When The Best Laid Plans Go Awry

On Thursday my co-worker and friend Jenny and I were heading off very early in the morning to catch a train to the city for an all-day seminar. We had carefully planned out all the arrangements for the day and were looking forward to learning more about Autism, as we have an autistic student in our 4 year old kinder group. Jenny had arrived at my house so we could travel to the station together. On the way to my car, she fell down the front step, landing awkwardly and painfully, in the dark. I had just turned off the front light, on my way out the door. An automatic action, I instantly regretted. Poor Jenny lay in agony holding her ankle, crying in pain. I called an ambulance and then applied my first aid knowledge, making her as comfortable as possible, reassuring her and supporting her ankle. I applied a cool cloth to try and slow the swelling that was already apparent. She had also hit her head on the brick wall, but remained conscious and had no apparent signs of bleeding. The ambulance arrived fairly quickly, thankfully and the ambos gave her pain relief, applied a splint and got her into the ambulance, all by  torch light.  At the hospital it was discovered through X-ray that her ankle was indeed broken and that she would require surgery to insert a plate to stabilise the ankle. She had  broken the same ankle 18 years prior. Everything went well, and she was able to go home on Friday, with a half cast and a pair of crutches. Unfortunately, she will be unable to work for at least 6 weeks, so I have agreed to take on her 3 year Old group at kinder until she is well again. It is so frustrating that something can so easily happen to throw all your plans into chaos, and disrupt your life in so many ways. If only........is so easy to say, but so fraught with guilt and regrets.

I spied this on facebook (can't remember where!) and decided it was worth sharing under the cirumstances. A good reminder that terrible things do happen, but better things are waiting.