OUCH! OUCH! OUCH!
Extreme Gardening &
Wisteria's Revenge
Winter is quite lovely in its own way. But when the sun starts to have a little more warmth, and there are signs of new life beginning in the garden, I really get excited. I start to crave digging, pruning, planting... and just being out in the garden again.
So a few weekends ago, while hubby was doing the grocery shopping (yes, he does it all and loves it) I snuck out in my supremely daggy clothes and began having a bit of a fun time replanting, weeding etc. It felt great. Miss 9 was there for awhile too, chattering on till she lost interest. The sun was lovely, a little warm but not hot. Little birdies were tweeting and chittering. All was right in the world.
We are lucky enough a have wild and woolly wisteria, about 100 years old, gnarly and beautiful. It grows over a frame and pergola that hubby and my father-in-law built for me, and this area is the porthole from my smaller enclosed secret garden to the large open backyard. It is a glorious thing when in flower, and the purple flowers smell divine!I really love it. But you need to keep the whippy bits from growing across the walkway, and footpath, or getting too low. So on this lovely Sunday, I was doing just that.
I had pruned and trimmed, and stepped back to pull out of the twisted growth the whippy bits. And I heard a large SNAP. And felt something weird in my knee. And a shockwave of pain. And then nothing.
I woke up sometime later. Head in the jonquils. Inches from a large rock. And my big lug of a dog dog licking my face. I tried to call out, feebly I suppose. And eventually my hubby, back from the shops by now, heard me.
Upon seeing me lying there all akimbo and discombobulated, he thought I had been having a cardiac arrest, and his first words were more scolding than anything else. Rebuked for gardening without him, and not waiting. Such empathy. Shamed and shocked, I tried to stand up, said I would get to the car myself, no need for an ambulance. Really. Silly me.
And another loud ripping snapping noise. And me almost passing out again. OH MY GAWD.
So what does this all mean? It means that after hospital, MRI's, physio visits, Doctor visits, surgeon visits, it seems I have a ruptured ACL, and an acute oblique meniscal tear, acute suffusion and a large haematoma. It seems I need a knee reconstruction. It seems that the trip to New Zealand we were planning in 3 weeks is no more. No flying. And no driving for a month either. And no more extreme gardening. So sad. And unable to get to my studio which has stairs.
But... On the plus side... I slept a for hours. AND I got to watch A LOT of the Olympics while immobile on the sofa. So If you need any trivia or information at all on week number 2 of the 2016 Rio Olympics, I am most definitely your woman. Oh the irony!
