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Monday 8 August 2011

Breaking Elbows...

Let's take a trip down memory lane...well it is my memory lane and it isn't so much a trip as it is me rushing head first into a world of pain.

One lunch time when I was around 10 or 11 (the details are a little fuzzy from time to time) we were doing a gymnastics session so we had dragged out the vaulting horse, mats and all that stuff. Some of my more co-ordinated friends were doing some impressive things on the vault and I was watching on, tinged slightly with the green haze of jealousy. (I've mentioned how uncoordinated I am, right?) Anyway, one of my more athletic friends managed to convince me to attempt a tricky vault. There was something about a handstand and round off or something equally as stupid or insane.

So, I stand in line, trying to push away my nerves when my turn rolls around. Taking a deep breath I run at that vaulting horse like it is the only thing in the world. That is the last thing I remember until my friend starts screaming and I realise that I am sitting on the ground with the vault at my back. I grin for a moment until I realise that my friend is screaming the same thing over and over again.

"Your arm, your arm."

At first I thought she'd just become jealous of my mad skills until I realise that, although my right arm is where it should be my left arm definitely isn't. Pretty soon my screams are joining in with my friends as I realise that my left hand is still holding onto the edge of the vault.

After several minutes the teacher on duty wanders over and takes in the scene calmly. She kneels next to me and tells me not to panic and that I've just dislocated my arm and she'll put it back into place. Being so young, I didn't question what she did next. She gripped my wrist and wrenched my arm around. I can't remember exactly what happened next because the pain was pretty intense. I might have called her a rather nasty word but my focus remained on my arm, which now hung limply from the elbow socket place. Every time I moved bolts of agony shot up my arm until I realised that I had to grip my wrist to stop the grating of bone against bone.

My teacher then did what any normal teacher would do. She puts me in a dark room and tells me to calm down. So, picture this, I'm alone, gripping my wrist for dear life, snot and tears mixing as they race down my face. Half an hour goes by and suddenly my mum storms in, takes one look at my arm and promptly realises that it is broken.

My mum rushes me into hospital where I am kept in the waiting room for three hours before being shuffled into surgery. The next day I'm out with two metal pins holding my elbow together along with a massive cast from fingertip to shoulder. Did I mention it was summer as well?

This is just one of many random childhood traumas which goes some way to explaining the way I am. Plus, I'm tired today and didn't have a clue what to write about.

I apologise in advance for bad grammar and spelling.

Hope you are all having a great evening/day/morning


8 comments:

  1. geez, she put you in a dark room to relax?! you're not a falcon.

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  2. It was really odd. I remember begging the teacher to call my mum and she did, eventually.

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  3. I was surprised by the dark room also. I'm not sure how calming that really is, especially for small children (what if you were afraid of the dark?).

    I've never broken a bone. Don't ask me how. I've done my fair share of stupid things.

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  4. Good lord, we could be sisters. I was the most uncoordinated in my class. I watched a girl break a bone also on the vault. They didn't put her in a dark room though. And the gym teacher had enough sense not to try to set it herself. You poor thing. I too broke my arm two times in two different places during the summer. It sucked didn't it? And some little shit in the neighborhood threw sand at me and it went down the cast. I wanted to kill him but I was more afraid of my mother if I harmed him. This brought back a whole ton of memories I had long forgotten. Thanks (I think!)

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  5. That would have traumatized me as a kid!! lol.

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  6. @A Beer for the Shower - I'm impressed. The elbow was the worst break for me but there have been numerous stupid things that I have done that have brought around all amount of pain. Just a klutz I guess.

    @Bouncin' Barb - Yay for being uncoordinated! Having sand thrown in your cast must have sucked. I can almost feel the itchiness now. And over summer is horrible - especially when you see everyone swimming.

    @Zombie - I failed gym at high school cause I couldn't face the vault. It was so stupid because I played every other sport but just couldn't even walk up to the vault.

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  7. Shattered my elbow when i was a kid, worst thing ever.

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