ouch, Ouch, OUCH!

OOPS.....had a minor accident today at work.

It's been drizzling out here, and when I was outside, coming back from an equipment space with no inside access, I slipped and fell.

Now, I'm *always* careful onboard, and even when we're tied up at the dock back at our Home Port, I use BOTH handrails when traversing the stairs, or 'ladders' in ship-speak.

I was two steps from the bottom, holding both rails, when my feet went out from under me.

BOOM! All 200 pounds of me came crashing down on a wet, steel deck, from about three feet in the air.

I landed on my right hip, just aft, and bit below, of the big pelvic bone. Took me a couple of seconds to realize HOLY SHIT, I'M ON THE DECK! and get my bearings again.

Two marine crew members came over, helped me up, and asked if I wanted to go up to the hospital. I shook myself a bit, and decided nothing was broken, so I told them no, and in a bit of a daze, went back to the EGSE room where I normally work.

My at-sea Manager (a good guy) was there, and after I told what had happened, he sent me to our Safety guy to file a report. The Safety guy wrote everything down, inspected my shoes to make sure they were "approved" (they're non-skid) and said going to the ship's Doctor was my call, but he recommended it.

So, back up to the 3rd bridge deck, and into our little hospital. I talked to the Doctor, and then he gave me an exam, and asked a bunch of questions. At this point, it doesn't look like I broke anything (I've broken stuff before, and believe me, I would have been screaming bloody murder while laying on the deck when this happened!), but I have a huge bump (pardon me, "Hematoma" in med-speak) on my hip almost the size of my fist, and he says I'm going to have one doozie of a bruise in a few days.

Now since we're scheduled to launch on the 17th, that means I have to go over to the platform on the 16th to set up a bunch of equipment. Thankfully I get to go on the helicopter, and the helipad is on the same level as our equipment shelter. The only problem at this time is I have to climb a ladder carrying my tool bag up to the top of the shelter, and if I'm not limber enough to do it...............

For now, I'm just going to take it easy, and try and keep somewhat mobile, because if I sit down for more than about 15 minutes, it's kinda hard to get back up.

And I haven't told my dear wife yet........

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