One year ago this evening, I was in an upstairs bathroom here in my home, getting tidied-up because a lady friend was coming over to spend time with me. Suddenly — for no reason that has ever been determined — I was lying on the tile bathroom floor with a broken left ankle. I did not hit my head or hurt any other part of me but my ankle was screaming like Sam Kinison with his finger in a light socket.
Obviously, I needed help. My cell phone was in the adjoining bedroom and despite the pain, I managed to drag myself across the floor to the phone and dial 911. They said help was on the way. Shortly, the lady friend arrived. Moments later, two firemen arrived. A few minutes later, two more firemen arrived. It took all four firemen to carry me down the stairs and out to an ambulance.
I was very fortunate that I could reach my cell phone. I was also very fortunate that my cell phone has an app on it that allows me to unlock my front door remotely. Things could have been a lot worse for me if those two things had not been true…or if the firemen had not been so prompt and efficient. Or had the folks at the hospital to which I was transported not been so good at their jobs.
I spent four days in that hospital. I was then moved to a rehab facility where I spent 33 days rehabbing. Fortunately, I had a couple of real good nurses who took wonderful care of me. During that time, I had my personal assistant and a terrific plumber-handyman make some adjustments to my home so that when I returned to it, I could live upstairs. That's where I am right now — in my office and up here, I also have my bedroom, two bathrooms and a couple other rooms. Since I returned home, that's what I've lived. I only go downstairs to go to (a) doctor appointments or (b) Comic-Con.
So what happens when I need something from downstairs…from, for instance, the kitchen? I have my wonderful cleaning lady Dora here several days a week. I have my super-efficient assistant Jane here several days a week. I have folks who visit me all the time. If I plan a little, I can have someone here when delivery folks deliver or when I need something brought upstairs or taken downstairs. I can get upstairs or downstairs when I have to but it takes a while and I need both hands on the railings so I can't carry anything up or down.
Apart from that, it hasn't been that bad…and that's not sarcasm. It really hasn't been that bad. If you'd told me before I broke my ankle that I was going to break my ankle and spend over a month in a rehab facility and then have very limited walking for much of a year and struggle to get up or down stairs, I would have thought, "Geez, that sounds like the most horrible year I've ever had" but it really and truly hasn't been that bad.
I have a great support team, I spent some money wisely to rearrange my living facilities…and I was going to be spending most of the year at my computer anyway. I would say I'm like 80% of the way back to normal and that I was also lucky to get a great physical trainer. She comes by twice a week and she'll take care of that last 20%.
I am not recommending broken ankles to anyone. But sometimes you have a little catastrophe of which you're able to say, "That wasn't as bad as I would have thought." That's what I'm saying with this update.