Saturday, January 22, 2011, Nashville, Tennessee, 10:33 a.m., C.S.T.~

Dear Journal~

Bill Sandusky here.  I'm afraid I'm not doing very well  ...

Broke my tailbone last yesterday afternoon after a nasty fall on the ice while getting the mail.  One minute, I was upright, the next: my feet and crutches went out from underneath me, and *WHAM!!*  PAIN!!!!  I couldn't get up: all I could do was lie there on the ground and gasp for breath; when I finally could breathe again, I yelled for a neighbor to come and help me.  Thank God he was home; he came running when he heard me screaming.

My neighbor took me to the hospital.  I couldn't sit up:  the pain was too bad.  All I could do was lie in the back seat, on my stomach, and cry out in pain every few minutes.  I knew I'd dome something to the sacral region of my lower back:  the pain I was experiencing was worse than the pain I'd had from previous back surgeries. It was the worst back pain I'd ever felt in all my life!

I had to fight to keep from throwing up as wave after wave of nausea threatened to overwhelm me.

At the hospital, my neighbor had a nurse get a wheelchair: both neighbor and nurse carefully helped me out of the car and into the wheelchair (more pain!!).  I ended up throwing up all over the nurse's shoes.  She was not amused.  They wheeled me into the Emergency room, where I filled out a form explaining what had happened, and was told to wait to be seen.

Turns out I spent the rest of the afternoon and most of last night waiting, waiting, waiting.

It was the longest night of my life!!

Thank God, Louie, my wife, was on her nursing shift when I came to the ER.  If I didn't see her, I don't know what I would have done!  She sat by me while the doctor poked and prodded me and held my hand tightly when I yelled out in pain (which was often, I'm afraid ... ).  X-rays were then taken.  It was soon discovered that I had broken my tailbone.  I was dumbstruck.  I said, "You mean, I broke my ass?!", which sent everyone into fits of uncontrollable laughter (wife, included). 

My wife, I think,  laughed the hardest:  she laughed so much she was in tears.

THANKS, dear, for the support and sympathy!

I didn't find it to be that funny. 

I was in severe, unrelenting pain and was extremely nauseated.  All I wanted was some relief ... and fast.

The doctor who'd treated me filled out a prescription for Dilaudid (to curb both the pain and nausea) and gave me a special "pillow" or "donut" to sit on whenever I was up and about.  The doctor said it was a miracle that I didn't end up doing more damage to my back; he knew of my past back problems/back surgeries.  He said I would probably be off work for up to a month while I healed, and after that, light duty, until I was fully recovered (that would take up to several more weeks).

The news wasn't bad, but then again, it wasn't all that good either.  I called my boss at Wal*Mart and told him I'd fallen and wouldn't be in for about a month because I'd injured my lower spine (broke my tailbone).  My boss was sorry to hear of my accident; he told me to feel better soon.

So that was my day yesterday.  It started out great, but then it went downhill fast when I wiped out on the ice.

A word of warning:  Do not even attempt to walk on ice or snow when using crutches!  (My crutches had a nice, soft landing, whereas I didn't.  *OW*)

Today finds me parked on the couch, donut underneath my bum/broken tailbone.  Hurts like the dickens.  Still fairly nauseated, so I'm nursing my jumpy stomach with a bottle of Coke Classic and a cup of hot chicken soup with spaghetti noodles.  The little woman is at work, and her dad and step-mother are watching over me, to make sure I do not get up even once; if I do, then I will have to have help.

No kidding.

As bad as I feel, walking is the last thing I want to do ... not to mention, sitting down.  Sitting on the toilet is the ultimate wost!!  *OWWW!!*