Day 249

After we opened those presents in posts previous, we headed back to Steph and Matt's. There was a hearty breakfast, family togetherness, and then Steph said good night (she works 3rd shift) and I said good nap. When I woke up, I had about three minutes before the badness.

Don came running in saying that Mom had slipped on some ice and fallen and was now saying she thought her leg was broken. Matt went out to try to help her into one of the trucks and get her back to the house, while I threw on a warmer shirt and a coat and went out to corral the dogs (I was pretty sure they weren't being helpful in this particular situation).

About an hour later, Mom was in the nearest hospital (which was 20 minutes away).



As you can see, we're all standing around waiting for the results of the x-rays. Mom was still pretty sure she'd broken something, probably her knee. Others thought she might have a very bad twist or have torn a tendon or something.

Nope. She splintered her femur into three pieces. Which, the doctor assured us, was a very NOT GOOD situation. All those pointy pieces near the femoral artery. Matt was talking about how on the battlefield this is the kind of injury you can die from when the muscles go into spasms and start moving the sharp bits around. Thanks, Matt. :) So we got her back in an ambulance and rushed her off to Des Moines for surgery and recuperation.

"Bye, Mom! See you tomorrow!"



And see her the next day we did.