I went to a friend's 80s fancy dress party wearing some very crazy tights and generally bright clothing. There I met someone on crutches with a broken fibula and torn ankle ligaments, little did I know that 12 hours later I'd be in the exact same predicament! It was rather amusing when we saw each other again at the next social a few days later!
The morning after the 80s party turned out to be my last event this season. I ran Scar in a Novice at Pulborough and after a good dressage and show jumping I set off cross country and was delighted to find him jumping very well and feeling more confident, so I never expected things to go horribly wrong...
A log was followed by a stride to a step into water, there was no step groundline so I think the horses didn't read it very well. Scar didn't back off as much as normal, then slightly slipped off the step stumbling on landing and kept stumbling across the water, eventually falling before hitting the step at the other side! This actually happened to at least five horses so there was definitely something not right about the groundline or landing. Unfortunately he squashed my ankle when he went down and my leg had horrible pins and needles as I tried to pick myself up. It started throbbing in the ambulance so I went to A&E to get X-rayed. Thank goodness I decided to be really demanding and asked to go past my lorry to change my wet shirt for a warm jumper and 
collect my handbag, because a four hour wait later a broken fibula with torn ankle ligaments was confirmed and I was going to be stuck in Chichester hospital for an operation! Meanwhile I was still in one muddy boot and very damp muddy jodhpurs and starving, as it is hard to search for food in a hospital when you can't walk! My ankle was swelling fast and I was put in a temporary cast. I couldn't believe a silly stumble had caused so much damage!
Luckily a friend at the event drove the horsebox home with my friend Rosie who had come to help because I was stuck in Chichester until I could be plated and screwed back together the next day. My greatest disappointment was having to miss the 6 Year Old Championships with Pennyz two days later, it would have been a highlight to my unthrilling season. As it turned out she got a skin infection, so at least I didn't let her down! Meanwhile I was put on an overflow ward for the night, full of 90 year olds and supper had already been served - so I had to make do with two digestive biscuits and a banana (bearing in mind I am famously greedy) before putting my foot down, literally (not the right one though!) about NOT using a bed pan! The bossy nurses with no sense of humour tried to make me use one saying I wasn't allowed to walk, not believing that not being 90 like everyone else I can hop five metres! I eventually threw all my toys out of the pram and started hopping at which point they took me in a wheelie chair (why couldn't they do that in the first place!). I also changed into a hospital gown, had I had any idea I could have brought all sorts of supplies from my lorry.
On Monday I had to starve all day before the operation whilst food came and went... I was so bored! Two ghastly magazines like Take a Break made me even more depressed, 
I felt very stranded in bed and took hours to get the TV going. The thing about NHS care is that you have no idea when anything is happening! Eventually I went for the operation at about 3pm. My whiplash and general fall stiffness were so much worse from being stuck in bed too.
I felt great afterwards, gas often seems to make me wake up buzzing! The stiffness had nearly all gone and the leg felt much better as it was stable inside (I still had a cast though). I felt fine and could have gone home, but the physio' had already left and I needed to be given crutches to be discharged! I was so annoyed! Chichester was a little too far out of the way to ask any friends to visit and bring supplies, I was feeling a bit claustrophobic!
I then waited till 2pm on Tuesday to be given a CD of the latest X-rays (a plate and seven screws in my fibula, one screw will need removing) and for the physio' to give me a crutches lesson (I got told off for going too fast). What a waste of a day waiting! At least I had taken over the wheelie comode chair and went flying along the corridors backwards pushing with my left foot! I am now swapping to private care as I am so fed up of time wasting and having no one to refer to. I know they haven't done a bad job but I don't like the impersonal situation where I can't chat to the specialist with questions and so on! Luckily a friend came to rescue me and I finally got home, repacked and went to stay with Sarah to be nursed a little.