Gravity 1, Me 0

I was getting ready to move from the ladder to the roof of our front porch yesterday when the ladder skidded out from under me. I managed to grab the edge of the roof on my way down and slow myself down a bit. That flipped me to horizontal, I think, and I landed more or less flat on my back on the slate patio. The ladder, fortunately, was somewhere else. I'm not at all sure how that happened.

The friendly local EMTs came and put me on a backboard and took me to the ER. There, after an appropriate amount of waiting, it was determined that nothing was broken. It turns out that being on a backboard after a whack to the lower back is exquisitely painful. I understand the necessity though. They want to make sure there isn't some unstable but unnoticed neck injury.

Anyhow, I'm at home with a good selection of (legal) drugs and trying to obey instructions to sit up and walk about regularly. They tell me if you just lie still you'll stiffen up worse. I have no desire to try that at all.

Gravity 2, Me 0

Today, I noticed a pain in a different part of my back than what was bothering me yesterday. I guess yesterday's pain was masking it. I went to my primary doc who sent me for more x-rays. They discovered a moderate compression fracture of vertebrae T12. I gather they don't often opt to do anything about these, but I have to wait for the official report to know for sure.