The Viking Falls
Taking a trip and a tumble with Dupuytren’s contracture
Two weeks ago, while out on my daily walk, I tripped on a raised drain cover. I managed to hold my balance for a couple of steps as I was catapulted forwards, but on the third step I stumbled and crashed to the ground.
I am prone to tripping as I like to be observant and look up and around me as I walk, rather than down at my feet. I’m also of the view that the odd fall now and then, as one gets older, is on the whole a good thing as it makes the body more prepared for such impact.
Falling on a soft woodland path is one thing. Crashing down onto hard, gritty paving quite another. I was up quickly and seemingly not much the worse for wear, apart from several small grazes on my hands, and a deeper cut on the little finger of my left hand.
I was exactly halfway round my walk and had nothing with which to clean up the wounds.
The finger bled profusely and I had to walk home holding my hand in the air and licking the blood as I went.
I got my hands cleaned up and the main wound dressed and then drove off to a plant fair with my wife as originally planned. As we were leaving the fair my wife pointed at my trousers (I was wearing a pale pair). There was a large bloody stain on the knee of my left leg.
