in no way am I wishing to draw attention to myself by posting this. Rather, I hope that by sharing this, it might well save you from a similar experience or save your life.
On September 27th, I came out to the garage to smoke a bowl and read, as is my usual Practice. To make my hobby space warmer, I purchased an insulated tarp to hang and hopefully save on winter heating costs. To do this it was necessary to climb up onto the upper most useable rung of my eight foot ladder. A friend had said he would come over the next day to help me but, in my foolishness I convinced myself that I could do it myself. Luckily for me I had removed everything from my shop.
I fell off and landed feet first on the ground and then collapsed onto the garage floor. I knew instantly that I had damaged something on my left ankle. I lay there in a collapsed heap in an agony of intense pain, wondering what to do. Very fortunately for me my phone was in reaching distance. I called my daughter and then the ambulance.
I ended up breaking or fracturing the Calcaneus bon located on the very underside of the heel. As the orthopaedic surgeon said: it’s probably the worst bone in the human body to break because of its location. That was seven weeks ago and by the grace of God I’m still here. I am fortunate to have learnt my lesson and live to talk about it.
The only message I want to pass on to fellow brothers is always, always, always have a spotter and helper around to hold onto the ladder and to have one hand on you as well.
Never assume you can do something or that it won’t happen to me.
Anyway, I hope this little story will prevent you in a similar situation to stop and exam what you wish to do and maybe, just maybe prevent you from having a serious accident.
Chris in Red Deer, Alberta
On September 27th, I came out to the garage to smoke a bowl and read, as is my usual Practice. To make my hobby space warmer, I purchased an insulated tarp to hang and hopefully save on winter heating costs. To do this it was necessary to climb up onto the upper most useable rung of my eight foot ladder. A friend had said he would come over the next day to help me but, in my foolishness I convinced myself that I could do it myself. Luckily for me I had removed everything from my shop.
I fell off and landed feet first on the ground and then collapsed onto the garage floor. I knew instantly that I had damaged something on my left ankle. I lay there in a collapsed heap in an agony of intense pain, wondering what to do. Very fortunately for me my phone was in reaching distance. I called my daughter and then the ambulance.
I ended up breaking or fracturing the Calcaneus bon located on the very underside of the heel. As the orthopaedic surgeon said: it’s probably the worst bone in the human body to break because of its location. That was seven weeks ago and by the grace of God I’m still here. I am fortunate to have learnt my lesson and live to talk about it.
The only message I want to pass on to fellow brothers is always, always, always have a spotter and helper around to hold onto the ladder and to have one hand on you as well.
Never assume you can do something or that it won’t happen to me.
Anyway, I hope this little story will prevent you in a similar situation to stop and exam what you wish to do and maybe, just maybe prevent you from having a serious accident.
Chris in Red Deer, Alberta
