Sit yourself down, take a sigh of relief, and pull your oxygen tube out of your nostrils. It's fine. I'm here. I'm alive.
My grand total of TWO avid followers must have been worried sick about me. (hahahahhahahahahaha). I am alive in fact, after an incredibly busy spring and summer, with a blog that I completely forgot about. Many-an-injury has happened to me since I last imparted my wisdom upon you.
Softball season is any hypo's nightmare. Bruises, scrapes, and swelling up the wazoo. More importantly though, I was instructed to try catching for the last ten minutes of a practice and again the next day. To catch as a normal player, you usually have your second hand next to the glove to help it close around the ball. However, catchers have their second hand behind their back, so you have to catch with one hand. I tried this, and after about ten minutes I caught a ball directly on the tip on my thumb, because my hand was in a slightly different position than normal. This jammed my thumb two knuckles in, and I had to ask the coach to let me switch out. I am wont to play for hours in excruciating pain before asking to be taken out, so this was a big deal. However, of course I never went to a doctor and never did anything but ice it. It still hurts to this day, and it's hard to lift things up like textbooks because my thumb has to press down to counteract the lifting done by my other four fingers. Needless to say, I probably won't ever do anything about it, because I'm too embarrassed that nothing will be wrong with it.
NEXT, I was working as a camp counselor in northern Minnesota when I was playing ultimate frisbee with a bunch of the guy counselors. I was instructed to defend the French superman on the other team, so I was full out sprinting when I landed with all of my weight on my left ankle, which immediately collapsed on its side. It swelled up to the size of two softballs within 15 seconds, and I limped off to the nurses office. When I landed it made an excruciating snapping noise that I still think of and shudder to this day. (just did) I could manage to limp to the nurses office, and I hopped up on the examination table, and she put ice on it and gave me crutches. However, five minutes later when I hopped down, I wasn't able to put ANY weight on it whatsoever. I hobbled around on crutches for the rest of the day, and at night didn't sleep more than 3 hours. It got even bigger and more painful. A fellow counselor told me that their ankle looked similar when they broke it, and told me that I should go to the clinic in the nearby town. However, the next day was Sunday and the clinic was closed, so I was driven to the ER by a fellow counselor. We got X-Rays in the tiny community hospital and they said there was no break, but I snapped a bunch of tendons and ripped a ligament. They gave me an air cast and crutches. The air cast would last 4 weeks and the crutches 2.
When I got home I was supposed to follow through with PT, which I did for one appointment, but then quit. Now, it has not fully healed so it still doesn't feel strong to run on, almost 4 months later. My thumb still hurts also. I live the dream.
LASTLY, I need to ask you a question. Have you ever had a kid sit next to you in class who compulsively taps his foot when he is nervous or even when he is not? I am that kid. However, I don't tap my toe, I swing my hand around so my wrist grinds in it's socket. I find myself doing it all day making worse and worse grinding and snapping noises, like knuckles cracking continuously. By the end of the day, my wrist is swollen and it always kind of hurts. I can't stop now though, because now it's a habit. This is my left wrist also, so the more I swing it the more my left thumb hurts.
The only solution seems to be to amputate the left side of my body.
The final thing I will say is that in the last post in February I mentioned carrot cake cupcakes. I ended up making those the final week, on the SAME DAY my step-mom decided to go gluten free. Out of the kindness of my heart I made them to suit her new dietary restriction, so they were soggy and sagged in the middle about an inch. We ate the 20 cupcakes with spoons over the next two weeks, and they were delicious nonetheless. My new endeavor seems to be banana bread mini cupcakes, because they are more fun to eat than big cupcakes, and we always seem to have rip bananas that won't otherwise be eaten.
I hope you have calmed down now that you know I am still alive (even if just barely). I will try to be more consistent with my posts so you don't get too worried.
Hope I Live Until Tomorrow,
Carol
