It was going to be quite a busy day, but we had no idea how much busier it was going to be. In the morning, Maureen had an early appointment in Hudon to have a new cap at the dentist. I had all the plants out of the greenhouse ready to deliver to the Red House in Acton for the plant sale. I drove the truck to Home Depot in Waltham to pick 20 bags of stone and a new downspout. After lunch I started weeding the hellstrip; every 15 minutes or so, dashing down to the basement to get the lettuce bowls soaked. On the last trip down I tripped on the bottom two steps and found I could not stand!

Excruciating pain in lower right leg where I’ve been having pain for the past few weeks. Crawled over to the stairs and up to the garage where I called for Maureen. Slid into the back seat of the Mazda and off to Emerson emergency. Admitted, and eventually saw the on-call doctor, who ordered X-rays. As soon as I saw the pictures I said to the X-ray tech “Fractured!” In the report later it reads “there is an oblique non-displaced slightly elongated angulated fracture of the mid to distal shaft of the right tibia.” The tech nodded and said “I’m not supposed to tell you, but yes.” I took a picture. The fracture shows up clearly.

Subsequently I was seen by a nurse who put a cast on my leg. They tried out crutches, but I settled for a walker. The fall was about 4:00 PM and we were back home by a bit after 8:00 PM, just a few minutes too late to pick up oxycodone from CVS – but fortunately we had a stash at home.

It was a bit of a hassle figuring out how to get in the house, but I was able to crawl out of the car into the kitchen and lift myself up on a walker (that we had from my hip surgery). I spent the night on the couch – quite a bit of pain. I slept every now and then. Fitbit said I slept 3 hours 24 minutes, awake 3 hours 37 minutes, 0 deep, 7 minutes REM.