Carelessness can cost you. Ask me how I know.

[donnafreedman]

That's the theme of this week's Smart Spending blog post, which can be found at this incredibly long URL:
articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/blog/page.aspx?post=9866212a-9f8d-4b79-981a-7e27e9807c2b
I let my attention wander for just a moment while taking the dog out at my recent house-sitting job. Missed the last step to the street and the next thing I knew I was lying on the sidewalk saying, "Ow."
The tab thus far: More than $1,900. Dammit. And it kind of dampened the week I spent with DD and DSIL, too.
Seriously: Watch where you put your feet!
The most annoying part, as I noted in the Smart Spending post, is that something like this happened last May and I told myself to stop trying to multitask.

[Artemis Windsong]

If something happens to disrupt my plans, I usually wonder if I was spared from something worse. The most glaring example was my DD when she was around 4 y.o. dropped her milk cup just as we were leaving the house. It delayed me about 5 minutes and I took a different route. I read in the paper the next day of a train hitting a car at about the time we would have been crossing the rr tracks.

[tiredboomer]

I totally agree with you, Donna. I hurt the Achilles tendon on my left foot twice. The first time was a total accident. The second time was pure carelessness. Both times resulted in two months in a "boot". I sat there crying the second time, not because of the pain, but because I knew exactly what was ahead, and I was furious with myself!

[motherto2]

Donna, so glad to see you here and so sorry to hear about your ankle .

Artemis, totally believe the same thing. I learned a while ago that sometimes things happen because you are being spared from something else. I will now just chuckle if someone is driving slow rather than getting annoyed (mostly!) because there is probably a reason for it. I've had a couple of things like that happen to me, so I just thank God for looking out for me.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Continued get well wishes for your ankle.... and thanks for the reminder to watch what we're doing.

[NancysSummerSip]

Ow.....Ow....Ow! Sorry and get better fast, Donna.

Been there, done it. My husband and I have both been "stupid injured" on vacation. Two years ago, he slid down a wet hillside and broke his leg. Last year, I tripped on an uneven sidewalk, fell and bruised both elbows, both knees, my left hand and my chin.
I am pretty sure the TV show When Vacations Attack should be dedicated to us.

[sccdf]

I thought that I would have a story to tell. My daugther has diabetes and requires expensive supplies for her insulin pump that are not for sale locally. Before Christmas I ordered a three month supply. It came in and got put on the dining room table with Christmas parcels.

I can't remember the last time I saw it. Last night she asks if I have another box of supplies. She is out. I did have an emergency supply that I could access but couldn't find the three months supply ANYWHERE. I started thinking of what could go wrong. Did I put the box with recycling? Did I send it to the thrift store with unwanted ornaments?

We looked under beds, behind furniture. Finally my husband took a second look at my daughter's tv set. She had a box underneath it raising the set so she could see the tv from bed. BINGO. I have never been so glad to see a box in my life.

My story had a happy ending. I'm sorry you are having to take time off Donna while you heal. I guess the moral to all of our stories is the need to keep an emergency fund. Our weekend was saved because I had a stash of supplies hidden in my chest of drawers. If the three months supply was indeed gone we would have been able to get by. Life happens and sometimes you get lucky.

[writer88]

Donna - I know exactly how you feel. I was seven months pregnant with DD2, on my mail route (I was a female mailman at the time). I had just delivered the mail to one building and was sorting the letters for the next building. There were three stairs leading down to the sidewalk. I started my way down, stepped on a rock, and, feeling myself fall I instinctively turned my body so that I'd land on my rump and not on my stomach. As I did so I heard/felt my right ankle break. It was the most chilling sound I'd ever heard in my whole life. The ankle was broken in three places and required the insertion of 2 plates and 9 screws. Three weeks after giving birth to DD2 the ankle was hit by a wind-blown patio door and went into trauma, requiring an 11-day stay in the hospital. DD2's middle name is in honor of the dear friend who took care of her during the time I was in hospital. Then the ankle required a skin graft so back in the hospital I went a month later. Total hospitalization: 5 times for a total of 29 days.
Just remember: Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

[Opti]

Sorry to hear that Donna. Hopefully your ankle will heal quickly. The only safe time to lose focus for a while is when sitting in a chair at home.

[rubyslippers]

Donna, I hope you're feeling better. I know how bad a sprained ankle feels. Keep us posted on how you're doing.

[Apple]

Hope it's starting to feel better, Donna!

[bold]Nancy[/bold] are you the one who's son made a comment to a stranger about you not being used to wearing shoes when you tripped? That still makes me laugh--it's something my own family would say

I'm also going to add the fact that it really sucks when a stranger's carelessness causes you problems (and therefore hopefully makes us all aware of our own). The other day a man ran a stop sign. I was able to stop in time, fortunately, but the force of me slamming on the brakes and flying forward into the seatbelt could have put me back in the hospital. While normally it would just tick me off and I'd be okay, I had surgery two weeks ago and felt like I had pulled stitches. No bleeding so I'm ok, but it's been a couple days and I'm still sore, and I'm sure it's going to delay full recovery time The guy has no clue what he did to me, but I feel like I did a few days after coming home, not "almost all better" like I should be.

[donnafreedman]

Apple: Ouch! Some people are just oblivious. I'm sorry to hear that.
I am now officially walking without crutches, although toward the end of the day I keep one handy in case my ankle decides to buckle. As I pointed out to DD, I'm only using it as a crutch. ;-)
Still hurts, and still swells up by mid-evening, but I am really lucky that it wasn't worse. Yet I'm dreading the arrival of insurance paperwork from my HMO. I'm pretty sure I have a $1,750 deductible. **weeps in frustration**