Friday, February 26, 2016

A tiny setback

It was a dark and stormy Wednesday this week, with lots of wind. Sometimes lots of wind means loss of electricity, and Wednesday was one of those days.

I had something to return in Princeton (about a 45-minute drive), and rather than sit in a cold-and-getting-colder house all afternoon waiting for the return of lights, heat, and water, the husband and I headed for Lowe's with the wrong-sized drip pans for our electric cooktop.

Note to self: Make sure you write down the brand of cooktop the next time you buy drip pans.

Lowe's is a big place, and we didn't know when our electric problem at home would be resolved, so we crawled through the aisles a couple of times in order to get some walking in. Walking is still my preferred activity, but I'm trying to remember to do the knee raises, adductions, and backward extensions. True confession: I've not started using dumbbells. Yet.

There's just so much plumbing and lighting one can look at, and we got bored pretty quickly. We called a neighbor, learned electricity at home had been restored, and headed out on the return trip.

We had to fix the garage door when we got home so it would go up and down at the push of a button again. I had to climb a ladder to adjust the mechanism. I DIDN'T FALL. That wasn't the setback.

When I got back to the car to move it into the garage, I completely forgot about how I was supposed to get into the seat. (You have to move the seat all the way back, approach the seat butt-first, sit down carefully, and then swing your legs carefully into the car.)

I acted like a normal person. Think about how you get behind the wheel. You probably don't ever think about it. I put my right (operated) leg in and onto the floor and then sat down on the seat. 

IN EXCRUCIATING PAIN.

I apparently strained the thigh muscle(s) of my right leg. My hip is fine. I didn't pop the joint out of the socket. No pain at all other than in the thigh, above the knee. But wow, did it ever hurt.

I briefly considered using the cane again. But eventually decided just to rest and use a heating pad. It helped some. I followed that same course yesterday and by last night I was almost walking without a limp.

I will do some walking today (indoors; it's freezing and horrible outside), but probably not much more than yesterday (which was considerably less than I've been doing). 

And I will be very, very careful getting in and out of the car from now on.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Yikes! Take it easy!

denise said...

Ugh! It's always the little things that get you! But, as you say, lesson learned, so you have one less little thing to worry about forgetting now (at least for a while).

Anonymous said...

Oh I'm sorry to hear that! So glad your hip wasn't injured, but this is bad enough.

After my husband had knee surgery, he had to get into the car like that, and he's done it ever since. You don't think about it, but getting into the car is a really awkward and potentially straining movement (as you discovered).

And sorry it's horrible out, that doesn't help matters.

Vickie said...

How is it going?

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