BE HAPPY YOU'RE ALIVE AND LEARN TO LIVE WITH IT

Just so you know; here at the beginning I’m going to be posting quite a bit, in the hope that I can catch myself up on everything that has led me to this diagnosis and treatment. I will try to keep the posts under 1,000 words, so it will be easier for you to read, and me to write.

Now that you know I had cancer and went through traditional treatment for it, let’s move onto the next trauma (both physical and emotional) in my life. During this time I was living on a ranch in Idaho and we were raising Quarter Horses. I have to tell you, those horses saved my sanity. I wasn’t able to do much, but anytime I could be outside playing with them was time I wasn’t thinking about my horrifying physical condition.

One sunny morning I decided to move one of the brood mares to a different pasture. Not thinking at all, I stepped through the gate with Eve following, I twisted my body to swing the gate shut and this directed Eve to back up. She backed right into the electric fence. Once she got the shock, she took off like a rocket, right over me.

I literally ‘saw stars’. I believe I was only out for a minute or two and when I came to, I was face down in the mud. Upon trying to get up, I realized I was hurt in several places. My left thigh, right in the quad muscle was on fire, I had a big knot on my forehead (don’t know for sure if I was kicked or hit a rock when I went down) and my right ankle really, Really, REALLY hurt. I hobbled my way back to the house, which was probably about a quarter mile away. When I got into the house and called for help, everyone wanted to know why I was covered in mud.

The result was a broken ankle. It seems the horse stepped on my left thigh and directly on the muscle in my right calf, causing so much torque on that muscle that it snapped the bone at the ankle. I was fortunate that it had not displaced, but was confined to a large non-weight bearing ‘boot’ for a minimum of six weeks and I had a mild concussion.

During this time on crutches, my leg began to swell. The orthopedic surgeon wasn’t too concerned until this swelling would not go down. My oncologist later told me that it was due to the removal of lymph nodes during my surgery, and the after-effects of radiation, followed by this trauma that now the lymph fluid on my lower right quadrant was not moving properly. The solution: Wear compression hose (essential when flying) and be happy you’re alive, and learn to live with it.

The breaking of my leg was trauma number two in a very short period of time. My current doctor is pretty convinced that this is what contributed to my Fibro and Auto Immune Disease. I have been plagued with recurring pain in my right leg ever since, but the general sensitivity and all-over pain did not commence until a few years later. More on that in the next post.