Sunday, May 07, 2006

Anniversary

They can be funny things Anniversaries. Most are good, birthdays, weddings, graduations... I have one today however I remember well, yet it was not a happy day. 16 years ago today, I crashed my bike into the back of a truck. I think that I have shared part of the story before, but it is time to tell more. I don't know everything that happened, I blacked out over and over, so my memory of the details may be a bit garbled, but I will do my best.

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I was 11 years old. I had been given a beautiful, fire engine red, ten speed bike for the previous Christmas. I loved it! I rode it all over the place, and I was never afraid to go anywhere. On this day, I had a softball practice down at the elementary school. I threw on my trusty ball hat, grabbed my backpack with my mit, a bottle of water, and my favorite bat. The fastest way there was through the "gully", which was actually just a very large hill that went down, then up the other side. If you gained enough speed and momentum on the downhill side, you could actually make it up the other without having to pedal very hard. I loved the rush that I got when I would move that fast.

As I started down the hill, I realized a mistake that I had made. My baseball hat was attempting to fly off my head. Being the resourceful kid that I was, I simply kept my head down and just watched the road immediately in front of me. What I didn't realize was that parked on the side of the road, within the pedestrian lane, was a truck. It had a camper on the back, the kind that has a vertical door in the middle. As I rode down that hill, I heard someone tell me something. Quietly, the word "swerve" was whispered into my ear. I listened, and seconds later, my head came into contact with the door on the camper. Little did I know, that if my head had hit any other part of that truck, even a few inches to either side, I would not have survived the impact.

My head hit the door, my right leg hit the bumper causing a bad break, my left knee also hit the bumper breaking it as well, but by far the most painful and serious injury was my left hip. It was rammed into the curved handle bars of my ten speed. This basically obliterated the hip socket. The recovery was long and arduous. I have a few good memories associated with the summer I spent in a hospital bed. For instance, the time my brother and I raced my wheelchair through the mall. Laughing and not caring what the onlookers thought. It was one of the few times of my life that I have truly not cared what others thought of me. The limp is less pronounced now than when I was in high school, thus the nickname of Gimpy.

Most of all, this "anniversary" reminds me that I have now lived more of my life with pain than without it. I am tired of hurting, and perhaps someday we will find a solution to the problem. I am told that I will need a total hip replacement someday, hopefully not soon, but I do hope that when I do get it, the pain will disappear all together. For now, I try to live through it and not let it rule my life. I can keep my chin up, and have empathy for anyone who lives with chronic pain. Things will look up and all will be well... I just know it. For now, I will say happy anniversary to me... Well, sort of happy anniversary anyway.
Posted by April_Mommy :: 8:32 AM :: 6 comments

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