After opening presents at home with just the immediate family on Christmas morning, we made our annual Christmas morning pilgrimage to my sister's house in Arlington Heights, IL. My nephew, Michael Preissing, unfortunately, had to leave right when we arrived. Michael's mom (my sister, Peggy) and his sisters were in Rome, Italy this Christmas visiting their dad/husband, John Preissing, who is working for the United Nations in Rome for 3 years. They were all greatly missed!
Michael and the kids
My brother, Ronn, and my sister-in-law, Barb
We did the usual opening of presents and then enjoyed Lori's always scrumptious Christmas dinner. Later, we played a great new game called Partini. It was a riot mostly at the expense of my brother-in-law, John Putz, who was the butt of many balding jokes.
On the 26th, we took all the kids to go sledding at a nearby hill. Arlington had just had about a foot of snow. This hill was extremely icy, which made for some really fast rides. It was also as hard as a rock. Someone had decided to make a monster snow ramp at the bottom of the hill. Loren had accidentally veered right to it on her first run. It launched her up about twice her height. She miraculously landed on her feet, and didn't fall. I, on the other hand, was not so lucky.
My nephew, Johnny, at one point had taken me out as I was climbing up the hill, and we both took a ride down together on his sled. Later, I tried to pay him back as he was walking up. Being an agile 16 year old, he hopped over me while I careened right toward the ramp. I was not able to stop, and I ended sailing over the ramp, flipping over and landing full force on my right shoulder and my head. I got up feeling a pain I've never felt before. I was only able to stand for a few moments before becoming dizzy and nauseous. I sat down at the end of the hill, and was rescued by my brother-in-law, nephews and some strangers, who put me on a sled and dragged me to the car.
John took me the hospital where they determined that I broke my clavicle in two places and also split part of the bone. However, being "out of network", I had to wait until Monday to be seen by a doctor (3 days later). Today, December the 30th, I am scheduled for surgery where they will put in a metal plate.
No comments:
Post a Comment