2020 Plans Spiked!

Spiking the guns

The type was barely set on my 2020 Project Plans when fate spiked those freshly laid plans.  Enveloped in a winter snow storm, I went down with a broken leg.  Ouch!  After finishing shoveling the driveway of four inches of new snow, I set off to fetch the mail.  On the return, I slipped, turned my ankle, and heard and felt a loud "crunch."  A bit dizzy and in pain, I picked myself off of the snow-covered street.  Looking towards the house sixty yards away, I wondered if I could make it home.  In a combination of hobbling and dragging my foot behind me, I headed back to the house.  I must have looked like Boris Karloff, pale and dragging my foot, when I entered the garage, opened the door, and called out to my wife. 

Having her help in removing my boot, I could see the foot quickly swelling.  The pain excruciating.  Calling the nearest Urgent Care Clinic,  Nancy announced that if we could get there within a half hour we could be seen and evaluated before they closed in ninety minutes.  With the snow coming down even harder and the streets a mess of snow and cars sliding around, we set off.  Arriving at the clinic within the thirty minute deadline, we noticed the clinic was already closed.  Trying to draw someone’s attention to the door, Nancy finally received a response.  Due to the storm, management decided to close early.  What?

Luckily, another clinic was only a few blocks away. With snow piling up quickly, we were happy to see this clinic still open and taking patients.  Quickly taken to X-Ray, an evaluation showed a broken fibula.  Immobilizing the leg and given a prescription for pain meds, I was sent on my way.  "Call an orthopedist on Monday," the physician said.  That is what I plan to do. 

How does this early year mishap change my project plans?  Well, like Napoleon before the gates of Moscow in winter, my mobility is reduced and a few plans may need to be spiked or adjusted.  Without knowing if this break will require surgery, a few changes are obvious.

First, there will no cycling until Spring.  That seems a long way off.  Cycling is an activity I enjoy and part of my daily routine.  How much fitness will be lost in six to eight weeks?  Not so young anymore, it may take a long time to recover.

Second, living in a house with three floors, getting between floors may prove challenging.  Bedroom is on the top floor.  Game room and painting area are in the basement.  Yeah, this may be a problem especially when negotiating two flights of stair on crutches.

Third, standing for any length of time is painful and fatiguing.  Unlikely to have many sessions at the large gaming table in the basement game room any time soon.

Where does this leave me? No cycling, for sure.  Gaming may, by necessity, move to either the kitchen or dining room table where I can sit and play.  Smaller wargames of the hex and counter type that can fit onto this smaller playing surface will see some attention.  Commands & Colors whether in the original blocks or miniatures will see increased gaming opportunities.  Smaller miniature wargames may see action too.  I may take a page out of Norm and others' play books and switch to gaming in small places for awhile.  As for painting, well, I still think I will sneak down into the basement for short painting sessions.

Not the way I envisioned the start of the New Year!