Professional Fence Jumper

    Each time I post something, I tell myself that I will do better:  post more often, read others' posts more regularly.  I have failed, once again.  That's ok.  I'll keep trying.  I should have some excitement coming up.  Someone in my house is turning TWO!  I may have a career move shortly.  I am learning to type one-handed...does that seem odd?  Let me explain:

 

The setting?  Last Monday, early--still dark outside.  The scenatio?  A call has come in that an unknown person was seen jumping the fence into a gated, locked wrecker yard.  Seen going in, but not coming out.  Since he had to jump the fence, he is probably not authorized to be there.  The business is still closed.  So that means that we, my partner and I, also have to jump the fence.  We go in:  no problem.  We search:  no person.  We find a damaged piece of fence on the other side where the person probably jumped back out.  Seems like a lot of effort just to get from one side to the other.  But that's ok.  It's what we do.  Jump fences.  Now to get back out...The business is still locked, so the only way out is the way we came in:  over the fence.  No problem, we just did that move 10 minutes earlier.  So I climb up.

Now let me pause here to explain.  This is a chain-link fence with no cross-bar along the top.  In other words, no support.  The jumping place happens to be next to the gate.  We are able to step on the chain that locks the gate, then step on top of the actual chain link fence.  The top happens to be bent down from what appears to be frequent fence-jumping.  The fence is over 6 feet tall, but the part that is bent over is probably just under 5 feet tall due to the deformation from being stepped on.  With my weight, it's probably a little lower than that.  Once on the top, jumping becomes a little complex.  We wear huge amounts of gear.  If I jump straight down, I will get hung up behind my waist.  If I try to jump out, there is a possibility, due to the type of fence, that my pant leg will get caught up and pull my leg out from under me before I land.  If I try to ease down, my forearms will be cut up by the bent-over metal.  My wedding ring may also become entangled and nearly pull off my finger.  It's happened before.

Despite all the dangers, (who knew fence jumping was so hard) I have to get down somehow.  The fire department would never let me live it down if they had to dispatch a truck to rescue me from a 4' 8" fence.  So, I jump.  And I land on my feet...with a lot of forward momentum.  That causes me to continue forward and down.  Hard.  On out-stretched hands and knees.  My partner wonders if my knees are ok because my landing "sounded hard."  I do not question what that sound actually sounded like.  I do quickly sit down to avoid passing out, though.  Weird.

And my left elbow hurts.  Just slightly more than my knees hurt, which is a lot.  I drive myself to our station, where I take some ibuprophen and sit with my head between my knees, again to avoid passing out.  Water helps.  I go to a few more calls, hoping the following:  that I wouldn't pass out, that the drugs will kick in soon, and that I won't have to fight anyone because, honestly, I can't even use my left arm to close my car door any more.

Fast forward to a couple hours later.  Two of my wishes came true.  The ibuprofen never kicked in.  Finally, I give in and cry to my supervisor that I fell, and my arm doesn't feel right.  He advises that it also doesn't look right, and he instructs me to go to the hospital.

Looong story short:  I have fractured my elbow.  A radial head fracture.  The Occupational Health doctor who saw me the next day had not read my chart completely.  He read what I had done and, apparently, read the fact that it would be a worker's compensation claim.  "Is jumping fences a part of your job description?" he asked me with a smirk. 

Yes.  That's me.  Professional fence jumper.  I never claimed to be a good one.

Comments

[mandy torgerson]

I still can't believe that happened to you! I hope you get better soon.!

[Uncle Mice]

Hope you are mending! Where is the birthday post?

[Marie]

Hey - I came and commented days ago. What happened???

Hope you are healing quickly. That is quite an adventure, hey?

Post again soon. It is good to hear from you.