I suppose you’re wondering what zebras have to do with a broken arm. Read on and find out.
Back in November 2020, I fell over and broke my arm. It happened so quickly. One moment I was standing, giving the mower a final push and congratulating myself on a job well done, the next, I was down on the ground, wondering how I got there. I have no recollection of the accident.
When the doctors asked, “Do you remember putting your arm out?”
“Well, no, it happened so fast.”
They looked quizzically at me and all I could say was, “I stepped backwards, and the next moment I was on the ground.”
Unfortunately, it was a bad break and I needed surgery. Apparently, surgery aids healing, so I didn’t mind having surgery. Yes, it healed quickly. Eight weeks after surgery, I am out of my splint, continuing with my physio and back to writing.
So what have I learned during the past eight weeks?
The ambulance comes quickly and the paramedics are kind, gentle and really care about you, and want to do what is best for you without you having to suffer too much pain.
The public hospital system in Australia is good. Again, the workers are kind, gentle and really care about you, and want to do what is best for you without you having to suffer too much pain.
I can tolerate a lot of pain. I was given an epidural in the upper arm prior to surgery for my arm. This enabled me to have less general anesthetic, which means I woke up from the surgery quicker than I usually do and there was no vomiting after the anesthetic. Unfortunately, I had no control over my arm because I couldn’t feel it, but when the anesthetic wore off my arm, the pain was bearable. This was a huge plus. Would I do that again? Yes, definitely!
The body is amazing at healing itself. All it needs is rest and time and patience from me.
We have compassionate friends, family and neighbors to help us. I have no family where I live, however, my loving sister came down from Brisbane to help take me to my appointments and other shopping when I was stuck. Much love to dear Tricia. My friends and neighbors stepped up, ensuring I had enough food, they cleaned my house, hung my washing, took me to the doctors for my appointments, and my out of town friends who live in the country, invited me out to their place for a few days for a change of scenery. I am grateful for all these kind folk. I could not have healed so quickly without them.
For work, I could only type with one hand, which was frustrating. I decided to put the recovery time to catch up on sleep and reading. This was very good for the healing.
When I wasn’t tired, I wrote by typing with one hand. It was slow and laborious, so I decided to use the dictation app in Word. If I dictated quickly, the program didn’t understand me and all kinds of interesting words were typed. However, when I slowed my speech, it worked well. Again, the slower pace frustrated me, so I decided the universe was telling me to rest. I got the message.
The biggest lesson I learned though, was to slow down. I can be so energetic that I go too fast and want to get things done in a hurry. This is not good for me as I am getting older.
I have now learned to slow down, there is time, and everything will be done in its own sweet time. The image above is a peaceful setting. The zebras are grazing, seemingly without a care in the world. Being a zebra has many benefits, so I’m slowing down and enjoying the good life, just like them.