Taking our van down to the Caravan Club Site of Clumber Park last Bank Holiday Monday so that my wife's parents could spend a much welcomed holiday proved to be break for both of us in more ways than one.
The plan was this.
We would take our van down to the Clumber Park Site on the Monday, pitch it up then have a spot of lunch with them and then return home leaving them to stay in it for a rest of the week.
Then come Saturday, we would go back down, again have some lunch with them where upon they would return home leaving us to have a single night stay over on the Saturday night returning home on the Sunday.
What Laid Plans...?
All started off well, we made good time down there; just over an hour and despite a queue at the gate to book we, we quickly found a pitch near the bog block.
I reversed our van onto the pitch well enough however upon unhooking we decided that it could do with shifting over a few feet to the left.
Not a problem, caravans are designed to be man handled (despite what some non-coverts may believe) so we set about moving it over.
Forward a bit, twist and then a big shove back was all that was needed.
Then it happened!
The gravel under my feet gave way and my body slipped downwards as the caravan slowly moved backwards courtesy of my right arm grasping one of the front handles.
Crack!
It was like the sound of a stick snapping. I hit the floor still grasping the manoeuvring handle on the front of our unit whereupon I quickly leapt to my feet dancing around in agony at the very sharp pain that was shooting up and down my arm and across my shoulder.
An inspection by all present seemed to indicate that nothing was broken. By now though I had lost all feeling in the arm and couldn't move it. So we concluded that I had dislocated it at worst or perhaps just bruised it.
We'd pop-in to Dewsbury Hospital A and E (our local hospital) on the way home. So I was left on the sidelines to direct the erection of the awning and the remainder of the van set-up.
Once set-up we went off to look for some lunch; so there I was with a limp limb dragging along by my side eating my carrot cake with my left hand.
A and E
On the way back from leaving our unit down at Clumber Park with my P's in Law we popped into
Dewsbury Hospital Accident and Emergency, thinking they would simply confirm a case of severe bruising which warranted a sling.
A couple of x-rays and a few hours waiting around later, it seems I had not only undergone severe muscle damage of my right arm, but had also snapped a lump of bone off the Greater Tuberosty part of my arm (the bit near the ball joint in the example x-ray below)
Added to this, as I found out at a visit to the Fracture Clinic a couple days afterwards (more waiting around), they wanted me into hospital to have the piece of bone pinned back into place (which took 3 screws BTW).
Sob!
So instead of enjoying a relaxing one night stay over at our caravan down at Clumber Park; I spent Saturday in theatre having surgery on my arm and the night over in the Orthapedic Ward which in itself was an endurance test of interrupted sleep, pain and sauna like conditions.
Some pics of my arm and shoulder the day after my operation are below.
Note the rainbow of colours demonstrated by the bruising. Under that dressing on my shoulder is a 5 inch cut held together with metal staples.
Guess what we've just ordered and are having fitted in the next couple of days to our van?
Yup! You guessed it. An electric mover! Gets fitted on Friday. Sod the cost!
Update: The following post to this one offers a new photo of my "incision" to these.
Check it out.