So, when I saw today's  For Better or For Worse, I was reminded of my Mom.  We've faced a similar situation. 

On February 8, 2003 I drove out to the farm for a riding lesson.  That night was the Water for Life dinner, and I had some errands to run before heading out to Chapel Hill that afternoon.  I had been mostly riding bareback in my lessons, as Heather felt I needed to improve my seat.  Solie is an old man and has a cushy back, so I rather enjoyed riding him bareback.  That day was chilly but clear.  I was wearing my favorite UMass sweatshirt for warmth.  The lesson was going well, and we were working on using the reins less and more seat when getting him to whoa.  I was riding in the A-F-B direction, and as we came through the corner at M, Solie sped up.  In Castle Farm's ring, there is a slight downward slope in that direction, so this was not abnormal.

I tried to get him to slow down without using my hands and lost my balance.  I came off his left side, but remember at one point looking up at his neck and the sky.  I don't remember any pain when I landed, but something made me look down at my right leg.  It was bent above my boot.  (My boots come above my ankle.)  I said, "Heather, I broke my leg!"  She said, "Do you want me to call 911?"  I assured her that this was a good idea, and entered into that eldest daughter someone-else-is-freaking-out-so-I-must-be-calm-mode.

I had Heather get my purse out of my car, because I would need my insurance card.  She grabbed my phone and asked who she should call.  I couldn't think of anyone at first; my best Raleigh friend (at that time) was not home that weekend.  Then I remembered that TRgirl had recently moved to Richmond, so Heather called her.  (TRgirl answered her phone and almost hung up on Heather, because she thought at first it was a telemarketer.  Luckily, she realized my number had popped up on the Caller ID.)   Heather gave her directions, directions I knew would not get her to me, but I couldn't help. 

In the meantime, the ambulance had arrived.  Solie, much to my surprise, stood quietly while the ambulance raced up the lane, lights and sirens on.  The ambulance was followed by a fire truck.  The paramedics came out to me and introduced themselves.  One said, "It's nice to meet you."   I told him, "No offense, but I wish we weren't meeting."  He laughed.  I begged them not to cut my boot off, as they were rather expensive.   I was told they wouldn't cut it off if while they were taking it off I didn't scream.  I am certain they expected I would.  I didn't.  Those boots cost a lot.

They put me on a back board and loaded me into the ambulance.  TRgirl called Mom (I knew she would) and said, "I'm going to Raleigh.  Watergirl fell off a horse and hurt herself and she was crying."  She remembers hearing me cry over the phone, and that's when she knew it was serious. 

As they were working on me, I was aware that one of the younger students (I now know who she is) had arrived for her lesson and was watching all of this.  I was very worried about her, and kept asking Heather to tell her everything would be OK. 

They loaded me into the ambulance, and I was aware that some woman I did not know was going to follow me to the hospital and that Chris, Heather's husband, would meet me there.  The mystery woman was his mother, who had dropped by the farm unexpectedly (and fortuitously).  She would pick up Dylan so that Chris could stay with me. 

Before we left for the hospital, the head paramedic asked me if I needed morphine.  I told him I was OK.  He said, "Looking at your leg hurts me.  You're getting morphine."  He then asked which hospital I wanted to go to, and told me where he would want to go if it were him.  A good thing to do here is take the paramedic's advice. 

Off we went to WakeMed.  It was a long, bumpy ride.  They wheeled me into the ER and the hospital immediately took my insurance information.  I argued with the nurse about cutting off my sweatshirt, my argument being "I broke my leg."  However, since I was involved in a fall, I was strapped to a board and they wouldn't unstrap me until they did a C-series.  The nurse compromised and cut off only my sports bra- it was my riding bra with the underwires (still haven't replaced it). 

I was wheeled into X-ray, where I kept laughing at the tech because they X-rayed my ankle last.  I found that very funny.  I know I was in X-ray for a while, but I don't know how long.

When I was wheeled back into an exam room, Chris came in.  He said, "I had to tell them I'm your brother."  I remember telling him I would have to cancel my next lesson and hoped that I wouldn't be charged, in accordance with the cancellation policy.  He reassured me I wouldn't.  He held my hand (or rather, he let me crush his hand) while they set my leg.  They couldn't do surgery that day, because some guy in Holly Springs had shot his mother and them himself, so there wasn't an OR free. 

By that time TRgirl had arrived.   She made sure the hospital gave me pants (they had cut mine off), and she and Chris loaded me into the back of her Pathfinder (the same one Bud just crashed).  She drove me home, went grocery shopping, and protected me from the boys jumping on my leg (Seriously, that was all they wanted to do.  Very helpful.).  She had a soccer game the next morning, and Mom wouldn't be there then and didn't want me left alone.  So I called Cdub, who at that point was really more of a casual acquaintance than a good friend, and is still not a morning person, but she agreed to come over at 0700 the next day to stay with me. 

Mom came, there was surgery eventually, lots of PT, and I am back to almost perfect now (well, anklewise).  But the reason for this post is to say that although this seemed like a bad thing, it actually had some very good outcomes.  TRgirl got in the car to come help me without even knowing where she was going, just knowing that I needed her.  Mom dropped everything to come and stay with me for a few weeks.  Cdub took very good care of me when they all left, and has become an amazing friend.  I lost my job in one of our offices, but convinced another one to take me on.  I am much happier at work now.  And oddly enough, the work Heather and I had to do to get me riding again has made me a better rider.