My Near-Miss Fall

A bad fall is one of those things that could happen to anybody. In a split second -- your life is changed. Sometimes forever..

Three months ago -- my friend Pat was delivering a pie to a friend when she fell down their steps. She broke her ankle, had to have surgery, pins, then months of rehab...and lots of pain.

The night I was coming home from Shipshewanna -- I fell walking UP THE STEPS to my own house and I swear to you, as I laid there, crying, because the pain was so bad -- I was thinking, "this is exactly what happened to Pat!! 

It was late -- I had been driving for six hours -- I was too tired, and sooo happy to be home. At 10:00, I got out of the car, and with my arms full,  I rushed up the steps to the outside kitchen door. I opened it, and my driving flip flop got caught on the last concrete step and I fell down full force into the little vestibule off my kitchen. My full weight landed on my left leg -- because that foot was still caught on the step.

HOLY COW. It happened so fast -- I didn't know what hit me.

John was asleep in his chair...but he heard my screaming...

When he opened the inside door -- I was laying on the floor, crying -- my left foot still sticking outside the door...

John: are you alright?

Me: No, I think I broke my leg.

John: Oh no.

Then -- I swear this is true -- the next words out of his mouth were: "Honey -- could you bend it at the knee so I can get the outside door closed? The bugs are coming in..."

NO KIDDING....and that just might not be our biggest problem, bud...

There was no way I could get up off the floor. I am too fat. And I was afraid to put any weight on my left leg. The pain was terrible...and the wind was totally knocked out of me. But after the initial shock of the fall, (after I was able to pull my leg up out of the door)...I didn't think it was broke....John put a sturdy kitchen chair in the threshold so I could put my weight on it, and I used the chair to get up on my right leg...

Turns out -- I am a fat girl with bones of steel.

I spent the night in my Lazy-boy with a bag of ice on my foot because any bump or wrong move and IT IS HURTING ME...

A week after the accident, my cousin Jackie asked, "what did the doctor say?"....and I laughed. Because two minutes after the fall, I knew it wasn't broke -- I never, not even one time, considered going to the doctor....

I got VERY, VERY lucky that day. And I have thought about you every day, Pat. I hope you're feeling better -- so that one day soon -- we'll be WALKING AND SHOPPING THE FARMER'S MARKET...