Defeated by a bowl of salad...

[fajrdrako]

So frustrating.

A few hours ago I was trying to get something in the kitchen - always a challenge - and my crutch fell over and hit a bowl of salad on the counter, which landed on the floor and broke. I was able to pick up some of the bigger pieces of bowl (because I could reach them) but I can't do anything about the salad. I can't even think of any good ideas. A vacuum cleaner won't work on it even if I could move the vacuum. I can't pick it up with hands or tongs or paper towel because I can't reach it. I can't use mop or broom or dustpan because I can't use two hands. I can't think of anything to do except wait till someone with more limbs or dexterity than I currently have comes by, and then beg them to do it.

Meanwhile the salad sits on the floor, looking depressing.

I shouldn't let it get to me but I hate this helplessness.

Comments

[jwaneeta.livejournal.com]

:(

That sucks. I won't suggest you do what I did when I had the two broken ribs and couldn't bend, which was to sit down and clean/pick up things, then shriek for the ten minutes it took me to get upright again. Do not do that, because it was stupid and risky.

Leave the lettuce. Distract from the lettuce. Soon, I vow, you will be fit again and this stage of helplessness will just be a fading, deeply effing annoying memory. Pinky swear.

*pets*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

which was to sit down and clean/pick up things, then shriek for the ten minutes it took me to get upright again. Do not do that, because it was stupid and risky.

All together now: OUUUUCH!!!

My ribs are okay, but if I lean over too much with the crutches, I risk landing on the floor with a broken nose. If I sit on the floor, I can't get up again, having only one foot that can take any weight. I want to learn to fly, or levitate, or even just float. Is that too much to ask?

Distract from the lettuce.

I know - another episode of Buffy. Or a Torchwood fic! Yes, just the thing.

I vow, you will be fit again and this stage of helplessness will just be a fading, deeply effing annoying memory. Pinky swear.

Thank you so much for saying that.

[justblue0162.livejournal.com]

do you have a chair on wheels you could push into the kitchen, sit in and then bend down?

poor salad :(

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Sadly, my kitchen is too tiny to fit anything like a chair into it. When I use my walker, I have to go in sideways.

I might be able to edge a little stool into the room, though. If I can think of a way to push or drag the stool.

[gillo]

Ouch. That's a bugger of a thing to happen. If you get really bothered by it I suppose you could sit on the floor to scoop it all up into a bag or something. Inelegant but workable.

Better to wait for a

minion

friend, I think.

[abrakadabrah.livejournal.com]

Heh, I was going to say the same thing. But I guess rising afterwards would be the difficult thing then!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

If you get really bothered by it I suppose you could sit on the floor to scoop it all up into a bag or something.

I can't sit on the floor because if I do, I've no way to get up. I got caught that way yesterday. I was determined to clean out the bird cage, and managed to do it by kneeling on the floor - I can actually kneel in the new air cast, which I couldn't do with the original hard casts. This was great.

Then I realized that once kneeling, I couldn't get up. You can't just hop on one foot from a kneeling position to standing. Not without levitation.

Took me a while to figure out what to do. I eventually walked on my knees over to an obliging chair where I could hitch my hip up and pushing myself onto the seat. Then I could reach for my crutches.

Undignified, yes, but no one was watching except the budgies.

I might be able to use a little stool I have, though, if I can find a way to get the stool to the kitchen....

[ceindreadh.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. I'm sorry, but just the image presented by your subject title had me envisaging a salad bowl dancing around your helpless form on the floor (I think I read too much Torchwood crack!fic)

I do sympathize with you. I spent a month on crutches several years ago when I was in college and had to rely on my housemates to help me do a lot of basic household stuff. (was able to cook, but had to get somebody to carry my plate to the table, stuff like that)
The most annoying thing was having to go up the stairs backwards.

((hugs)) Just remember that it will get better.

As for the salad, throw a paper towel over it so you don't have to look at it and wait for help.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

the image presented by your subject title had me envisaging a salad bowl dancing around your helpless form on the floor

LOL!

I think I read too much Torchwood crack!fic

Impossible.

The most annoying thing was having to go up the stairs backwards.

Thank goodness - no stairs in my apartment!

remember that it will get better.

Yes. It will. Thank you for saying that.

And yes, salad on my floor isn't the end of the world.

I'll put the paper towel over it now.

[raissad.livejournal.com]

I can't use mop or broom or dustpan because I can't use two hands.

I've never broken any bones, but I have Cerebral Palsy, and I've had four CP-related surgeries, involving body or leg casts, over the years. Immobilization sucks! After one of the surgeries involving a body cast, I used a scooter, a skateboard with padding, to get around. Is something like that feasible in your situation? I'm envisioning you on the board with the dustpan in your free hand. You wheel and scoot the salad along with with the dustpan. Wheel and scoot until you get the salad to where you keep the trash can. Tip the trash can over, scoot the salad into it, and tip the trash can back up.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Immobilization sucks!

Ain't that the truth! I'm sorry you know the subject so well. I want to curse all physical objects for being so difficult to weild, or hard to reach. But it's not their fault.

I used a scooter, a skateboard with padding, to get around.

Woo - that sounds handy!

I'm envisioning you on the board with the dustpan in your free hand.

Now I'm picturing the Silver Surfer gliding in to save my kitchen floor! I like the image.

You wheel and scoot the salad along with with the dustpan.

You know, I might be able to do something like that by hanging on to the walker. Which usually doesn't work very well in the kitchen because it only fits in sideways, but the spill is near the door. Hmm...

[meret.livejournal.com]

Are you familiar with this type of gizmo? They're great when you can't reach something.
http://www.youreableshop.co.uk/product/handy-reacher-or-litter-picker-26-RE1020.html

*hugs*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes = walkingowl sent me a gizmo like that. Maybe I could use it while hanging onto the crutches... might give it a try. But it's tiny little pieces of messy salad!

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

*hugs you*

I recommend eating chocolate. I find it cures most things, including feelings of helplessness, and it's more fun than salad anyway.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Chocolate! By gum, I think you've hit on the solution.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Borrow a bunny!

OK, not terribly helpful. Could you use one hand to sweep it along until you sweep it out the door?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Problem is, I can't reach the floor with my hand. I can only get to about ... maybe an inch from the floor. And even that's iffy and risking overbalancing. If I could get a stool of piece of furniture in there, to sit or lean on - but I can't move things without hands.

Still working on the problem.

If I could think of a bunny in the neighbourhood. There used to be one living in the bushes by the canal. C'mere, little bunny - !

*hugs*

[lunacy-gal.livejournal.com]

Do your budgies eat salad? You could let them out for a special treat, which you kindly scattered on the kitchen floor for them...

Re: *hugs*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

They'd love that! Problem is.... I'd never get them all back into the cage; they'd consider it budgie party day, and take over the apartment.

Come to think of it... that's not so much different from always. [g]

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Salad is evil. Lettuce is especially evil. I say this as someone who always has to dissect sandwiches and ask in restaurants, "Does it have a lettuce garnish?", to avoid having to spend a couple of hours in the bathroom. There's something in raw lettuce (I can eat lettuce soup without ill effects) that wrecks my digestion.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Ah-hah! I knew that lettuce looked suspicious. It's demon-lettuce and it probably broke my bowl on purpose. Thank goodness I didn't get to eat it - heaven knows what it might have done to me.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Mia kara, let this be the worst thing that happens to you not only today but for the next three weeks or so.

Sometimes, linear thinking is good. The extreme expression of linear thinking is possibly binary thinking: dualities, the either/or, one or the other thing. Is the light on? No. Do you want it on? Yes. Then turn it on. Next thought. Can I reach the light switch? No. [and so on with next thoughts] You know this, you may not have put it into mathematical pattern like this.

I dropped something. Did it cause a problem? Yes. A problem requiring urgent actions? As in, 911 or stopping the bleeding? No. Then, does it require immediate action? As in, stop the liquid from seeping under the kitchen floor tiles? No. Then, does it require quick action, such as, will the yogurt start to spoil and make a stinky mess before I can get someone to clean it up for me? No. Is it a slippling/tripping hazard? Probably, yes -- but not necessarily. Then, will it be more of a hazard if it isn't cleaned up right now? No. Then, I can wait till someone's available and has the good heart to help me out, and there certainly are such people within call... okay. So. Is it something that I should keep worrying about? Yes. Why? Because it is embarrassing to ask for help in this way. Good point. But... stuff happens.

Love you much. And I wish I oculd pick it up for you. Hang in there....

(Last night, as I was exhausted literally to the point of weeping when the cats took turns repeatedly startling me back from the very edge of sleep (that is a HORRIBLE, the little tiger somehow found a way to climb to the top shelf in my bedroom closet, where I keep all the things that are too dangerous for her to jump on, play with, climb over, and so on. Something fell. As I realized where she was and leapt up to get over there, she jumped down and took off... and a blue glass flower pot, full of dried out potting mixture, teetered on the edge of the top shelf and I caught it. Therefore, it did not fall and shatter. And the stone paperweight (left over from former tenant... put there to get it out of sight, should donate it to the thrift store) teetered right behind it. I was that close to shattered glass all over the bedroom floor and a small cat leaping down off the shelf in fright to land right in the middle of it. AND IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. "Nearly" truly does sometimes only count with horseshoes and hand grenades.]

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I posted this by a slip of the fingers. I meant it to say, "this is a HORRIBLE torture method, by the way" within the parenthetical aside.

Yes, I really am havning that bad a time of it here, right now. Feh. And the keyboard doesn't work very well. Let's get on with tomorrow.

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

Ouch. My sympathies ... and many *hugs*. It's such a ^pain^ to be unable to clean up after an accident like that.

Unfortunately, I'm still on training tomorrow, so I wouldn't be able to come over till Friday at the earliest. There's a possibility that I may have a job interview shortly. However, my roommate got both the caller's name and her call-back tel. # wrong. Sigh. I left a message on the person's answering machine (I *think* I have the right person) and will try ringing them again tomorrow.

In the meantime, try imagining the result of "Cry Havoc! and let loose the budgies ..." :-)

[In answer to the time question walkingowl asked: the clock she saw probably had "UTC" beside it (the modern, and French, way to say "GMT"). Remember that we are currently in EDT, so GMT/UTC is only four hours ahead of us.]

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It's such a ^pain^ to be unable to clean up after an accident like that.

Yes. I do so love neatness and order. But perhaps this is a hint that I should embrace my inner sense of chaos, and just go with the flow. Still. My impulse (if not compulsion) ever since breaking the ankle has been to become neater, cleaner, more Spartan, more sparse.

I wouldn't be able to come over till Friday at the earliest.

That's okay - and thanks for the thought! - I understand. Training is important. Go for it and do your best. The salad emergency has been handled (with deft use of a stool that I could poke along with the crutches) and some moral support from maaseru and everyone here.

On Friday, I am likely to be visiting maaseru a good part of the day, so I can see laitosto and meri_oddities while they are visiting Ottawa.

my roommate got both the caller's name and her call-back tel. # wrong. Sigh.

Oh no! I hope you can track them down without too much hassle.

[tudorpot.livejournal.com]

To bad you don't have my dog there, she would have eaten it up. Agree about the helplessness, had a bad problem a few years ago and was so frustrated. It will pass. hugs

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Too bad you don't have my dog there, she would have eaten it up.

Yes - I wish your dog could visit! Not just for the salad, but because I love dogs and want to meet everyone's. What's his or her name? (I think you might have told me before, but I forget.)

Love your trillium icon.

It will pass.

Thank you for saying that. Intellectually, I know that. Emotionally.... not so much, sometimes.

hugs

Hugs back! All moral support is precious.

[msilverstar]

I so completely understand the problem, what with broken legs and all. I did a fair amount of leaning against the wall on the injured side, with that leg held up so as not to accidentally step down, and using a broom or something with my other arm.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Aren't walls to lean on wonderful things? I don't think I've ever appreciated them so much!

[filkferengi]

Given how you've got this visceral empathy for Miles going on [being nearly immobilized, & all], it's obviously time to reread some Bujold.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

it's obviously time to reread some Bujold.

My goodness, yes. And I have A Civil Campaign sitting by my bedside for a reread just now. Haven't read it in ages.