Can We Talk 2

Ouch! A Minor Boo Boo Turns Major

         It was a simple incident. I tried to walk around a steel cart, low to the ground, in a narrow walkway. It did not have the handles in the frame, so the steel holders stuck out from the corner. I must have been going faster than usual. I managed to hit my shin right on that round steel corner. I surprised myself with the volume of my voice, calling "Jesus". I'd like to think I wasn't swearing, but praying (in agony). Maybe. I stood motionless leaning on a stack of boxes in the back room of my workplace. My eyes were clutched so tightly that I saw colored stars, the way you always do when you squeeze them tightly.

         Instantly, my manager was there. He was the one who had left the cart there at an angle, thinking he'd get back before anyone came through. Others came running from further back because I had been so loud.I had to concentrate on breathing, and could barely stand up straight, the pain was so intense. But I thought I'd recover. The boss said that everyone in the backroom did that eventually. He felt guilty about leaving it in the walkway. I got my things and went to the exit door to deposit them. We still had things to do before setting the alarm.

         The next day I was off, so I propped my feet up most of the day and put on some ice. It was swollen and red and very painful. On the second day I limped into work thinking it would improve. Each night I packed on ice after work every night, but by the weekend it was more painful and the area hurting had spread. So Monday, six days later, (I see a pattern here. I tend to delay medical attention even in life and death situations. This is just a minor one.) I was almost in tears and went to a doctor.

         True, there was no break. But the abrasion had caused an infection that is spreading. They x-rayed my leg, wrapped it, and prescribed an antibiotic which gives me dry heaves. The remedy is as bad as the problem. So now I'm swigging Mylanta, and I'm still limping. The doctor didn't write "no work", he wrote "light duty", so my boss found light duty and is making me come in tonight. I'm in constant pain, not just when I'm walking. I just want to sit home and be miserable.

         Who could have foreseen that such a minor incident would become so dreadful and disabling? I have to follow up with the doctor in 4 or 5 days. He said it would hurt that long. Ugh. I give everyone permission to be a sissy and take care of their little boo boo's. You never know.