Ouch. I can’t move. Something is broken. Everything is quiet. “Are you ok, are you ok.” I just layed there mortified, in a time freeze that seemed like forever, while they wrapped me up like a burrito and pulled me out on a sled. The crowd went wild as they took me away. I was the 10th serious injury of the women’s big air jump.
Once we were at the mini-mountain hospital, they lifted me to a table and I felt like I had a broken arm and broken leg. They wanted to cut my boot off and my pant leg. I stopped them, untied my boot, and took it off myself, took my snow pants off and had only thermals for them to cut.
They rushed me to x-ray and and respected my wishes to not have any drugs, and go natural. They brought me natural pain killers from their natural health center upstairs. It was an amazing customer service experience. Thank you Mount Snow, Vermont.
After examining the x-rays they told me that my ankle was broken in 3 places, tibia, fibula, and my maliolus was broken off. (that’s the knobby part of your ankle) My arm was not broken. They put it in a sling, gave me a temporary cast, crutches, then the journey back home began.
A long car ride to Long Island NY and sleep there, a flight to MN where I laid down with my leg straight up in the air for the trip. Spent the night in MN with my leg throbbing the entire time, then to the airport and back to Seattle the next day.
When I went to the Dr. at home, they said my leg was too swollen to cast so I had to wait a few days and I could have surgery to walk sooner or no surgery and 9 1/2 weeks non-weight baring. I chose the latter, got casted up and sat in my parents living room, on my behind for 2 months with my leg elevated.
The most dangerous thing about completing a goal is not having another one, depression can set in and stagnation can occur.
During this time, I thought about what I wanted to do next, did I want to return to compete? I learned how to draw astrological charts, read up on natural medicine, played a ton of 4 player scrabble by myself, and ordered lots of books off of eBay. I also met my dog Ruby Ann, she was pregnant and homeless. We laid around together, she had her puppies, nothing better than sitting with puppies for a mood booster.
What next? That wouldn’t become clear for quite some time. I lived appreciating each moment in the space between.
“The Space Between
The wicked lies we tell
And hope to keep safe from the pain” -Dave Matthews