24 February 2007

well, damn

and in the continuing saga of the .barrett household, my wife broke her ankle earlier this morning while rock climbing.
for Valentine's Day i purchased a year's membership to a new indoor rock climbing gym (the largest in the west...or at least it will be when construction is finished in April). it was something she always wanted to do, and i didn't (fear of heights and all).
anyway, i decided it might be fun to try the damn thing. since the gym isn't fully completed, yet, only the bouldering section is open. we've gone a few times and really enjoy it: it's a good workout, requires some mental flexibility to figure out the best route, and is something we both can enjoy.
to continue making a short story less short, my wife was tackling a difficult route, one she'd tried days before without success. it was a hard one, at least for us newbies.
she got to the hardest part of the route and lost her grip, falling to the padded floor. it was only a 6 foot or so drop, and onto a good 2 feet of padding, but she landed awkwardly with her leg underneath her. we thought it was merely a bad sprain (i've had a few in my life, and they can be quite painful). we called our insurance ompany's nurseline, being unable to get through to our doctors, and since Julee is on Coumadin they recommended her getting the ankle checked out, just to be sure.
luckily we did, as she fractured her fibula. it's nothing severe, as fractured fibulas aren't uncommon; however, we're worried about the Coumadin and what effect it might have on the swelling, bruising and internal bleeding. she may need surgery to put a pin in the bone, but we won't know until later this week, when she can get an appointment to see an orthopaedic surgeon.

needless to say, it's certainly not something we need right now.

UPDATE: 25 Feb 07, 10:20 AM: it appears the swelling and bruising haven't gotten any worse and aren't abnormal for such trauma. this is obviously good news as it means the blood isn't pooling unusually. the risk for hematomas is definitely real when experiencing trauma while on Coumadin.

4 comments:

christopher cunningham said...

what a sneaky trick to keep your wife at home.

just kidding, man, what a fucking unbelievable run of "luck." you guys aren't playing any cards are you? I'd stay away from the big money tables for a bit.

I hope j is feeling better and they gave her some good pain stuff.

and you, barrett: get in the kitchen and make her some dinner, then open a bottle of wine for her and then go outside with the dog and be very quiet until she rings her little bell that you've no doubt purchased...

;)

j.b said...

ha.
yeah, she'll be laid up for awhile now.
we just got back from the Urgent Care Center for a follow-up visit, and the doctor's think it looks good, or at least it doesn't look horrible. the swelling is not abnormal, the bruising too. it appears we've averted disaster with the Coumadin.

the poker thing isn't even a joke, bro. i've been on a good 3 month slide in that, too. brutal. i don't believe in past lives, but if they do exist i must've been a really bad man and am paying dearly for it now.

thanks for your kind words. i'm gonna fire up the grill (despite the snow) and cook us some nice ribeyes, have some find red wine and we're gonna try not to worry about what is coming next.

BMcG said...

sorry to hear about your recent troubles, maybe you should both discuss never leaving the house again.

as always my best to you both.

j.b said...

thanks, man.
we've had a rough go of it of late.
not sure what's next, but i hope it's something good because we can't take much more of the bad.

never leaving the house is definitely a viable option. if only for the damn mortgage and car payments we could.