ELMER TELLS OF ANNA'S DOWN FALL

I had been out in the barn doing morning chores when I came into the house and the kitchen was full of smoke.  I called Anna.  She said to go into the kitchen, but the top on the frying pan, take it off the burner and put it in the sink.  I asked her where she was and she said do what she told me.  Then she told me to open the oven and take the the rolls out and put them in the sink, but do not turn on the water.  I did as she told me - rolls were burnt to a crisp.  I couldn't figure out what was happening.  Anna never burnt things like this.  Also, I opened the kitchen window.

After I did what I was told, I saw Anna sitting in the middle of the living  floor with my ladder fallen and leaning against one of the end tables.  Anna had a bump on her head and a twisted leg that hurt when she tried to move it.  She asked me if I had my hearing aides on.  I said yes.  Well, she said the batteries must be low because I didn't hear her yelling.  She knows I can't hear her in the barn when I milking the cows, so I didn't say anything about hearing her.

You must understand that I made a rule that women are not to get up on ladders in our house.  None of our daughters and not Anna.  Any work that had to be done on a ladder was for me or our son's.  So I couldn't figure why the ladder was where it was.

I sternly asked Anna if she had been on the ladder.  Then she started to tell me what happened.  Bishop Eli asked if we could have church, in our house, because another couples house was too small.  We agreed.  It seems Anna started breakfast and saw some cob webs up on one corner in the living room.  She knew I left the ladder by the front door because I was going to clean the gutters. So she brought the ladder in, leaned it against the wall and got up on it to wipe the cob webs.  I guess she didn't set the ladder up right because it fell backwards.  Anna said she hit her head on something on the way down and did sort of a flip and landed on her knee.

Anna listened to my lecture about women getting on ladders.  How the ceilings were lower in this house than our hold one and she used a dust mop in the old one, why couldn't she use one in this one. In my mid lecture I realized that Anna may have broken her leg.  I looked at her leg and it wasn't straight. She wanted me to help her up and I told her she was going to stay where she was. I used my cell phone to call the ambulance.  Anna kept saying she didn't want them.  I told her she didn't have a choice.  She started telling me what it was going to cost.  I told her I didn't care what it was going to cost.  Would rather she go to the hospital and find out she sprained her leg than trying to get her up and walking on a broken one.

While waiting she realized the ladder fell on the end table and had left marks in the table.  She said she damaged the table that our son had made for us.  Then she started crying.  I told her not to worry about the table, our son would fix it.  She said it would never be able to be fixed.  I told her not to cry over it, if son couldn't fix it, he would make another one.

The ambulance arrived and after examining her leg, they said it was broken.  They got her in the ambulance and told me what hospital they were going to.  Our daughter Alma, saw the ambulance pull into our driveway.  They live in our old house and when there are no crops in, she can see from her house to our house.  She came running over.  When she arrived I explained what happened.  She said she was glad I was going with Anna and she would call Eli to tell him what happened and she would see that everything was taken care of while we were gone.

To make an already story shorter, the hospital set her leg.  They wanted her to stay for a week, but they released her after three days.  The doctor gave us all the directions she was suppose to do and physical therapy taught her how to use a walker.  Doctor said it was better to send her home than have her all upset in the hospital, but she must obey the rules he set up and come to see him. Of course, I think the fact that we don't have insurance helped, too.

When I got home the day after Anna broke her leg, I found the smoke all out of the house.  The frying and baking pan that Anna had been used all cleaned spotless put away. The end table my daughter had heard about when the ambulance was there was gone.  The ladder was, I later found out in the barn where it should have been.  My son-in-law had even cleaned the gutters for us.  The refrigerator, and kitchen counter were covered with food people had bought.

Amish people and Englishers have been in our house since Anna got home.  The hospital sent people for Anna to do exercises, help her bath and dress and what all.  We got rid of the bath and dress lady as Anna felt embarrassed so our daughters took that job.

Eli feels sorry about this.  He knows it is the Lord's will, but if he had not asked us and held church at his house, which he ended up doing, this might not have happened.  I said the Lord's will is the Lord's will.

We were suppose to go to Pinecraft this month, but I don't know.  Anna says we are going, cast  on her leg or no cast.  Eli's parents said if we come, we can stay at their house and Eli and Emma can stay in his cottage.  That way Fanny can keep an eye on Anna.  Amish friends of ours have loaned us a wheel chair that they had, so that will help.  We will let you know what we decide.

Anna is trying to get back doing everything she usually did, but I am trying to slow her down.  That is not easy.

Trust God's Wisdom,
Elmer

UPDATE ON PIERRE

I made an appointment this morning with the previous vet for 1:30 tomorrow afternoon.  She was the vet for my previous two dogs and I trust what she says as correct.