Mark has been in Appleton doing a training for veterans for the last couple days, and he took the truck with him.  He’s been staying in a Motel 6, but he’ll be home tonight.  When he walks in the door, he’ll be in for a big surprise!

On my job, I do a morning walk-through on the women’s bathrooms at 8:00, a thorough cleaning from noon to 4:00, and an evening walk-through at 8:00.  I get from place to place on my bicycle.  Around the campground we don’t wear helmets.

I went into the office to check out for the day around 8:30 last night.  It was already dark as I turned my little headlight on and headed home.  My headlight doesn’t shine very far in front of me and as I was coming down a steep hill, I suddenly realized there was a tree in my path if I didn’t swerve to avoid it.  I swerved, but we’ve had a lot of rain lately and the gravel under me was slick.  My bike fell to the right and I found myself face down in the driveway.  I picked myself up and tried to pick up the things I’d been carrying in my basket.  I wasn’t sure if I was crying or there was something dripping down my face.

When I got home the first thing I did was look in the bathroom mirror.  My face was covered with blood and dirt.  My arm was hurting so I took my jacket off and discovered I had a goose egg forming near my right elbow.  As badly as it hurt, I wasn’t sure if I had broken it or not.  I tried calling Kathy but got her voice mail, so I went next door to Joe and Kari’s RV.  I was badly shaken and trying not to cry when they answered the door.  They got a good look at me and Joe offered to go up and get Tim to take me to the ER.  (Joe’s car wasn’t working.)  Kari and I walked up the hill more slowly.  She had a flashlight and I showed her where I’d fallen and said I thought there was something else I might have lost.  Sure enough, we found my work keys on the ground.

By the time we got up near the office, Tim was on his way down from his house with his truck keys in hand.  He helped me get into his truck, and in the light of his dome light he saw what I looked like.  He went and got some towels and an ice pack for my arm.  Kathy came with a wet washcloth for my face.  They had to help me buckle my seat belt.

Our nearest emergency room is in Sturgeon Bay, a forty-five minute drive from our campground.  Tim made it there in about thirty-three minutes!  Someone brought a wheelchair out for me and wheeled me in to the reception desk.  The receptionist asked me what she could do for me.  I almost broke out laughing.  As she was checking me in, Tim took a picture of me:

It was pretty obvious what the receptionist could do for me.  It was written all over my face!

There was no one else in the waiting room, so they took me right into a room.  I asked Tim to come in with me.  Over a series of hours they x-rayed my arm, numbed me so they could try to get all the dirt and gravel out of my face and hand, and gave me some pain killers.  They also gave me a tetanus shot.  Tim got a picture of the nurses trying to flush out the cut on my nose:

The nurses were very kind to me. They kept apologizing whenever they did something that hurt.

Finally the results of the x-ray came back showing that I hadn’t broken my arm.  It’s just a very bad bruise.  Thank God!  They wrapped it to try to keep the swelling down.

By the time Tim brought me home it was after 3:00 AM.  He told me not to bother coming in to work today.  Poor Tim was beat and he’s doing my job today.  I am exceedingly grateful to him for all his help!

This morning I used my web cam to take a couple picture of what I look like all cleaned up:

My glasses are also badly scratched and will need replacing.

I took a side shot to show what looks like a bad overbite but is really a very fat lip!

Mark will be home this evening.  I opted not to call him about the accident so that he could concentrate on the training he’s at, so it will be interesting to see what his reaction is the first time he sees me!

In the meantime this morning one of my co-workers, Deb, came over and said if I needed anything I should let her know.  Joe and Kari came over and said they were going to be out running errands and asked if there was anything I needed.  After they left I realized I didn’t have any Tylenol, which the doctor had prescribed I take along with Ibuprofen to keep the pain at bay.  I called up to the office to see if they sell Tylenol but Rosanne, who answered, said she’d have her husband bring down some extra strength Tylenol she’d gotten after her surgery.

This is another reason why I love working here.  This experience has been so different from when Mark had to go to the ER in Florida and was out for a couple days.  There I didn’t have anyone I could call for help and no one came by to see if we needed anything.  The folks here are like family.  If I can’t be with my own family, at least my family can rest assured that I’m being well taken care of.  Thank You, Lord, for such wonderful bosses and friends!