Since I’ve talked about what my life is like with a broken leg, I suppose it is only appropriate that I tell the story of how my leg became broken in the first place.
It was my wife’s fault. Well, sort of anyway.
My wife and my friend’s girlfriend got it in their heads that it would be a great idea to go to a roller rink and go roller skating. I was against the idea from the beginning, stating that roller skating is, “for kids.” Indeed, I hadn’t actually skated since I was 10 years old, when my elementary school classmates would invite everyone to the local roller rink for a birthday party.
But, eventually I give in because what the wife wants, the wife gets unless I don’t care much about being happy. We start the day off by going to my brother’s house to play a game called Guitar Hero. My brother is quite addicted to this game, and he loves it more than many things in life including his girlfriend and getting to work on time. I believe he even has a special spot reserved in his bed for his guitar shaped controller (I try not to use that one when I play). After playing this game for about half an hour, I can see how one can become addicted to it. For those of you who haven’t played it, it’s like Dance Dance Revolution, except that it’s with a guitar instead of dancing and it doesn’t suck.
After this, we meet up with our friends and have dinner at a burrito place and chat about various topics, including Guitar Hero. Since my brother wasn’t going skating with us and we were his ride, we all head back to his house to drop him off after dinner. On the way back I have this brilliant idea: Instead of going roller skating, we should play Guitar Hero for a while! Yes, Guitar Hero is a fun game but if someone had wanted to go eat paint chips instead of roller skating I probably would have taken him up on it. Unfortunately, my friend’s girlfriend was dead set on going roller skating that there was no avoiding the inevitable.
We arrive at the rink and walk in. The admission price of $9.50 was surprisingly expensive. Even more expensive than a movie. I had actually been to this particular rink before, many many years ago. Despite a recent remodel, the place hadn’t changed a whole lot. There were a few things that were different, such as the music. Instead of oldies and the Hokey Pokey, rap songs about sexy thighs and asses were played.
I got my skates and proceeded to get on the rink. There were actually a lot of people there and quite a few of them were going very fast. I, on the other hand, was more focused on not falling down. However as I approached the end of my first “lap” around the rink, I lost my balance and fell backwards on top of my right leg. I definitely felt and heard the bone break. A feeling of “I can’t believe that actually happened” rushed into my head. I was in extreme pain as I crawled off the rink. My wife and friends came over and my wife asked if I needed an ambulance and I told her yes.
After a few minutes, the paramedics came and put me on a stretcher. Everyone was clapping as they wheeled me out. I’m not really sure if they were clapping as a show of support or because they were glad the paramedics were finally getting me out of there so they could start skating again.
Next: My experience in the hospital ER
