The Blog Formerly Known as MySpace...Part V

September 15, 2007 - Saturday

In case you didn’t know...

*Disclaimer: This is not by any means editted properly. I am fully aware of my lack of consistent verb tense; however, I just don't care to fix it. Please do not judge my writing/teaching skills based on this particular blog.
Hmmm....I just thought I'd blog about this because I don't know what else to do with my extreme pain and frustration....so here goes:..
It all started on the day after my 25th birthday. All in all, I would say it was a pretty great day. I was working really hard in my class room and decided it was time to take a rest and go on home. As is my custom, I was taking tons of work home with me, in hopes of working over the weekend to finish getting ready for the first day of school. I packed my things in a box (a relatively heavy box, but not too difficult to handle) and headed down the three flights of stairs which stand between my room and my car. I'm in a slight hurry because I was totally ready to get home. I have almost made it to the second floor landing, and….BOOM! I'm down. I fell down the steps! Now, for those of you who know me relatively well, you might be aware that an event such as falling down the steps is relatively common place in my life--I am not the most graceful person in the world. In fact, not only do I fall and run into things quite often, I have actually fallen down these exact steps before; however, this time, it was bad…really bad. My fall was accompanied with some of the worst pain of my life. Instantly I knew that this was no ordinary pain; this was mega-pain. I try to stand up, but I can't. This was not good. I didn't know what to do, so I scooted myself over to a wall and called Nick. Nick answered the phone to my frantic voice…"Nick this is an emergency…I need you to come to school right away…I just fell down the steps and hurt myself really bad…I think my ankle is sprained and I can't walk…" Poor Nick left straight away to come rescue me, bringing reinforcements in the person of Dave Greene. So here I am, sitting on the steps waiting…about five minutes later, a colleague came up the stairs and found me just sitting there on the floor. I'm sure this was a totally random sight, but I think it was obvious right away that something was really wrong. I told her what happened and she sprung into action, bringing ice, my principal, and the always handy Kate Kick. They quickly find a wheelchair for me and get me outside to await Nick. Once Nick arrived, we loaded me into my little Tiburon and headed for Patient First Bel Air…
Our arrival to Patient First presented us with our first problem, how to get me into the building…I hopped for what seemed like forever, but we made it into the waiting room and signed in. After a relatively short wait, I was rolled in to have an x-ray (this would be the third time I've had an x-ray…the first was a chest x-ray when I was having allergy induced asthma attacks and the second when I broke my finger…that was bad too…). I got up on the table and the x-ray technician came in and totally man-handled my ankle (or in this case, woman-handled). I'm not sure if she thought I was faking it or what (although the incredible amount of swelling should have told her this was serious), but she was not very gentle at all. She at least apologized once when I winced with pain. Finally the x-ray was over, so Nick rolled me into an exam room. Here we waited forever until a doctor came in, but when she arrived, her accent was so strong that I couldn't understand any thing she said. Nick laughed at me, but I had no clue as to what she was trying to ask me. I seem to remember her saying something about x-ray…no break…just sprain. So, apparently I have a sprained ankle, thanks for letting me know…then she just left. Another lady came in and fit me with some kind of cast/splint thingy with a very fashionable shoe and taught me how to walk on the crutches and told me that I was free to go. On my way out, the doctor said I should be able to put some weight on my foot in about five days. I'm thinking…this is great! I have three full days to rest up before the first school and by the second week I should be walking! So I go home…swelling and throbbing…but all in all pretty happy.
After doing a really great job of keeping my foot propped up and putting ice on it for a whole day, I started getting stir crazy. I made my way over to the Marshall's house for the "luau" (where I had to keep my foot propped up the whole time and felt pretty retarded asking people to get things for me). As the evening started to come a close, I decided to head down to the fire pit area to make some smores and enjoy the company of others…Let me just say, me + crutches + grass + camping chairs + fire = disaster. When I finally made my way to the fire pit, almost fell face first into the fire! Not good…I almost gave Kenny a heart attack, plus, I put my foot down on the ground out of habit and put myself into a major pain attack. I think that the pain in my foot was so extreme that I didn't even realize that my hand was resting on the fire pit! Wow, that was stressful. Later on, we all made our way into the house where we decided to watch a movie. Nick and I both fell asleep so we decided to crash at the Marshall's…
The next morning I had a nice before-nine-conversation with Bailey, and then my phone rang. It was Patient First. Turns out they were wrong about my x-ray…I did have a fracture in my ankle and I need to make my way to an orthopedist ASAP. Now I'm freaking out for several reasons…one…tomorrow is the first day of school…two…how in the world am I supposed to find an orthopedist…and three…holy cow, I broke my ankle! Stressful…on top of it all, now I have to get sub plans ready for the first day of school. I am going to have to miss out on meeting my kids on the first day …This is sadness that goes beyond what a teacher can stand…
Tuesday, the first day of school comes and I don't get to teach, I get to spend all morning on the phone looking for a doctor (again, if you know me, having to talk on the phone is another major stress for me). After what seemed like a million phone calls, I finally found a place that could fit me in, but get this…they don't have a computer, so I have to get the film of my x-ray…What?! This is 2007, and they don't have a computer…this sounds like a bad idea, but what other choice do I have. Nick and I went up to Bel Air to fetch the x-rays and then race back to Rosedale for my appointment. Half-way back, we realize we don't have the actual x-rays, we have a computer disk. Oh no, what are we going to do! Well, improvisation is the key…we called the doctor and found out we could just take Nick's laptop in and we could read the x-ray from there…sketchy, but ok. We get there and the joint is deserted, but that's ok. We get into the doctor (who incidentally has the worst comb-over I've ever seen and is older than dirt…he graduated form college before my parents were even born…), open the x-ray, and he found two fractures right away…maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all…He said that it would take 4-6 weeks to heal, but he would give me an air cast so I could shower and everything…I just have to be very careful…ok, I can do that…let's get out of here (doctors stress me out).
My first day back at school was not highly eventful…I got up the stairs (finally) and was able to stay in my room all day because I have wonderful colleagues who help me out tremendously. My class was great and they really tried hard to take excellent care of me, and they did a great job….
Fast Forward…I have now finished my second gimpy week of school…it's really hard, and I don't recommend it, but teaching with one leg can be done. My class is great about it. I roll around my room on my desk chair all day. I jokingly said I should use a paddle to help me get around and yesterday, my class brought me an autographed paddle. It is so cute I just can't stand it…(thanks Mrs. Brant!…friend request me when you read this because I can't find you on myspace…). You can't buy memories like that. I have gone back to the doctor once since my original visit. I have been cleared to move my foot as much as I can and to even try to put some weight on it. I can kinda walk a little, but it hurts waaaay too bad. It's funny…I almost feel like I've forgotten how to walk and it's only been two weeks. I will continue to keep my blog updated with my progress and I will surely blog again when this whole dumb thing is over to impart on the whole world the great nuggets of wisdom I have gleaned from this experience…peace out for now…and don't break a leg…seriously…it's not a good idea.