The Pony broke his ankle near the end of his delivery route on Thursday.
He sent me a text at 4:30 that he had fallen, and was resting before trying to get back to his LLV (Long Life Vehicle) about a quarter-mile away. Said his ankle hurt, but would support him. He had notified his supervisor, who was waiting for further information in case he couldn't get back.
"I don't know what happened. I had already gotten back to the sidewalk from a yard, and taken three or four steps. I don't remember the sidewalk being particularly rough. I don't think I stepped on a rock. Maybe I might have stubbed my right toe, but I don't think so. It was my left ankle that turned, and I heard a POP. I skinned my left knee in two places, and my left elbow has a chunk out of it."
I got this information bits at a time. Of course I was worried. I'm about 20 minutes away from where he was delivering. He said he didn't need me to come there. Later, he filled me in on more specifics.
"I was sitting on the sidewalk, leaning on my hand so the blood could flow down from my elbow. I didn't get blood on the mail! A lady and her daughter saw me while driving by, and she stopped. She had a little travel first aid kit, and she handed me a gauze pad that she had poured saline on, to wash off my cuts. She said she saw blood on my knees, and that's why she stopped.
While she was helping me, the lady that lived at the next house I was delivering to came out. She said she was a nurse practitioner. I gave her the mail I had ready for her. She went back in the house and came out with a real first aid kit. She checked my ankle, and said it was definitely sprained, if not broken. She gave me a cold pack to put down in my sock, and cleaned off my elbow and put gauze on it and wrapped it up. She put bandaids on my knee.
I was going to walk back to the LLV, but she said she would drive me. Her husband came out with a bottle of cold water, and helped put my mail and packages in the car. She gave me her card and said if I need anything, to call her. What kind of luck is THAT? Breaking your ankle in front of a nurse practitioner's house!
I drove the LLV back to the office and went in and my supervisor took a look at me and said, 'This is definitely a worker's comp case.' She took pictures and filled out forms and sent me to Urgent Care. The one I went to in Backroads has changed hours, and was closed when I got there a little after 6:00. So I had to drive over to Bill-Paying Town. They took x-rays and said they think it's broken, but they gave me a disk with the x-ray, and said they'll make me an appointment with an orthopedic specialist, Tuesday at the earliest, before they'll know. I'm going to Burger King on my way home. I'm starving.
They took me out to my car in a wheelchair and told me not to walk on my ankle. They put a brace on it. I have a prescription for antibiotic ointment, and crutches."
By that time, it was after 8:00. I told The Pony I thought we had a set of crutches hanging in the garage by T-Hoe, from when Hick had knee surgery. So I met him at his car, and brought him through the garage doors to avoid the gravel and Hick-brick sidewalk. Friday we got crutches and ointment and tried to get the 18 pages of paperwork filled out that the supervisor had not been able to fax on Thursday night. It needs the orthopedic doctor, so there's a hold on that.
Right now The Pony is resting comfortably enough in Hick's recliner, biding time until Tuesday. Urgent Care called on Friday morning to say that yes, there is a break in his fibula by the lateral malleolus. The Pony is not steady on crutches, and will not even put the left ankle down to balance himself.
"Oh, come on! You're not putting full weight on it, yet for three hours you were WALKING on it at the post office and in Urgent Care!"
"Well, you do have a point there..."
A fellow CCA broke her ankle the week before The Pony. She has TWO breaks in it, and is now in a cast, out six weeks. It was on a different route, about three miles from where The Pony was delivering. Her LLV was parked at the top of the steps she had to go down to a house. So she climbed the steps on her broken ankle, but didn't have to walk far to her LLV.
My theory is that this office is working those CCAs like dogs. Not malevolently. They are so short-handed. Six days a week, 10-11 hours a day. Sure, they are compensated with overtime and double-time, but they don't have time for their body to recover. Some days The Pony has 9-11 mile routes. With both of them, their broken ankle happened near the end of the day. I think their legs get tired-out and heavy. But what do I know? I am not a consultant for workplace injury.
Here are some pictures taken by The Pony. A misshapen ankle, and some bloody scrapes. If you're squeamish, you might not want to look.
Waiting at Urgent Care, with the cold pack in his sock.
Elbow wrapped by the nurse practitioner Good Samaritan on his route, and knee bandaid.
Knee scrapes, a glimpse of ankle.
The elbow, missing a chunk that is on a nurse practitioner's sidewalk.
The star of the show, the broken ankle.
All wrapped up, with 20 miles to go. To drive himself home.
Now it's hurry up and wait for the orthopedic appointment, and then six weeks to heal.
It's a good thing he's a young man. He can take the pain better than we older folk. And he'll probably heal faster and better, too. Good luck, Pony.
ReplyDeleteI will pass your good luck wishes on to The Pony. He seems to be handling the pain rather well. Only taking the ibuprofen once a day. To help the inflammation, he says, not because it's so painful.
DeleteI told him if it happened to me, I would be lying in a bed for six weeks. Or maybe longer, like Grandpa Joe, in the Willy Wonka movie, for 30 years.
Poor guy. He'll heal and recover.
ReplyDeleteYeah. But time goes so slow when you're in a holding pattern, not raking in those big bucks.
DeleteI feel for him, I have broken my foot four times, just walking along and the ankle turns and I hear the crunch and just know. It pulled a tendon and broke a chunk of bone in my foot. Now I have a bony bit that sticks up, making it hard to find shoes to fit and it aches when the weather changes. I have the braces and the crutches and ace bandages at the ready!
ReplyDeleteToo bad there's no money in it, or you would make a great professional foot-breaker!
DeleteI hope the orthopedic appointment hurries up so there is not too much waiting. The scrapes aren't pretty, but don't look too bad. I think the whole world is understaffed, as more managers and bean-counters try to keep more and more profits for their over-stuffed wallets. I'm imagining them all buying giant vaults to toss their money into, like Scrooge McDuck.
ReplyDeleteOf course he was at Urgent Care for the ankle, not the scrapes. But he couldn't just bleed freely all over everything. I suspect that maybe he was sending those pictures to a couple of his besties, and getting a healthy dose of sympathy.
DeleteI can imagine the managers sitting in their giant vaults, letting their riches trickle through their fingers.
Last summer when I broke my ankle I went to urgent care where they put me in a cast. I was forunate to get into the orthopedist same day who yelled to his nurse, "Cut that cast off her leg! This break is below the abkle and does not require surgery or a cast, just a boot." It was no fun hobbling for six weeks. Hope your boy heals fast. He was lucky to have the women fawning over him. :)
ReplyDeleteHe was indeed lucky that those women stopped to help! Still no appointment for the orthopod. Hoping to hear on Tuesday, which is what they told him when he left. It will be partially healed by then! It's definitely no fun for ME when he's hobbling!
DeleteGood thing he's not a real pony!
ReplyDeleteI have heard from other postal workers that workers are not always treated nicely. Long days and miles of walking is rough.
Yes! He would not be kicked back in Hick's recliner, healing. He might be taking a dirt nap...
DeleteOne good thing (or bad thing?) about this office is that the shop steward seems to be very active. Their union ain't no joke. Although he's still in the probationary period, The Pony has rules per his contract with which me must abide. I would think that there are also rules which must be abidden FOR him, as well.
Did he scrape both elbows? Because I see pics of bandaged left elbows, but the bare one being held up looks like a right elbow.
ReplyDeleteThat is so weird! I guarantee that The Pony only injured his LEFT elbow. I have changed the bandage three times, always the left. That's the hole in the skin on his LEFT elbow. I guess somehow he got the picture flipped. I'll have to ask him how that's done.
DeleteHe changed his own bandages today, including the elbow, which is the hardest because he can't see it.
The nurse practitioner lady who helped him put the blue wrap on The Pony's elbow, and Urgent Care put the beige wrap on it. The LEFT elbow. I agree that the picture makes it look like the right. Unless there was a mirror at Urgent Care that he used for the picture, I can't explain it. Didn't even notice.