It is crazy for me to start a blog since I of all people am least likely to continue it. (I'll add it to my pile of "started but not finished" activies). However, I feel like writing now and I guess one journal entry is better than none.
Everybody knows that an adventure worth sharing must include a few main ingredients: A conflict, food, and a souvenir. Or something like that. Oh what a coincidence I have a story that meets those criteria!
It started yesterday when I was up at the lake. I met with 3 different contractors throughout the day to walk the land and get quotes constructing a driveway up to the building site. I thought Id make good use of the time while one of the contractors was taking some measurements so I started pounding a stake in the ground with the blunt side of an axe. (enter the conflict) On one swing the axe bounced off the side and fell into my leg. It was enough for me to stop my work and put my energies into biting my toungue. When I looked at my leg there was a hole in my leg. Not a big one maybe the size of a hole that would be left if I had stabbed my leg with a pencil. It was deep. I could see it was dark inside. My next thought was that my parents were right in assuming that I had a hollow leg while growing up. Then I touched it and a squirt of .... well, never mind. I found some kleenex and duct tape that held me over for the rest of the day.
That evening I took a shower and felt faint, faint enough to pass out. What an eerie feeling it is to regain conciousness. I remember passing through various stages that all seemed to be familiar to me. First a buzzing tingling feeling in my ears and on my face. Next some sounds and blurry vision and a conciousness of what is happening to you. Then coherence and of course embarrasment. A feeling I've felt often at the end of History class when I would find myself prying my face off a drooly desk. The difference this time is that there was a beautiful woman putting cold cloths on my head and neck and little boys asking if they can gargle and shake in the bathtub like daddy does.
I waited in the emergency room today for 4 and 1/2 hours. So long I thought my leg had either caught an infection or healed (either one rendering the emergency useless to my situation) There were little kids there about Konrads age, injured and crying. I wanted to give them my spot but I guess the people behind me wouldn't have liked that much. I tried to amuse them during the wait by blowing up a rubber surgical glove like a balloon. It popped and the lady in front of me almost punctured my other shin with her cane she was so upset. Finally, my name was called. The doctor stuck a needle in about an inch to drain the hole and commented how deep the wound was. The X-ray turned out negative for bone chips which to me is a miracle. The front of my leg is all bone. How does a wound go an inch deep into a shin and not not hit bone. Anyway, thank goodness!
On my way out of the hospital I saw a Tim Hortons on the main floor. Hungry, I wandered in to find they were closing and throwing out all of their food. I asked her not to trash the chili and she gave it to me for free with a croissant. Sweet action. A free meal to fill my healing hollow leg. Just as free as the meals that filled it when I was growing up at home.
One of my favorite things about travelling and adventuring is bringing home a souvenir for the kids. At 2 and 4 years of age it doesn't take much to get them excited. Sometimes they are content with a stick of gum freshly purchased from Montreal. This time, nothing but the best for my two boys, 2 hospital issued nose pinchers to ward off pungent smells!
