February 29, 2020

Boom! Hit by a Truck.


Ugh.

That's how I feel right now. Like I was hit by a truck.

My brother, Nathan, is in Chicago with his girlfriend Alex; my sister, Jeanie; and Jeanie's husband, Shawn, at a "roaring 20's" themed murder mystery dinner. I'm so jealous! I have wanted to attend a murder mystery dinner ever since I first heard of them. And a "roaring 20's" theme is so cool.

Anyway, while Nathan is gone, I decided to go to his house and work on his popcorn ceilings some more. I'd started on them a couple of weeks ago--spraying water on them and scraping off the popcorn texture--and today I finished the living room.

I started with the hallway (twice as long as mine). Once I got the hallway done, I did half of the living room. I didn't want to leave it halfway done, so I went there again today to get it finished before he comes home tomorrow.


Nathan has a black lab, Bailey, so I like to take Joey with me to play with Bailey while I work. Unfortunately for Joey, Bailey is too old and stubborn to want to play with him. She just barks at him when he takes her bone.

Anyway, today I went to Nathan's to finish scraping the texture off the ceiling. I brought Joey with me and he was thrilled. The poor dog gets crazy excited when I even mention the name "Bailey".

I went to Nathan's, changed into my "painting" clothes (clothes that I can get super messy) and started working on the living room. I taped plastic sheets to the floor (Nathan just got new carpet, so I have to be meticulous when removing this texture).

And then it happened. It was awful.

I was taping plastic around the fireplace, because trying to clean drywall compound from bricks and mortar would take forever. So, I moved my ladder as close as I could to the fireplace, and then I hung a sheet of plastic from the ceiling. As I was taping it, I braced myself against the mantle. (In the photo below, the mantle is sitting on the bottom of the fireplace. You'll understand why when you keep reading.)


When I got to the far right of the mantle, I was reaching ahead (to the right) to press the tape to the wall. In slow motion... the mantle fell out from under me, flipping up into the air, catching me by surprise. In the craziness of that, I must have shifted my weight on the ladder, because the ladder (that I was standing on!) tipped out from under me. (Apparently, the mantle wasn't screwed in very well to the bricks.)

In less than the blink of an eye, I was falling to the ground. I hit the bricks on the fireplace without really realizing it, and I remember vividly landing on my ankle, which rolled underneath me. After falling on my ass and thanking God I was still alive (I was so sure I was going to die), I started assessing my injuries.

My ankle? I was pretty sure it wasn't broken, even though that felt like the worst injury. My elbow was killing me (both the joint and the skin, because somehow, I had broken a brick from the fireplace with my elbow!) and my butt hurt from hitting the bricks as well. I even had a hole in my pants on my right butt cheek where I'd hit the bricks!). Overall, my neck, left shoulder, left elbow, and left ankle were really bothering me after the fall.

My elbow is going to have a big old bruise tomorrow.


I was really shaken up after the fall--when it was happening, I was so sure that I was going to die--I'm too old to fall that hard!--and I sat down for a few minutes to just breathe.

Once I realized that I didn't need to go to the hospital for any reason, I got back to work. I hung the plastic and started scraping off the popcorn ceiling.

I worked on it from 10:30-4:30 today, and finally finished scraping off all the texture. Next up is sanding it all smooth and then painting.  I think it's looking better already!

I'm super bummed about my fall today, though. My ankle is in pretty bad shape. I can't walk without a limp; and any movement I make, I feel pain somewhere. I'm super grateful that I haven't started my actual half-marathon training yet--right now it's just walking--but I'm sure I'm going to have to take time off from it until my ankle heals. From what I've read, it'll take 3-6 weeks!

Every single time I work on a house project, I wind up injured in some way. This time was definitely the scariest. It happened so fast, but it felt like slow motion.

For an ankle sprain, it's suggested to focus on R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). I don't know how well I'll be able to follow that, but I'm going to try! I want to feel completely healed so that I can start training for the Detroit Half.

I feel awful today, so I can't even imagine how I'll feel tomorrow! Hopefully it heals fast...

7 comments:

  1. Hope the bruises heal soon. Try a splint or support for the ankle to stop you rolling it again and less painful walking. If it's really bad you can get them with gel packs in for cooling.

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  2. OMG that made me cringe so hard. Ouchie ouch. 😬 I would've had to sit there and gather myself too. Hope you're not too banged up. Next day usually hurts.

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  3. Oh no! Feel better soon! Soooo glad you didn’t break a bone!

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  4. Feel better Katie, that sounds awful! It's not fair to get injured when you are doing a good deed.

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  5. So glad you are okay! I hope you heal quickly.

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  6. Oh man, I'm so glad you didn't break something! I hope you heal fast.

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  7. Thank goodness you didn't hit your head! I wish you fast healing!

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