the next day started off ordinary;but certainly didn't stay that way... breakfast was the usual scrambled eggs that id told them i wouldn't eat (they actually printed the "scrambled eggs,apple sauce" right above the bright red lettering saying "no eggs") ... ot was fine, although it didn't take me long to learn to hate the question "where's your hand?" although i hadn't yet gotten to the point where i was ready to snap back "right here, connected to my arm, even if i cant feel either of them...." pt also went well, id put the afo (ankle/foot orthotic for those of you lucky enough to not need one - basically a plastic brace designed to keep your weak foot, ankle and lower leg in the right position) - you're supposed to wear your afo inside your shoes; but my shoes weren't big enough for it to fit in, even with the insoles removed, so i just had the afo on with no shoe... did i mention that it had a curved bottom made of slippery plastic ?..... so, after pt, i was brought back to my room, my new roommate, sherry, had moved in while i was gone;but was asleep when i got back, since my orders on the bulletin board said i was supposed to be sitting up for another hour, franklin set me up at the end of the bed so i could use my laptop, which was on my table (have i mentioned i'm an online addict ?), he'd put my call button on the bed (on my weak side) in case i needed to get the nurses and went off to his next session... everything was fine until i was ready to get back into bed for lunch and to rest up for the afternoons therapies.... then three events occurred simultaneously... i reached to the left to try and push the call button moving my center of gravity to the left.... my afo clad left foot slipped off the footrest to the right adding to my bodies leftward momentum... as the chair started to tip to the left, i reached for the bed to try and right myself;but the brakes were off on the bed, so as i leaned left, my foot went right, propelling me farther left and the bed shot left pulling me farther rather than stopping me as i'd hoped... it was like a slow motion movie as the wheelchair, with me in it went down.... all i could think was "ok, now what do i do ?"... so there i am on the floor, with the call button on the bed that had travelled well out of my reach... the racket had woken my roommate who pushed her button;but we all know how lightning fast those get answered.... luckily a brain injury patient was walking by with helmet and aide in tow and glanced over and saw me, and got the aide to notice by stopping short and saying look, look.... next thing we hear this yelling in the corridor "patient on the floor, patient on the floor" in the space of a minute, every aide and nurse on the unit was in my room, and someone had run and gotten my ot and pt and a few extra therapists for good measure as well, plus paged my dr's, talk about embarrassing..... so, being uncomfortable in that position, i tried to roll over so i could sit up and got held down and told "don't move till the dr gets here", when she got there and i finally convinced her it was a slow controlled fall and i hadn't hit my head, they extricated the chair and then all stood there discussing the best way to get me up... finally settling on putting a blanket under me and a number of them all lifting me at once in a laying down position - as soon as i was back on the bed and reiterating that i was fine, they immediately started taking my vitals... lowest bp id had all day, i told the nurse, i was fine, it was the staffs bp that should be taken since they were the ones panicked.... of course the news passed quickly to the rest of the staff, and from shift to shift... "i heard you had quite the adventure", "what happened?", "i heard you're quite the acrobat", "you better not try that on my shift", "you sure you're ok?" and my favorite "no more somersaults allowed, girl" - despite being on coumadin, i didn't even get a single bruise from the experience, other than to my pride and dignity....

it was not my last fall between then and now;but it was the most creative and keystone cop like.... and a good way to make myself known by the staff id hadn't yet met