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A Horrible Broken Ankle Emergency Took Us Down

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Vicki slipped in her socks on the rug and watched in disbelief as her ankle CRUMPLED out from under her as she tried to protect her bad knee on the way to the floor. As she lay there in shock, waiting for Ray to come in from the morning chores, she took a few pics and videos, and texted her Mom. Those that are sensitive, be forewarned, the images and videos are graphic. She basically broke her foot RIGHT OFF inside of her skin, with it hanging to the right at a 90-degree angle.
After a painful resetting by Paul the Paramedic (SO GOOD at what he does) before being put onto a backboard and taken via ambulance to the hospital, it was discovered that she had broken all three ankle bones and there was going to be extensive reconstructive surgery in order to put her back together in working order.
At the ER, they had to STOP her heart and then restart her again after resetting everything. This assured she would be perfectly still, and not remember the trauma she would experience during the procedure. Then she was put into an air cast to remain broken but still and wait the almost unbearable 6 days at home until she could have surgery. NOTHING is easy at home for our family. We rented her a wheelchair for now, but it doesn't have the right footrests and are hoping Medicaid will help with what we actually need, because she needs to keep her leg elevated after the surgery.
This is a very bad setback to our family, which has already encountered many hardships in the past decade, starting with the fact that the two wonderful kids we are raising are our grandchildren that we had not been prepared to take on, yet we did out of love (and are so grateful to be here for them). We are still backpedaling financially and trying to get our bearings, and this is a big hurdle we will have to overcome. Ray was laid off in November, and although looking forward to several very good job possibilities, we are in a deficit, and drowning financially. This is a new boulder thrown upon our already overburdened shoulders.
Vicki will be disabled until July 2023 as a best-case scenario. Tomorrow (1/31), she will undergo surgery at 9 am. They will be installing a metal plate on either side of her ankle, screwing it in, and then holding the bones together with wire known as a "tightrope." She will be laid up for at least 3 months before being able to put any weight on her foot. She was hoping to have a productive summer, woodworking and making some money to help catch us up.
As you may know, we have many responsibilities here on our homestead and this will be a nearly insurmountable setback. Vicki is going to need to be able to get in and out of the house. We will need a ramp. The deck to the front door of the house was already falling apart, so we will need to rebuild before a ramp can be installed. Ray will be going back to work within the month and we will need to be able to have Vicki call a car to come get her to take her to appointments, and we're pretty far out there in the country. There will be numerous medical appointments and LOTS of physical therapy before she can be back to her "normal" strong crazy self. Being that she most likely has a bone disorder, hopping on the other foot doesn't work. She'd be well served with a knee scooter once she is a little stronger, that's $250. We even need to buy some clothes with wide legs to get over the cast. And not to seem greedy, but our washing machine died around Thanksgiving and it is really hard to have Ray go to the laundromat and leave Vicki home alone. The kids are a bit young to help other than small things. We have 3 camps on our 28 acre homestead in the attempts of making an income, and our pick-up truck died last Spring so Vicki will be unable to access the camps without some sort of vehicle as walking will not be viable. So basically, we need your assistance, if you can help, for:

  • medical bills/apparatus not covered by Medicaid
  • new deck and ramp to accommodate wheelchair
  • a couple new pair of pants
  • hopefully something easy to use to get around the property in summer if luck goes our way

Anything, any bit of help is greatly appreciated and will be put to the best use to keep us afloat until we are literally back on our feet again. We will keep everyone updated as to our progress and look forward to invite you all to a celebration at the end of the Summer to say thank you with some amazing Vicki home-cooking!






I really did break it right off... one of the scariest experiences of my life. I was in such shock that I took pictures and texted my Mom and a friend while waiting for Ray to come in from taking care of the animals... I will post what I can on our Youtube - Our YouTube (-Vicki)


Special thanks to Ray, my long-suffering husband and V and O for being good sports during this really tricky time.
My nurses:

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Donations 

  • Donna Taylor
    • $1,000 
    • 1 yr
  • Anonymous
    • $100 
    • 1 yr
  • Linda Covart
    • $50 
    • 1 yr
  • Donna Tritico
    • $20 
    • 1 yr
  • Linda Arnold
    • $25 
    • 1 yr
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Organizer

Vicki Bower
Organizer
Argyle, NY

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