Wednesday, 22 January 2014

How an anklet caused 2 broken wrists

Yes an anklet was the cause of me breaking both my wrists - not now but this was in 2004 - it was January and getting towards the end of the school holidays - my boys would be in grade 4 and 2 this year (Primary school) so only young still. They had been to a few birthday parties held at the local Skate Arena and wanted to go back for a day of skating. So as a treat I said I would take them - I used to do roller skating when I was in primary school and thought I would have a go too, just to see if I could remember. There was a choice of inline or normal skates I chose the normal ones I knew how to work them - was doing well going round and getting more speed and confidence up but my anklet was driving me mad. It was caught between my ankle and the boot and very uncomfortable so I thought I would go off and take it off and put it in my pocket, I went towards the nearest exit - not realising there was a drop of a few centimetres between the rink floor and the carpet - the roller skates went from under me and I put my hands back to save my bum! I landed very heavily on both hands and it hurt a bit (but I saved my bum from a bruise!)
The person in the announcement booth saw me fall and asked one of the supervisors to help me up - they did and I got over to a bench to sit down. When I sat for a while though, the pain started and I felt sick, I wasnt sure if I was going to be sick or faint so I lay down - the announcer sent the manager round to check on me - she said I was as white as a ghost by then and helped me to get my skates off so I could walk over to where our bags and stuff were. I was given ice to put on my wrists - there was a bit of bruising and a little swelling but it wasnt too bad but the pain was pretty intense. I thought I must have badly sprained one but may have broken the other. 
I rang my husband at work but he couldnt get away for an hour or so - we waited around for him to arrive and by the time he did the pain had dulled a little and I was able to drive home - though by the time I got home I was in tears and couldnt get my seat belt off at all. 
The next day I got a friend to drive me to the doctors and they sent me for an xray - it showed a crack on the radius - in exactly the same place on both - the guy taking the xray was quite impressed I had done the same thing to both. I guess I fell with the same weight on both hands - I was starting to wonder if a cracked tailbone would have been better at this stage. 
Anyway the doctor put my wrists in back slabs as a temporary measure - problem was - I think it was the first time she had ever done plastering as I discovered when I got home that I could not bend my arms enough to feed myself or even touch my face as she had the plaster going so far down my arm it blocked movement completely. I had to get my son to feed me a sandwich (after making it for me!) Photo shows me very much in pain and upset.


Long story short - eventually got 2 proper fibreglass casts in black (of course) and had them on for over 6 weeks. Couldnt drive for over 3 weeks and it was not a good time for me. 
So beware of jewellery! It can cause broken bones! ( I havent worn an anklet since!)


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