Start of a bad day!

As you can see I am in plaster. The day didn't start of well. In fact I had had a bad night because of an insect bite on my foot that wouldn't stop itching. I got up at 6am having giving up any idea of more sleep. After taking the dogs out I stripped the roof of all furniture ( planks poles etc) and washed down the roof as well as the cabin sides. By now Ian had got up and to get out of my way because of my bad mood, took the dogs for another walk .
 Eventually we set of by 9.30am and after doing two locks, arrived at Penton Hook lock. There must have been at least 5 large cruisers and one other narrow boat waiting to go in so we felt we had no chance in joining them. We were wrong. The lock keeper beckoned FS and Icing to join the another narrowboat.  The lock filled and soon the top gates opened. All the cruisers went out,  the narrowboat on the far side next, followed by Dennis on 'Icing' and as I stepped backward off our boat to hold the rope, I tripped over the bollard and fell heavily bringing my right arm down onto the bollard. As soon as I saw my wrist I knew it was broken. If you can imagine a swans neck that was what my wrist looked like. I was mortified as I knew our cruising was over for a while. The lock keeper was brilliant. He phoned for an ambulance and stayed with me till it arrived. In the meantime Ian who had rushed to my side, left the boat in the lock. This meant we were holding up the lock operation, so he jumped back onto FS and took it out to a mooring just beyond the lock landing. By the time he got back to me and had given our boat keys to Dennis and Margaret to let the dogs out, the ambulance had arrived. The paramedics were brilliant but the equipment in the ambulance left a lot to be desired. First they couldn't take my blood pressure because the cuff was leaking and then they found out the vacuum splint had gone missing and they had to radio for another ambulance to drop them one off. Eventually we arrived at the hospital. After being xrayed I was told the wrist was broken (I could have told them that!) and the consultant would have to pull my hand and arm to realign the bones. Oh no! I watch too many hospital programs so I knew what was coming next. First the local anaesthetic went into the wrist, then the mask appeared with gas and air which I gratefully breathed in as they manipulated the bones back in place.  Was there any pain?  I was in a surreal place and to high to really care!! The plaster went on next and finally another xray confirmed that the bones were back in place. Thank goodness the ordeal was over and we could go back to the boat. I now have an appointment to go back to the fracture clinic in a week and will probably be in plaster until September.

Icing and Free spirit moored by the dreaded lock.