Gutter cleaning

On 26Jan2017 while playing fetch with our new Belgian Malinois, Zeus, I launched the ball on the roof of our porch which lodged itself on one of the skylights. Being me, I figured why not get the ball and perform some gutter and leaf removal on the roof since I am up there. Make sense right?

That was a bad decision, among others.  After dislodging the ball I hauled up the cordless leaf blower to blow off the accumulated mess of pine needles and leaves from past storms.

With leaf removal somewhat complete I went on the front gutter by our front door. Its at a 90 degree angle and was completely clogged. After about 5 minutes of removing debris I began to slip and tumbled off the roof and landed on the grass right next to the front flag pole.

It was a slow motion event where everything slowed down and I realized I was in deep do-do. For some reason the training i received during my short three weeks and 5 jumps at Army airborne school kicked in and I tried to break my fall as trained 15 years ago.  I had to break my my fall to protect my head and back by.

I landed almost square on my my feet with my right leg taking the brunt of the impact. I did manage to save all the important parts and didnt have a single injury anywhere but my lower legs.

As I lay there my initial thought wasn't about my leg or the fact I could see the bone,,it was that I would now add undue stress to the family. 

My right leg sustained an open ankle fracture and comminuted fibula fracture(shattered into 8 pieces) while my left  foot sustained a bad bruise on the heal. With the right ankle out and bleeding I realized 911was in the future.

I  low crawled through the front door to get to the phone to call 911.  While in the house i continued crawling to let Zeus inside and in his crate so he wouldnt interfere with the first responders.   Zeus being the intelligent dog he is realized something was wrong and gratefully went into his crate when ordered to do so. I then called 911, crawled back out side so they would see me and did some self first aid.

An ER visit that day and had surgery on 3Feb2017. After initial pain I am experiencing very little to no pain and have a knee scooter get around. I am able to cook, perform some basic cleaning chores and play with the dog outside. I keep the leg elevated as much as possible and stretch a few times a day in addition to light upper body workouts with kettle bells to help with cardio and upper body strength.