Thursday

Sincerely 'Fro Me to You - THE Broken Leg



I was fifteen years old & my boyfriend had just recently broken up with me. My youth group was having a skating party with a sister church. The church my ex just so happened to belong. I begged my mom to let me go but she informed me that I had promised to babysit my year old brother.

What's a girl to do? I was devastated. I don't really remember wanting the boy back. I think I just wanted him to notice me having fun without him. But my mom said no. Never fear! My best friend stepped in for me & said she'd babysit for me. She didn't really care to go skating.

So I went, was having fun, & then IT happened. I was partner skating with a guy when another guy grabbed my free hand and whipped us around. All three of us fell & I think someone landed on my leg. All I remember is the youth pastor scooping me up & everyone praying over me.

Someone took me home & laid me on the couch. I could not put any pressure on my left leg. And if I moved, I could feel a shifting inside. When my mom came home & found out, she didn't quite believe me. My leg looked perfectly fine. She figured it was just sprained or pulled.

A week later, she had to travel for work so I stayed with my best friend (rather than my grandparents, I probably hurt their feelings). One rainy morning as I was entering our high school, my wet crutches slipped out from under me. Down I went. OH THE PAIN! I think I might have passed out because the next thing I remembered was being in the arms of our school's biggest, well, I hate to use the word geek so I'll just say the boy who drove everyone crazy. It was the ultimate embarrassment. He was carrying me across the school to the nurse? Principal's office? I can't remember. The principal was close friends to my grandparents so he gave them a call.

M y grandmother immediately came to the school & took me straight to the dr. Yep, I had a broken leg. I had a clean break right above my ankle. I also had a tumor on my leg. He said the tumor was common but that often the bone would break through the tumor and make it go away. Of course, mine broke right above the tumor.

The upside was that since I had gone a week & the bone looked good, I didn't have to get a full leg cast. The bad news was that I had to wear it for three months. People got tired of hearing about The Broken Leg. It's infamous now. ;)

I barely survived all that humiliation. It was my only broken bone ever. Until I was in a car accident while pregnant with Bear & my tailbone was broken. I don't have any pictures of that though. ;)

24 comments:

Tammy said...

The things we did as "kids" over boys. At least your toenails looked fabulous for the 3 month cast!

Jillie Bean (AKA Bubba's Sis) said...

But your toenails are lovely!!!

No pics of your broken tailbone? Dang!

Tales From the Eurovan said...

Bubba's Sis beat me to the comment...I couldn't help but notice the toenails! Look great! Take care, Julie

Dawn @ simply transparent said...

All in the name of "getting even" I hope you've seen the "bigger picture now"...lol some lessons are better learned sitting at home baby sitting...I may use your story with someone I know.

I had a cast in 1st grade...crazy fall while trying to cross over an 8 ft dam to catch the bus...that's another post! An later an injured tail bone...from of all things a slide!

Kristen said...

Wow! That's quite a story! I hope you got a lot of attention!

Phone Photo Project by Kim said...

Ouch! To think all for a boy! What no signatures yet on the cast?

j said...

Bless your heart! But I don't see any signatures on your cast... did you let folks sign it?

When Diva Daughter broke her arm, we put Barbed Wire around the top of the cast with a sharpie. She was COOL looking!

Jen

Crayl said...

Nice toenails! And I hear that tail bone injuries really hurt! Ouch!

Muthering Heights said...

Totally embarassing...I'm guessing you didn't get quite the attention you were looking for...

Stacey said...

D, I love that story! You were definitely my kind of gal. Except your toenails...even with a broken legy they look mighty fine! Mine are never done up--I look at this and see I have no excuse.

So the boy...how did that turn out? Did he wish he'd never broken up with you in the first place? I mean with toenails like that....

carol said...

ooo,OUCH!
I can't imagine hobbling around for a week with an undiagnosed broken bone!
Whatever happened to the tumor? Did it go away on its own?

The Source said...

Yikes! So, I'm not the only mom who's sent her kid off with unknown broken bones?

So did the ex-boyfriend feel appropriately terrible about your injury?

a Tonggu Momma said...

Ouch!!! Well, at least you showed him that he didn't hurt you... you could get hurt without any help from him. LOL.

Did you whine? Because I totally would have spent the next three months whining with the best of them.

Glad your leg ... and your tailbone... are all healed up now.

Valarie Lea said...

Oh bless your heart! On the upside your toenails looked very good! Thanks for not showing us your other broken bones. :)

TJ said...

OH Owww! I remember how everything embarassing always happened in front of the cute guy! Or at least the one we didn't want to see the embarassing stuff.

Angela Nazworth said...

Ouch! And I can just feel the embarrassment your 15 yr old self felt

D... said...

Those toenails were a source of pride for me! After all, everyone could see them. My finger nails also matched. ;)

You know, I can't remember about the signatures. I'm sure I got some. But, maybe not. The cast was not smooth so it was hard to write on. How can I not remember this? ARGH!

The boy, ah, the boy. I don't know if he ever regretted the break up or not. I know he prayed over me so that was comforting. Shortly after that, he changed & I was thankful for the break-up.

I embarrassed to say that we never followed up on the tumor. The dr. did mention that it was likely to go away. We moved less than a year after it happened to another state. I'm assuming that's why my mom never took me to a dr. It was over 15 yrs. ago & I'm still healthy so I guess it's all good now. ;)

Heck yes I whined! I whined a lot! Teachers let me leave class early to get a head start on my next class.

Tabitha said...

That's quite the twisted tale of woe!!! I can relate to so much of that regarding the boys. That's one thing I don't miss about dating!!
I can just imagine your friends rolling your eyes when you start in on that story!! :)
P.S. Thanks for stopping by!!

Jennifer said...

That is a funny story! And your toes look fabulous!

Patois42 said...

We'd all be happy to see the "after" tailbone picture. You know, the one many years later. Like today's.

Probably get you the kind of hits nobody wants.

Jamie Dawn said...

No tail bone pics??!!! What the heck??!!!
I guess I'll have to settle for broken leg pics.
OUCH!! That sounds like it was painful!
All that drama for a boy!
Back to the tail bone... I have a bent tail bone.
It happened when a school bully pulled my chair away just as I was about to sit down. I am forever scarred, and my tail bone will never know the joy of being straight again.
Childhood traumas stick with us forever.

Unknown said...

I never had a broken leg but a friend of mine did and I got to come over to her house and "babysit" her all summer when we were 13. We had so much fun that summer being alone in the house while her mom was at work!

Forgetfulone said...

Oh, you poor thing! The things we do! I fainted in chemistry class once. Didn't have anything to do with the class, though. I think I was dieting.

Were you at the rally today? What school? Mine is SCIS. I would have loved to meet you in person!

Jenny86753oh9 said...

OUCH! I have never broken anything worse than a toe (which is still painful...hello!) My aunt however, broke her pelvis when my uncle pushed her into a pole too hard while they were...uhm...ew...gross...bad visual. I think you get it.