I retired January 31. This was perhaps two years earlier than I might have planned, but my company was downsizing and offered a nice buyout. In the end, almost 900 of us took it. My pension was no longer going up that fast, so it made financial sense, and as more people left (I left at the very end of the eligibility period) the workload became increasingly hard to handle. I left behind some great coworkers who I'll miss having the daily contact with.
We went downhill skiing the next week, and had a glorious two days - it was really cold, and we had the slopes almost to ourselves. At the end of the 2nd day, on my last planned run, I fell and couldn't get up. It turned out I'd broken my right femur up pretty close to the hip.
The ski patrol folks hauled me to the lodge on a sled pulled by a snowmobile, and I was transferred by ambulance to a small town with an excellent hospital 18 km away. The staff there did the X-rays, confirmed the break, and I spent the night there. I was transferred here to Winnipeg the next day, about a 400 km ambulance ride. The staff at the hospital here, which specializes in such things, operated that evening, inserting a metal pin and a transverse screw. All staff were, again, outstanding.
I was up on my feet with a walker the next day, and home the evening after that, three days after the accident and two days after surgery.
Four weeks into this, the walker has given way to crutches, and I can hobble about the house without crutches. I've been mall-walking most mornings, and am definitely improving fast.
This is just a bump in the road - I expect to make a full recovery, and have caught up on my reading. I am antsy to be using my new-found freedom to do a bunch of house renovations and car maintenance, and of course to get back the bike.
We went downhill skiing the next week, and had a glorious two days - it was really cold, and we had the slopes almost to ourselves. At the end of the 2nd day, on my last planned run, I fell and couldn't get up. It turned out I'd broken my right femur up pretty close to the hip.
The ski patrol folks hauled me to the lodge on a sled pulled by a snowmobile, and I was transferred by ambulance to a small town with an excellent hospital 18 km away. The staff there did the X-rays, confirmed the break, and I spent the night there. I was transferred here to Winnipeg the next day, about a 400 km ambulance ride. The staff at the hospital here, which specializes in such things, operated that evening, inserting a metal pin and a transverse screw. All staff were, again, outstanding.
I was up on my feet with a walker the next day, and home the evening after that, three days after the accident and two days after surgery.
Four weeks into this, the walker has given way to crutches, and I can hobble about the house without crutches. I've been mall-walking most mornings, and am definitely improving fast.
This is just a bump in the road - I expect to make a full recovery, and have caught up on my reading. I am antsy to be using my new-found freedom to do a bunch of house renovations and car maintenance, and of course to get back the bike.
