How plans can change!

You see, my plan was to get a good night's sleep last night, then spend the day working as a Teaching Assistant with my lovely Year 2 class, before meeting up with The Boy (who was going to walk to our school to meet us after he finished early because of an open evening at his school) and taking him and The Tomboy to their reading group, then dashing back home to grab a quick bite to eat before attending my 3-hour class, and finally looking over my course notes before watching a bit of TV with The Doctor and then off to bed for an early night after just another normal busy day....

My plan did NOT include remembering, just after going to bed last night, that I needed to take a particular document into work with me, hopping out of bed to find it, then misjudging the last stair in the dark and landing with my foot at 90 degrees to my leg. *Owwww!!!*

My plan did NOT involve frightening and upsetting The Boy, who heard me cry out and was most concerned about me, bless him. Neither did it involve The Doctor having to dial 999 for an ambulance, or dragging my poor The Mother out of bed to come over and look after The Children while we went off to A&E. It certainly didn't involve spending 5 hours in hospital, having various checks, 5 x-rays, a second opinion from another doctor, and being sent home with crutches, strong painkillers, and strict instructions to rest with my foot up for a few days :(

I didn't exactly plan for those painkillers to make me feel nauseous, light-headed, dry-mouthed and otherwise quite peculiar, either - think I need to give my doctor a call, as I suspect I may have developed an allergy to Co-Codamol...

It doesn't look so bad in this photo - close up the bruising is rather more severe, and there's a lot of swelling (my ankles are normally very skinny!)

But oh, I'm so thankful that it isn't any worse - the doctors are pretty sure there's no break, though it is a nasty sprain; a broken ankle would have taken so much longer to heal, and affected our lives rather more, too! But it could have been worse still. I only missed the bottom step, so didn't have far to fall. I know of several cases where people have died after falling on stairs. Yes, I feel very thankful that I only have a bad sprain to worry about.

I'm also so thankful that The Boy did hear me, and that he came to check and me and fetched his dad. The Doctor was fast asleep and I might have been a bit stuck otherwise! My (not so) little hero :)

And I'm so thankful that The Mother lives nearby, and was able and so very willing to come over at once to help us out. She got some sleep on our sofa but I know she didn't exactly have a comfortable or restful night. She's also being great at helping us out with getting The Children where they need to be for the next few days. Thanks, Mum!

Last, but not least, I'm so thankful to the medical staff who cared for me last night. Special mention to Rachel and Kerry, the ambulance team, who were wonderful; to Sarah, the student nurse, for whom nursing and caring is clearly a vocation; and to the x-ray-er, whose name I didn't catch, but whose sympathetic and gentle manner helped me greatly while I had to manoeuvre my foot into various uncomfortable positions for the necessary x-rays.

Meanwhile, I may as well take advantage of this enforced rest to catch up with you, lovely blog friends! Every cloud has a silver lining..... xx