Best laid plans and all that

When last we left our little hellion, er, heroine, Bella had just graduated from Ruffians 101 and we were looking into "Agility for Reactive Dogs" classes circa Fall 2010. We were looking forward to it but were waiting to get through the holidays before beginning this new journey.

But before we get to that, we need to take a little detour. Bear with me as this does have relevance down the road.

I'm never gonna get to agility class, am I?

But first...

I think I've mentioned here or there that Bella's mom isn't really the most graceful creature on the planet (read: she's a down-right klutz most of the time). And shortly after the holidays when we were just about to sign Bella up for the new class, I had a little coordination altercation.

When we got Bella, Jan was unofficially retired and has always taken care of her during the day. Even when he went back to work, he was able to work from home and Bella was seldom without him. Every once in a while, he had to go to the office for a meeting or something but as a rule, he was home.

January 11th 2011, was one of those days he had to go in to the office (about an hour away) to meet with some out of town clients and Bella and I were left alone in the house while I finished getting ready for work. After taking my shower, I made the brilliant decision to step on a chair to open the blinds in the bedroom.

This chair. "That's the one officer.
It just jumped right out and attacked me."

While I was standing on the chair, my left ankle buckled and sent me tumbling off said chair.

Onto the carpet-covered cement slab that is our bedroom floor.

That chair ------------------------------->

I don't actually remember hearing the snap but I knew before I stood up that I had broken my wrist. (And by wrist, I mean, both bones in my forearm and by broken I mean snapped - right in half. Sweet.)

I do recall, as I was all alone in the house and obviously in need of medical attention, thinking "Oh don't pass out. Don't pass out. Don't pass out." If I could only get to a phone before passing out...

And then I looked down at my arm and changed my mantra suddenly to "Oh don't throw up. Don't throw up. Don't throw up." My arm was bent where arms don't bend.

What does this have to do with Bella, you ask?

Well, Bella was alone in the house with me when this happened. Bella who is afraid of people. Bella who is already somewhat over-protective of me. Bella who stood by after watching me suffer some rather obvious trauma then watched as my neighbor came in and took me away.

And all the while, no Daddy at home to make things better.

She was left alone from about 8 am when my neighbor whisked me off to the hospital until about 4:30 pm when Jan was finally able to break away from his clients and get home to her.

Uh, about that agility class, Bella...

I returned home around 5:30 and staggered into bed. They gave me some medicine at the hospital that made me horrifically ill and by the following morning, I not only had a broken arm, I had a migraine and was finally giving in to the second half of my mantra to relieving my stomach of what little food I had eaten the day before.

For 3 days Bella left my side only to eat, pee and poop.

We thought it was cute.

Tune in next time to find out why it wasn't.

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So, I know for a fact we have our share of walking wounded among us (I'm looking at you, Kim, Kristine, Lauren and Pup Fan... ;) Anyone else want to step forward and share some of their less-than-graceful forays into the Kingdom of Klutz?