Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Gimpy Moe

Plans went forward for me to pick up Biker Bob from the airport after Derby Practice on Monday. During practice, I was finally assigned to a more advanced Doll for tutelage, which was great. We worked on the skills that are nessesary to make the team. I fell a few times, and hit my head on the floor once (I saw stars, but took a couple of asprin and kept on going)
Beginner practice over, I stayed for the big girl practice since I seem to be able to keep up lately. and, when I leave early, I catch shit from the others for not staying. which is good for me. We start practicing pack speed drills. I, being the slowest in the pack, was getting a lot of great bumps and learning how to take them gracefully (a bump is when a teammate comes up behind you, grabs hold, and pushes you forward). Then we switched directions.
Ordinarly we skate counterclockwise. My body is (sadly) now conditioned to skate this way. I start to struggle, and I fall. Great. now I have to catch up. Steely Jan starts hanging out towards the back of the group in order to grab hold and swing me back into business. I start to panic because I am not skating as well as I would if we were going the "right way" I make a quick mental note to start skating the other way in order to equally train my body.
I round the turn and catch up to Steely who reaches out her hands. I grab hold, preparing for the rush of being swung around and catapulted forward. I am always amazed at Steely's strength.
Something goes wrong and my foot twists and folds under me. As I land on my ankle, I hear an audible crunch. The sound that issues forth from my mouth is almost inhuman and I crawl from the track, breath raspy with pain and shock. I nod my answers. Yes, I'm alright, yes I need ice, and finally verbally, I need a minute (to get off the track). I can't remember if I crawled or skated off. Steely arranged for ice and the skating continued with me smiling from the sidelines and quietly cheering my former pack along.
I checked for range of motion and tenderness and found that I was ok. I was fine walking, and eventually left to pick up Biker Bob. the ladies stopped to check how I was, and the Captain came over to not only check on me, but to tell me about even earlier classes available. boot camp, to teach the skills she hasn't had time to teach. I expressed an extreme interest and was flattered that she would make a point to tell me about it personally. It doesn't take much.
When I woke up Tuesday morning, I couldn't walk. I crawled to my phone to ring my boss.
Thankfully, Biker Bob was able to take me to the Dr's office where I was blessed with a quick appointment and a Dr who laughed a bit and said I am among the elite few who can fall on her own ankle. He sent me to xray because I had "boney tenderness"
The only time I almost cried through this ordeal was when I had to walk 1/4 to 1/2 mile to the xray room. I had a cane, but at this point was able to walk ok, and it was more of an annoyance than a boon, although I did lean on it heavily during the walk back to my Dr's office.
Dr informed me that I am not broken, only sprained and will heal as my body deems fit. I took the res of the day off from both jobs and tried to allow Biker Bob to spoil me. We ran a lot of errands for him, his computer pooped out and so did his truck, and I took a nap. He helped me with my shoe when I couldn't put it on, and took me out for very yummy pepperoni and artichoke pizza. He also dished up a healthy load of crap for being injured.
So here I am, back at work, and not nearly as spry as I prefer to be. I am happy to report that my bones look good and healthy, and, that I got to keep my xrays, which means I get to look at my bones any time I want. AND I'm getting around pretty good already so I have high hopes of being all better in time for practice on Monday, since that will be the first day of boot camp. AND after tonight I should have enough tips saved to buy a new pair of roller skates. So you see?? being ginpu isn't so bad after all.

7 comments:

Gary said...

I hear that pepperoni and artichoke pizza is good for ankle sprains. Good choice. :)

Sensei said...

If you miss this week's practice, you will be labelled Gimp. If you show up for practice and push through any residual pain, you will gain respect.

Take 1000mg of Ibuprofen before you practice, and another 200mg after two hours. You won't feel the pain, and the woosie feelings will be gone by the time heavy practice starts.

Here's another suggestion for a name: Mean Geen

shqipo said...

Well... honestly, I think the "no pain, no gain" is rather stupid. First thing I'd worry about is my health, rather than what team mates would call me. 5, 15, 50 years from today your team will be gone and "respect" (or lack of it) will be long forgotten, but your wheel chair will be there...

Chickie said...

Oh ouch! But you get to use a cane! Cool.

Sensei said...

Pain is good. The only time you are guaranteed to not feel pain is when you are dead. Pain means you are alive.

Ginamonster said...

Sensei, since I know you are kidding about skating anyway, I will just laugh at you.

shqipo, even if sensei wasn't kidding, I'm not crazy enough to do that! drugs or no, I could still damage myself permenantly and since I plan to keep this body for another 80 years or so...

Chickie, I did use a cane, briefly, but I didn't need it past those first couple of hours. I am wearing my aircast though. I limp less without it!

Sensei, yes, pain does tell us we are alive. but that doesn't mean I want to foster it!

Sensei said...

Yes, I was being silly. Except about the ibuprofen. If you are going to go back out right away, 1000mg will kill the pain.

When I worked on a line at a meat-packing plant, I took that much when I started the shift. Doing the same monotonous action every three seconds caused a lot of pain and the IB worked.

About the pain is good thing...my drill sergent told me that. I thought he was stupid, and I still think so.

Pain is only good because it tells you something isn't as it should be, giving you a heads up that something needs to change.