only 3 inches. Lots more pain. Thank you for your kind thoughts.
I’ll add my voice to the mix as well; I really do hope you feel better soon and that it’s not to serious.
And you’re right, Colin does have a great smile, it reaches through the camera and you can feel his joy 🙂
I do also Pauline, this is not fun and I am getting tired of being sore.
Sending you a very gingerly hugged hug 🙂
So sorry to hear this! I hope you get feeling better real soon. These dang accidents
are not fun. Thinking of you. Hope there is less pain every day.