It's kind of odd how fast things can change in your life. One Saturday morning in mid-December a few years ago I was in a hurry. It was 11:30 in the morning, and I absolutely had to get three errands done before the bank and some other places closed at noon. I rushed down the stairs, with my mind on where I needed to be. I'm not exactly sure what happened next. I have a vague recollection of going off balance, starting to grab the rail and deciding not to because my daughter had spent so much time decorating it for Christmas. My next coherent thought found me on my back at the bottom of the stair with a lot of pain in the knee I hadn't messed up years earlier playing basketball. Somehow in the intervening time I managed to cave in the side of one of those old all-metal humidifiers. I still have no idea how.
It turns out that I really should have grabbed the rail, decorations or no decorations, because the fall tore my patellar tendon (the big thing that goes over your kneecap and holds your upper and lower legs together) in half. As a result I was stranded in the downstairs living room for three months as the tendon healed. I couldn't drive. I couldn't get out of the house without help and a truly heroic effort. I left the house four times in around three months for doctor appointments. Other than that, my world consisted of a couch in the lving room, a hallway, and a bathroom.
All of my books were upstairs or in the basement. My wife didn't want to clutter up the living room, so she would bring me down maybe one or two books of her choice in the morning before she went to work. I read extemely quickly so I was either bored with or finished with the books within a couple of hours. I had a laptop, but no Internet except before 8 am or after 10 pm, so the other entertainment option was TV.
I got to the point where I found myself looking forward to the James Bond marathon on Spike or the four hours of Buffy the Vampire slayer reruns per day on FX. The James Bond watching was pathetic, but I discovered that in spite of the silly name the Buffy episodes were surprisingly well-written, with dark humor, and some complex and well-thought-out season-long story arcs. Charmed, on the other hand, struck me as just plain silly.
The upside of my stranding was that I did discover several sources for e-books. Baen books has an excellent selection of freely downloadable science fiction novels, and I expanded my favorite authors list by downloading them overnight and reading them on the laptop during the day. I also managed to write about two-thirds of a novel called Mars Looks Different in the three months. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get much more writing done on it since.
I lost about 25 pounds during the three months because I couldn't snack on junk food of get anywhere to buy fast food. Unfortunately, I gained it all back within a few months, once I resumed my normal eating habits.
I recovered pretty much completely, but I ended up with much more empathy toward people who have to put with that kind of routine for the rest of their lives. Frankly, three months of being a shut-in nearly drove me nuts.
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Comments: 7
Mostly though, thank god for the internet, audio books (available for immediate download), and companies that rent out hospital beds by the month. It's a heck of a lot easier to get someone out of a hospital bed, which raises and lowers with a push of the button. Thank god for friends, who come to entertain the shut-in. Thank god for cell phones. We used them if he needed help, and I was in another part of the house. Thank god for the cleaning service, with which he surprised me, so I didn't have to both care for him AND clean house for the visiting friends. Thank god for pizza delivery and the lawn cutting service.
The greatest asset, though, is a sense of humor, for both caretaker and patient. If you can get naked in a kitchen chair, then make a 'bath' out of a bowl of soapy water, and still laugh, you'll be okay. If you can smile at the person who just inexpertly changed your pressure sticking, you're a hero. If you can accept ribbons and pinwheels decorating your walker, you're going to survive just fine.
Thanks for the article Dale!