April 26, 2014

White Dog was Lassie in action. In fact, all of the White Dog Army, even Oso who had just tumbled with me, became a pack intent on protecting and trying to help the man down...in this case, me.

Steve was gone to school and Michael headed off to his Saturday volunteer job. It was still pretty early and Oso lying on the floor near the couch was fussing. When he did not settle down, I walked across the room, bent down to pick him up...and fell backward with him in my arms.

The Little Man was safely cradled in my arms when we hit and I instantly rolled to set him down safely away from me. That is when I realized I had landed hard on my right hip and had wrenched my knee. I could not get off of the floor. Suddenly things were getting a little scary. I realized that the probable cause for my fall was low blood sugar because I felt shaky and weak...and I was all alone. I tried several different methods and attempted a couple of "sure fire" strategies but nope, I was NOT getting off of the floor by myself. I cried out in frustration and pain.

We have phones all over the house but they are all positioned for use from sitting or standing, not for those lying injured on the floor. I twisted and scooted and swam surrounded by the WDA as they moved close in an effort to help. I was able to push the wheeled cart out of the way so that I could painfully stretch up to where the closest phone rested on the stereo speaker but I could not quite reach it. My cell phone was in the other room on my desk; I never have it when needed.

"I need to get the phone," I told my pack. White Dog jumped up on the chair closest to it and began barking at the device. It was a wonderful effort and made me stop for a moment to appreciate her amazing level of understanding. YoYoMa nosed behind the speaker and Bella (under the chair against which I leaned as I tried to figure things out) scratched madly at the floorboards.

I thought about their actions and a light dawned. I rolled a little further and reached to find the cord for the phone's charger cradle. I gave it a yank and the handset tumbled out...I could reach it!

I was in throbbing pain as I auto-dialed and prayed Steve would pick up my call. My repeated dialings alerted him to the fact that something was not right and after the fourth attempt, he did answer, despite being in the classroom. He rushed out leaving the students to work as he came to rescue me.

My head was swimming and I was spent from the exertion as we waited. Wait Dog stood alert on the chair over me and Bella watched at the window for Steve. Taiko paced on the front porch coming back every few minutes to check on me. Puff and YoYoMa laid pressed against me. Oso managed to push himself so that his head rested on my outstretched hand.

Before the car was in "Park" the WDA was shouting for Steve to hurry and cleared a path for him to work. First he helped me roll onto my exercise step then onto the ottoman where I could sit upright and finally he pulled me to my feet where I was stable and helped me turn around to land in the chair seat. My leg was already swelling from knee to ankle and my hip was starting to color. After a few minutes I stood of my own accord and holding on as I moved (with Steve at my elbow), I ventured across the room. Nothing was broken.

My blood sugar did test low and I ate to fix that problem. Every time I moved, one of the WDA was at my side to make sure I was safe. Steve stayed until he was assured I could get to the bathroom, had plenty of water at the ready, and that my glucose was acceptable. I promised not to do anything foolish...truth be told I was frightened enough that the thought was out of the question. Not that the WDA would have allowed me to be reckless; I would have needed to push my way past the entirety of them as they surrounded and watched over me. I was supervised and chaperoned all day.

I will be very sore tomorrow, I am sure. And my skin will bloom some amazing colors for the next few weeks but I will be fine. There is comfort in knowing that my pack is there for me...and I am convinced that I can train White Dog and perhaps YoYoMa the "trick" of Get The Phone, both are amazingly smart and WD seems to already understand what "phone" means.

The training will challenge my two brightest students and will help keep me from developing a fear far worse than the actual fall.