You are not going to believe what had happened to me....

If you want the good news, check my Facebook profile or call me. I probably won't post it here until Tuesday. For the bad news, see below.

WARNING WARNING GORY DETAILS WARNING WARNING
GORY DETAILS WARNING WARNING

Thursday night; the long version:

So.... about an hour after I wrote my last post, I decided to take a quick shower before going to bed. I had only been in the shower a few minutes and was shampooing my hair when I turned slightly and my bad foot gave out. I fell forward very hard and very fast. So fast in fact, that I couldn't even use my arms to stop myself and I hit my neck and collar-bone on the faucet. I could feel really sharp pains shooting through my bad foot and I very carefully righted myself using my left arm. Once I was sitting upright, I looked down and noticed that two of my toes were swelling up and one had a gash across it and was bleeding. Intense pain was radiating from my collar-bone and shooting up my neck and down my arm. It was at least a minute before I realized that I was hyper-ventilating. I had to focus on breathing slowly. I very carefully felt my collar-bone and neck and since no bones were sticking out or felt displaced, I lifted my right arm to see how it felt. It hurt, but it was movable. I carefully washed the shampoo out of my hair, washed the runny black mascara off my face, turned off the water, and slowly and carefully lifted myself up onto the side of the tub. I put my legs over the tub, slowly stood up and felt stabbing pains in my right foot. I wrapped a towel around myself, threw a towel down along the length of the bathroom for traction and gingerly limped my way to my bedroom. I sat down on my bed and just sat still for a few minutes. Then I picked up a mirror. I was surprised to find that my face was puffy from crying since I hadn't even realized that I was crying and then directed the mirror down to my collar-bone. There was a gash across my collar-bone and my neck was swelling just over my jugular vein. I carefully dressed myself and looked around for my phone. I began crying again when I realized it was in the family room. I briefly debated laying down and going to sleep but feeling uncertain about my collar-bone and my ability to move once I woke up, I grabbed one of my crutches that was conveniently next to my bed and slowly and painfully made my way to the family room. I sat on the couch and picked up my phone and then began crying in earnest. A thousand thoughts crossed my mind; why hadn't any of my housemates woken up when I fell? I really should get those traction strips for my shower. Will my work-comp cover this since it was caused by my previous injury, but happened at home? Will I ever get to drive again? I'm going to have to buy all new shoes. Can I still get an MRI in the morning? Will they do an MRI on my neck while I'm in there? Did I almost just die? What if that had been my face? What if that had been my head and I were a vegetable? Would my family go through my stuff? I'm going to have to go to the ER with wet hair and no bra. Are all my toes broken? Those collar-bone braces are ugly. Did I get all the mascara off my face? What if I can't go to work for weeks? What am I going to do about my new job? How am I going to get all the way to work everyday if I can't drive? Will my agency still pay my medical bills after I quit? Do I really need to go to the ER?

While all these thoughts were running through my head, I was crying hysterically. It took me 30-45 minutes before I felt calm enough to call my sister. As soon as she picked up the phone, I was hysterical all over again. I was finally able to choke out that I'd fallen and that I thought my collar-bone and toes may be broken. She told me to stay put and that she was on her way. After she hung up, I realized that my door was locked and my housemates were all still sleeping, so I calmed myself further and called one of my housemates and told her what just happened and she came racing from the top floor to the basement where I was camped out. She was awesome. It was really comforting just to have someone sitting next to me. My sister and brother arrived shortly after that to take me to the ER.

The ER visit deserves its own post because it's good entertainment... so I'll tell you all the details later. Just so you know, my collar-bone is NOT broken, just terribly bruised. I broke the fourth toe on my right foot, but everything else is intact. I've been camped out at my mom's all weekend and I have bruising up and down the right side of my body. I feel amazingly blessed that my injuries weren't more serious.

More to come later.

I'll be a G-I-M-P 'til I D-I-E.

I'm still gimpy. I have to get an MRI on my foot first thing in the morning. It's been 5 weeks since my injury and I still can't walk or drive and after three sessions of physical therapy, the pain intensified - in the extreme. I really really hope that it's just the moderate sprain as originally diagnosed and that it's just taking a little bit longer to heal that anticipated. So basically I'm in denial.

It happens.

In other news...

I have really good news. I'll announce it tomorrow.

This is Beautiful.

Christina Aguilera - Save Me From Myself [Official Video]

Rainbow-colored love

When I learned how to knit, I only had one pair of knitting needles. In one size. That's all I needed for my class. I've used these needles to work on the dragon. When I got the pattern for the baby blanket, I bought one set of circular needles and brought my collection up to the grand total of two pairs. For those of you who don't knit, different projects require different sized needles and some patterns call for more than one size. So, as I've recently acquired several fantastic knitting books and have gotten really excited about projects I want to do, I needed to expand my collection. Then I found a website called "Knit Picks." They have some BEAUTIFUL needles and all the various reviews I read online said that they are really great. So I purchased a set - it comes with 9 pairs of needles. And they came today. They really are gorgeous. Much much prettier than any of the pictures. I did a google image search to show you what they look like as I'm still as yet digi-cam free. Here are some of the random photos from the web:

Listen up, Yo.

Hey ya'll.

So... many of you know how I feel about the importance of getting out to vote. Seriously. It's REALLY REALLY important. I'm non-partisan and try to be very objective and look at each issue individually. I won't go into my personal views here as I don't think it's necessary right now. How and why you vote is your business and I will leave you to it. My point is, DO IT. I got my hands on some statistics today that I really want to share with you. They have to do with who is voting, by age. I'm assuming that most of my readers are relatively close to me in age (25-35). So I'm addressing this information to you.

This is who is actually voting, broken down by age:

35.5% are 55+
21.3% are 45-54
19.5% are 35-44
14.5% are 25-34
9.3% are 18-24


Why does my age bracket only represent 14.5% of voters? Come on people. This is shameful. I have had amazing philosophical and political conversations with many of my friends who fall in my same age bracket. Many of you have ideas that are amazing and inspired and that can literally change the world. This said, we must get out and vote. Apathy is not okay. Even if you don't spend weeks and months studying the candidates, take an hour or two and look at the issues. Decide where you stand. Don't let anyone else decide for you. One of my favorite quotes says, "Loyalty to petrified opinion never broke a chain or freed a human soul." Mark Twain. Put a little bit of effort into this. Younger voters are turning out in record numbers to the primaries... lets keep the momentum going all the way to the election.


Here are some voting links. Get registered, get informed, get to the polls.

Rock the Vote
USAY Foundation
Project Vote Smart
USA.gov Voting Information
Declare Yourself
Voto Latino

Hands and Feet

I'm knitting a baby blanket... and the poor little dragon has fallen to the wayside. Literally... his little tail is poking out from under my bed. The body is done and even stuffed, he just needs his legs and wings. How sad. The blanket is halfway done though. I think that I'm probably going to knit the same way I read, several books at a time. I currently have 4 books next to my bed. Oh well. I'll finish when I finish.

I can stand on my foot... but still can't drive or wear a regular shoe. I went to the doctor yesterday and he was concerned because any pressure on the top of my foot causes really intense pain. I can stand flat footed and have regained most of my range of movement (walking is still an issue). He says that the x-ray may have missed something and that if things don't improve with physical therapy, I have to get an MRI. Great, just when I thought I was in the clear.

Other than that... I should have some new news for you after the 14th, but I won't mention anything here just yet... just know that it could be really good or kinda disappointing. Cryptic enough for you?

For Old Time's Sake...

I was wandering around in my favorite knitting store last week and this song was randomly playing... I had a flashback and felt this was necessary.

Happy New Year

Follow my lead and don't set any year-long resolutions!

I don't believe in them! I set short-term seasonal goals, they're more manageable and empowering. I'm knitting and limping my way into 2008. Both my knitting and my foot are improving day by day. This will be an excellent year because I'll be 28 this year and 28 is my lucky number.

Have a Lucky New Year!