My NYS muzzle loader season came to an abrupt end this morning. Not with a BANG! but a whimper. No BOOM and flash. No air filled with the smell of burnt powder. (Although I may have turned the air blue with some of my utterings!)
After some heavy rains early last night, I figured the woods would be nice and quiet this morning, but being on my own (Mark had to o help someone with a concrete pour and left at the crack of dawn this morning) I didn't want to go far. I decided I would take a short, slow walk behind the cabin and never leave my property. I got about 300 yards into my walk (about one third to my goal) when one of those turtle rocks reached up and grabbed me. My left foot slipped on the moss covered stone and I went down wrenching my left knee. If that had been all, I would have been okay, but there was a crunching sound from the knee as it gave way and when I tried to stand up it was as if someone poked me with a red hot iron straight from the fire. I was toast.
Having no one to call for assistance, I gathered my one and a half legs beneath me and hobbled back to the cabin doing a great imitation of Walter Brennan.Once there, I immediately applied an ice pack to the knee and called Terry to let her know what had happened. She suggested the emergency room in Utica.
Two hours later, when the ice pack was body temperature and the knee was still sore as hell, I agreed and hobbled into the Tundra and drove down to St. Lukes, arriving at noon. Only one other person was in the walk-in waiting room so I figured I had beat the Friday Insanity Crowd that usually shows up at ERs every week.
Well, maybe I did and maybe the hospital scheduled everyone to show up for the expected rush. It was 2:30 PM before I was shown into one of the examination rooms and another thirty minutes before the doctor took a look at me. (By that time I had called Terry again and told her to come and help me pack up to get back to PA tomorrow.) The doc said it sounded like no more than a severely sprained knee but he wanted X-rays to confirm nothing was broken or dislocated. Since I hadn't really fallen on the knee and the lower part of my leg wasn't dangling, I felt that was over protection but, hey!, he's got the degree.
Twenty minutes later I'm still waiting to get taken to the X-ray room that's 100 feet down the hall...maybe, when the doc peeks in at me again and asks if they've done them yet. I say "no" and off he goes to get the ball rolling. Five minutes later a guy shows up to take me to X-ray and asks if I'd like a wheel chair. By now the knee hurts like the seventh level of hell and I can put virtually no weight on it at all so I say "yes." He disappears in search of a wheel chair...for twenty minutes! It's finally 4 PM when he returns with a chair but I've already got one thanks to a helpful nurse who asked what was up.
So, I get X-rayed and return to my room. At 4:30 PM the doc returns to say the X-rays showed no breaks or dislocations. It's nice to have your diagnosis confirmed by a pro! He gets me a knee immobilizer (think removable cast from the crotch to the ankle) and prescribes Ibuprofen (800 mg which is the prescription strength stuff) and Hydroco/Apap5-- a federally controlled substance, it says on the bottle. I get a warning about the drugs, drinking and driving. I'm told to see my regular physician on Monday AM and tell him what happened. I get a warning that if it doesn't feel better I might have done some ligament damage (which the X-rays won't show). And I get a CD of the four X-rays to take to my doc.
I'm finally on my way back to the Bolt Hole after spending nearly 5 hours in the ER. But first, I have to go to Wally World to get the scrips filled. It takes them nearly 45 minutes to get my prescriptions filled because of the number of cases ahead of me.
Back at the Bolt Hole, finally, at 6:15 PM. The heavy rains that are forecast to fall all night and much of tomorrow, begin at 6:30 PM. It's now 7:30 and Terry should be arriving any minute.
We'll pack the truck and her jeep in the rain tomorrow morning, drain the pipes and put antifreeze in the traps in case I don't get back up again until after the freeze, and then head back to PA.
I'll take one pill tonight so I can sleep and then suffer through the day since I'll be driving. But once I'm home....
Man, it sucks getting old!
