"You can't just break a toe can ya?"

sister's broken leg
@ElicBxn (63235)
United States
September 23, 2017 10:49pm CST
I have a great younger sister. She is kind, generous, giving... you know, all those things a Girl Scout is supposed to be. In fact, she was a Girl Scout for many years, even after she was an adult, being a professional Girl Scout. All that changed about 15 years ago, not that she isn't still kind and generous and all that stuff, but she no longer works for the Girl Scouts. That's not what I'm going to talk about, however. Well, it kind of leads up to what I want to talk about... When she was in 11th grade, she was running for the Senior (Girl Scout) Planning Board President. All the Senior Girl Scouts in the local council went to a camp out in Wimberley. They had their elections, then some of the girls, my sister included, went out for a horse ride while the adults counted the votes. I don't know exactly what happened, but the horse my sister was riding, shied and she fell off, breaking and dislocating her left wrist. I also don't know exactly how she got back to the camp where the adults were (mind you, she's 17, not exactly a tiny tot or anything.) A couple of the adults, a friend or so her hers all piled in a car and took her to the nearest hospital, that happened to be in San Marcos. The doctor took an x-ray or two, told them to get back in the car and return to Austin to a bigger hospital. Meanwhile, one of the leaders had called my parents and told them what had happened. They met them at Brackenridge, the main hospital and the closest one. Finally, the doctor showed up, looked at the x-ray, grabbed her hand and pulled/twisted it. My sister said that hurt REALLY bad. Then he wrapped it up and told her to come to his office on Monday. That was in mid-March of 1975. She was in a cast until mid-JULY. The next year she fell working on a school project, but not on school grounds, and broke a bone in her ankle. The doctor, same one as the year before, told her she had broken another "hard to heal" bone. She ended up walking across the stage at graduation in a cast. I think he would've liked her to have worn a cast longer, but she was going to Japan in less than 8 weeks from when she broke her foot. He only took off the cast because she and Mom went right to a shoe store and got a sturdy Oxford type shoe to wear. Now, skip forward until September 22, 2017. My sister, remember, she's a former Girl Scout and more athletic than I ever was, was taking a hike in the Smoky Mountains near Asheville TN. She jumps off a step that was too high for her to just step down, lands wrong and ended up breaking her tibia and dislocating her fibula. She ended up in surgery that night to put in a plate and screws. You can see how the leg is swollen and out of place in the picture. So, my response to her FB post about it was what I wrote above...
7 people like this
10 responses
@ricki_911 (21625)
• Toronto, Ontario
24 Sep 17
Sounds like me an accident prone!
2 people like this
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
24 Sep 17
Hi Ricki - I was telling someone about how you rescued animals yesterday. Honestly, this is the first break since 1976, so not that accident prone. It's just that when she does hurt herself, she hurts herself badly.
1 person likes this
@ricki_911 (21625)
• Toronto, Ontario
24 Sep 17
@ElicBxn thats why my ears were burning . Yes, a slight activity like that can cause a lot of problems.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
24 Sep 17
sounds like she is carless and accidetnt prone
2 people like this
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
24 Sep 17
Not really, its just that when she does take a fall of some sort, she really hurts herself.
1 person likes this
• United States
24 Sep 17
Some are more prone to break a bone than others. My eldest daughter has had her fair share of breaks.
1 person likes this
• United States
24 Sep 17
@ElicBxn Hope she is on the mend soon. My sil broke her femur and was in rehab for a month. She still can only put 50% of her weight on the injured leg.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
24 Sep 17
@ElusiveButterfly I suspect that it is going to be a while before she can walk normally on this too. Apparently her wife is going to have to have knee replacement sometime in the near-ish future so they are working on training the dog to not jump on the bed.
1 person likes this
• United States
24 Sep 17
@ElicBxn my sister and her wife had 2 dogs when they both had their knees replaced. I don't know how they managed to keep them under control.
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (45498)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
24 Sep 17
WHAT is that contraption on her leg? I posted in January about my cousin who had her legs run over by a transport truck... she has all that hardware in her legs now, too. But she's "doing good" from what I hear, though it'll be quite a while yet before she can drive again.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
24 Sep 17
That is actually her sandal, just the swelling and bend in leg isn't normal. This was before they wrapped it and sent her to another hospital to operate. Yeah, like her wrist, the original hospital she went to wasn't able to deal with her leg.
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (45498)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
24 Sep 17
@ElicBxn Thanks for clarifying that. Now I can tell which part of the leg that is.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (458233)
• Switzerland
24 Sep 17
I suspect she suffers of osteoporosis, she should ask to check her bone density.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
24 Sep 17
@LadyDuck right now, because she is post surgery, she isn't in a cast, but in a leg brace. Now a days they don't cast post surgery because they need to keep an eye on the stitches and stuff.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
24 Sep 17
I know I do, I suspect that she has checked, but this sort of injury is more likely to be from trauma than weak bones.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (458233)
• Switzerland
24 Sep 17
@ElicBxn I do not know, but if she needs to wear a cast for long time I suspect that the bone has a problem.
1 person likes this
@sallypup (57899)
• Centralia, Washington
24 Sep 17
I suppose your sister won't just sit and stay put? (Maybe she's one of those who fall off couches and hurt themselves, though.)
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
24 Sep 17
Not really. She's the one who normally is picking people up. But she loves to camp and hike.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
24 Sep 17
@sallypup I'm sure she will
1 person likes this
@sallypup (57899)
• Centralia, Washington
24 Sep 17
@ElicBxn Then I guess she will break something, rest and get up and go again.
1 person likes this
• United States
25 Sep 17
Your poor sister, she must have weak bones, has she been tested for that.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
25 Sep 17
I think it was more that she landed totally wrong. I'm sure she's been tested, she knows all what was wrong with Mom, just like I do.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
24 Sep 17
Geezz she should make time and rest. There will come a time where she won't walk at all. She should be considerate of her body.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
24 Sep 17
I very much doubt she's going to let that happen. She's always been the outdoorsie gal. I'm the one that sat inside and read.
@jstory07 (134465)
• Roseburg, Oregon
24 Sep 17
She sure is accident prone. My oldest son is the same way. Strange things always happen to him.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
24 Sep 17
well, the last time she broke something she was 18 - she'll be 60 in November, so I guess that's a pretty good average - I've broken a couple'a toes since she last broke something
• Japan
24 Sep 17
Some of us are just lucky that way, eh? One of my friends always breaks an ankle or foot when on vacation in a foreign country.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
24 Sep 17
My wife says she's not going on vacation again because the last 2 times she went on vacation for a week - and both times it was just to have time off around the house - she's ended up in the hospital. In 2014 she fell and broke her hip she spent several days in the hospital and then 6 weeks in rehab and another month plus rehabing at home. Then this last spring she ended up having bypass surgery and in the hospital and rehab for a month, then another 2 months recovering at home.