Readers of the blog know hubby has cerebral palsy. He's not wheelchair bound, but he does walk with a limp. Most people assume he's had a stroke. He's slow moving but tries to go for a walk each day to keep things moving. He's had a good summer, and has even felt confident enough to venture around the block a time or two by himself. He hasn't had a fall in quite some time.
But that changed today. He made it through the Boise Airport and the Seattle Airport (and even down to 13 Coins). He made it through the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. Yet at our last flight of the trip - on the way to baggage claim - is where things went awry.
Hubby fell and hit the floor. Hard. And it wasn't a carpeted floor, either. Hard linoleum with (I'm guessing) concrete underneath. When most people begin to fall they reach out to catch themselves or at least try and minimize the impact. But hubby has no use of his right side. There's no catching unless he's falling on his left side. Which he didn't.
Broken glasses. Jammed right thumb and swollen right elbow. Swollen left knee with a raspberry to boot. And the worst of all - a big nasty goose egg of a knot just above his right eyebrow. He's battered and bruised.
So our Ft. Lauderdale Adventure day turned into an un-adventure day. Instead, we checked into the hotel early, are icing body parts, popping some meds, and just taking it easy. I'm guessing we'll be ordering in tonight as he's in no shape to go anywhere.
It's times like these we know how lucky we are. We are so thankful we have this life. And we are thankful:
- for the kind people around who always pitch in and help me get him up off the floor. It's a two person job as hubby can't help himself at all.
- he was wearing long pants. Last time he fell while traveling he had on shorts and really tore up his leg. Took months and months to heal.
- he had brought a second pair of glasses.
- I had packed some Tylenol PM in my medicine stash.
- our room was ready for an early check-in.
- I had packed plenty of Ziploc bags which are coming in handy for icing.
- things weren't worse. While he is pretty banged up, we know from experience how bad it could have been.
And we are ever-so-thankful each time we take a trip. We know each and every time it could be our last. We will keep a-goin' as long as the bodies and minds will allow us.
So if you see some guy limping on a cruise ship in the next few weeks that looks like he was in the latest Rocky sequel, it'll probably be hubby.
If you're interested, here's what our original plan was for today in Ft. Lauderdale. We had done it before and were planning on doing it again today:
*Stay at the Hilton Marina. Close by the cruise terminal and the Sun Trolley.
*Take the Sun Trolley to Ft. Lauderdale Beach.
