one hot summer day, when i was 5 years old, my mom was going to take me and my little brother swimming. while she was getting my brother ready, i was watching television in the living room: the price is right. bored, i decided to get up on the high arm of our orange sofa and pretend it was a horse. i’d been yelled at before not to get up there, but still i went since i was alone. about 2 seconds after i got up on there, i fell, hitting the toy chest on the other side of the sofa and let out a bloody scream. my mom came running and my brother after her.

i had broken my left wrist. i was in a cast for 6 weeks.

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when i was 12 years old, i twisted my left ankle getting up off the couch. who twists their ankle getting up from a couch? not thinking it was a big deal, i subsequently went out and rode my bike, aggravating the ankle injury.

i had to go into physical therapy for 3 months.

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when i was 15 years old, i got a hairline fracture in my right shin bone from running track. i was not able to run for 5 months after that.

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when i was 17 years old, i was playing soccer sans shin guards in gym class. some girl kicked my right leg instead of the ball. i collapsed immediately, unable to get up and walk. i was rushed to the doctor. thankfully there was no fracture but i had the nastiest black & blue, spanning from my ankle to my knee, along w/nerve damage.

it’s very strange to touch your leg and not feel anything.

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when i was 24 years old, i decided to play flag football w/my church. they had a turkey bowl league established with other churches in the area. at the first practice of the season, i fell, hurting my left ankle. i was taken to the hospital the next day b/c my ankle was the size of a melon. i had not only sprained it but had torn some tendons. thankfully, though, i did not need surgery but was on crutches for a month and used a cane for 2 months after that.

this city is so not handicap friendly.

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last year, i decided to train for a triathlon to get my sorry butt into shape. i injured my back (how i’m not exactly sure) and my ankle (from running) so that ended that.

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a few days before christmas of last year, i went to the grocery store. the ground was incredibly icy and given my track record for falling and spraining my ankles, i was treading very slowly and cautiously along the ice in my snow boots. but even so, the ice won out: i fell. the funny thing is though, it wasn’t my ankle that i twisted: it was my right wrist that i broke. i was airborne for a split second and the first thing i hit when i hit the ground was my wrist.

that was fun: getting to the ER; the ER itself; being sent home w/out having seen the orthopedist; the orthopedist freaking out the next day for the ER having sent me home w/a dislocated-broken-in-2-places wrist; the surgery on christmas eve; the metal plate; the loud hospital room roommate on christmas eve; leaving the hospital on christmas day; the scar that i will have for life; the physical therapy; the newly given ability to predict the rain…

good times.

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a few days ago, i was in a bit of a frenzy trying to get somewhere and ran to hail a cab. given my state of mind, i was not paying attention to where i was running, lost my footing and fell. my left ankle completely gave under me twisting and spraining. as my ankle was collapsing, my right knee came down and hit the sidewalk… a bit… hard. i’ll spare you the details but it was not pretty. my ankle swelled to the size of a baseball and my knee, well… let’s just say that it hurts.

we’ll see how long this one takes to heal and if i’ll be able to do the 5k i had begun to train for in november.

something tells me that this won’t be the last time i injure myself.