Safety issues and replanning outdoor work

I mentioned briefly in the last post that on September 20 I fell off a beam when working on the south ramp. I bruise my hip, primarily, but also the area under the left armpit. It was a careless fall, done with my hands full of planks at a time when the work for the day was near completion, and I was tiring. However, at the time it seemed minor. I was able to complete the work that day and catch a business flight to a customer city that night, barely noticing anything was sore.

After I returned from the business trip Tuesday night I continued with the plank work, as described in the previous post. By Friday I noticed a chest pain. I was worried it might be an internal organ so monitored closely, but suspected it was muscular. By Sunday night, after I'd completed the planking and the setting up of the clay pathway on the south end of the ramp (which required a lot of digging and moving dirt via wheelbarrow) the pain was worsening, but I was now sure it was not an internal organ.

On Monday evening I moved a bunch of heavy flagstones (which we'd been given for free by a neighbor) to see if they would work for the pathway (they didn't fit, color-wise) and my chest ended up in such deep pain that I took a leftover painkiller from my last hospital visit 2 years ago.

On Tuesday the doctor confirmed my suspicion -- I'd cracked one of my left ribs in that fall on September 20. He also suggested that the initial crack probably wasn't too bad, but all the heavy work I'd done since had caused it to become much worse. The only solution is to take it very, *very*, easy for the next month or so.

So, I've since been learning what does and does not hurt the rib. I can lift some things -- up to 10 lbs or so -- with the right arm without trouble but have to be very careful with the left. Stretching or reaching usually has bad consequences -- typically light at first but then heavy pain 30 minutes or so later. The worst immediate pain is a heavy sneeze or cough. The doctor cautioned me that people with rib conditions are susceptible to pnemonia because they tend to control their coughs to avoid the pain, and thus don't adequately clear out their lungs.

Yikes. So this naturally means my outdoor construction plans for the rest of 2009 will be curtailed quite a bit. Fortunately my father and the kids have offered to help. In fact, today my dad and my son Daniel pitched in to help clear those flagstone I mentioned before and to put on some of the more tricky remaining redwood siding on the south ramp. Meanwhile, the kids all helped by doing all the lifting and cart-pushing today during our monthly "big shop" at Target. With their help the rib was fine all day.

Still, plans are being modified. My wife and I had already talked about moving the location of the planned gazebo from next to the pond to the other (south) side of the front yard for aesthetic reasons. Due to this injury I'll just formalize this change with the homeowners association and also move the completion date to the late spring. Also plans for any additional paths are moved to next year, as are plans for outdoor electrical circuits. All these mini-projects involve a lot of digging, which seems to be the worst activity for the cracked rib.

I will, however, finish up the bridge itself, with family help, and hopefully this month. There is a little more redwood siding to add, then the whole structure needs a second coat of stain for a really polished look. Then railings and, as a special feature, low voltage lamps at the top of each railing post. These won't be solar powered. The solar outdoor lamps are easier to install, as they are standalone, but the wired lamps are easy to switch on and off, which is a feature we want. I will create the low voltage circuit and wire it up to a transformer on the front porch, but won't make it a full circuit with switch and breaker until next year.

In some ways this can be a good thing. I mean, it is getting cold, making outdoor work less fun. At our elevation it's already started falling below freezing at night, which means I turn off the waterfall at night. So finishing up this month has it's advantages, and it also means that I can get re-started next month on the iNdoor layout.

However, this experience just re-emphasizes how a single micro-second of carelessness can have consequences that last a very long time. It's a lesson we all know but tend to forget. In recent years I've intentionally trained myself to be very conscious of this fact. For example, before starting a power saw I explictly remind myself that a single mistake with this tool can cause me to lose a limb permanently. For the table saw, which is by far the most dangerous, I more or less "shout" this mental warning to myself.

I did the same thing when I started to walk on the beams on the south ramp. However, at that key moment on September 20 I was tired and in a rush. I wanted to reach a project milestone by the end of the day, but also knew I had to pack to fly out that night for business. So I pushed myself and was getting a bit tired. And, for an instant, got careless.

I had a very similar thing happen to me under similar circumstances about 4 years ago and thought I'd learned my lesson. Obviously not. In the future I'll try to sense when I start rushing and will force myself to stop and think before progressing.

This mistake really wasn't so bad. The family has been terrific in support. And I have more than enough other stuff to do, so mostly the consequences are that I rearrange some planned tasks while I heal. But if I let myself be careless again the next mistake could be far more severe.