Dangerous Fall

A silk move from last weekend (not the night of the fall).

NOTE: the video embedded in here is just a random drop I do, it is not really dangerous and is not the one I fell on.

Last night was my first time (since age 2) that I was inside an emergency room.  But getting there is a long story, so let me start from the beginning.

On Sunday night I threw a dinner party at my house - I made chili, cornbread, brownies, rice and salad.  I ended up with 7 or 8 guys and one other girl.  lol  However, everyone pretty much knew one another, so it wasn't awkward.  We played some Wii Fitness and talked and generally had a very good time.  The guy I've gone on a couple dates with, Taylor, was also there.

About 9 p.m., a couchsurfer I'd agreed to host showed up.  He is 19, name is Tyler, and has recently returned from London after one year of college there.  He is originally from FL and wants to finish school in the states.
So anyway, Taylor and Tyler met and talked briefly and then everyone left except Tyler, as everyone else had to work in the morning.

On Monday, I worked from home and Tyler slept in and then played on his computer.  We met my girlfriend Jamie out for lunch at Mellow Mushroom and then came home and worked some more until it was time for me to go to my silk aerial class.  Tyler said he wanted to come along, and the class was from 6 to 7.  Taylor was also going to try to stop by and watch, but he got out of work too late to make it.

Right at 7 p.m., I tried a new drop called 'kamikaze.'  This was the same drop that I had seen a girl do around Thanksgiving when she fell and broke a vertebrae in her neck.  However, it was believed that she passed out in the air, and that is why she fell. But anyway, having witnessed that fall, I was hesitant about trying that move.  However, there was a very thick, fluffy pad under my silk and the floors at the climbing gym where I was taking class are also padded.

I was about 15 feet up, hanging upside down in the air.  I had the silk wrapped a certain way so that when I opened my legs into a straddle, I would drop about 5 feet.  I was supposed to keep holding onto the tail ends of the silk with my hands, and that would be what stopped me.  So, I finally got brave enough to open my legs, felt myself plummeting head down, and then - CRASH.  I landed on my neck.  (Not my head, exactly, because I curled my head under).  My body came down on top of my head and I essentially did a somersault.  I heard my whole neck crunch and pop, and I was in a lot of pain, but I was still moving.  Brian, the instructor, wouldn't let me sit up, but I was rolling around and moving my extremities in pain. 

Again, a not-so-dangerous silk move.

The people who worked at Inner Peaks (the rock climbing gym), came rushing over and one guy made me lay flat on my back and put his hands on both sides of my head so I couldn't move it.  I was so uncomfortable and felt sure that if they'd just let me move, it would feel better.  However, that was not allowed.  Brian (the teacher) kept holding my hand and talking to me and I kept saying "What did I do wrong?"  And he kept saying "We'll talk about that later, just worry about you."  Finally, Inner Peaks decided they were calling 911, whether I wanted them to or not.  I had Brian call my mom and he was very good about being incredibly calm to not make her more scared than she would be already.

Mom and Dad were on their way to Inner Peaks when the paramedics arrived and put a very uncomfortable, hard neck brace on me, then started strapping me to a board to put me on the stretcher.  They asked what hospital I wanted to go to, and I said, "Can we wait until my mom gets here?"  And they said yes, but then I realized it would be easier to have Mom and Dad meet us at Matthews Presbyterian because Inner Peaks is very hard to find.  Tyler called them and they agreed, but then after I was wheeled through the whole place like an idiot and put in the ambulance, they said they needed to take me uptown because I'd fallen from over 10 feet. So then Tyler called Mom and Dad back, who were already at Matthews Presby, and told them to meet us uptown.

Meanwhile, Taylor had texted me right before my fall and said they'd had a bomb threat at work.  I texted back, while waiting for the medics, that I had fallen, then someone took my phone.  I kept asking Brian what I did wrong with the drop, and he said it looked like I just let go.  What I think happened was that this drop is very similar to another drop we do, but in that drop, when you open your legs into straddle, you let go with your hands.  I think my muscle memory just took over and I let go when I was supposed to hold on. Oops.

Anyway, so I'm in the ambulance and I think, "I need to text Taylor again and tell him I'm sort of okay." (I mean, I wasn't paralyzed, so that's a start).  So I asked the paramedic who was with me to ask for my phone through the window and she came back and said, "Your friend is using it right now - he's on the phone with your boyfriend."  I said, "My boyfriend?" and she said "Do you have a boyfriend?" and I said, "Not that I know of!"  And the woman medic said, "Well I guess you do now." hahaha  Anyway, Tyler had called Taylor when reading my text from him and told him what was happening, and Taylor said he'd meet us at the hospital too.

Meanwhile, Brian, my teacher, was also going to the hospital, but apparently never got the  memo that I was being sent to the uptown one.  He said he was in the ER waiting room, but when Tyler went to look for him, he couldn't find him. We realized after everything that he was at the wrong hospital - I felt so bad since he'd been waiting for over an hour!

Only my mother would actually take a picture of me like this!

Anyway, so I'm waiting for the doctor to check me out and my neck is still in this crazy hard neck brace when Mom and Dad walk in.  After they come over and Mom freaks out a little and holds my hand, she finally calms down.  Dad and Tyler are really hungry, so they migrate to the cafeteria  Right after they left, I notice a very tall presence in the room, but I can't see who it is because all I have is peripheral vision since I can only look upward. The doctor was talking to me at the time I think, but anyway, when he was done, Taylor came over and held my hand and made me laugh - which hurt, but was good and distracting.  I was pretty pissed because they wouldn't let me have my water until after they did the CT scan.  My hands and feet were also freezing.  Then the doctor came and poked and prodded me and said he had a very good feeling that I was okay, but that they'd take me to get the scan soon.  When I got wheeled off, Taylor followed  my stretcher (on his gimpy ankle which he'd badly sprained on Friday when we went to the trampoline park to play dodgeball), which was good because it was kind of far to the radiology unit and all I could see was the ceiling, so it was good to have someone there talking to me. 

Finally, they wheel me back and suddenly I'm glad they didn't let me have my water because now I have to pee so badly and they won't let me move until they get the results back.  The nurse tells the doctor to rush things, which he does - when he came back, he said I was not broken or fractured!  They took the brace off me and, with considerable help, I sat up and mom helped me hobble to the bathroom.  Back in my room, it seemed like forever before they returned to take the shunt out of my arm (which they never used and has since left a nice bruise).  In the meantime, I pulled off all the little sticky things they'd stuck all over me. Finally they gave me the dismissal papers.

Oh great, let's get a close up.

As we walked down the hallway toward the garage, Taylor put his arm around me as I was rather woozy and couldn't really move my head, and he was rather limpy.  Mom started laughing behind us and said we made quite a pair.  At long last, my family loaded up into our car and drove back to Inner Peaks so Mom and Tyler could follow Dad and me home.  Taylor went home as it was already after 10 and he had work in the morning.

That night, Mom, Tyler and I ate dinner at 11 p.m.  I was so hungry, but it hurt to move and eat - my esophagus somehow got bruised (probably from the neck brace), so that's no fun.  I also have long red marks on the back of my neck from the brace and bruising.

Sleeping last night sucked, since every time I needed to move, I had to literally move my head with my hands because I couldn't actually lift it with my neck.  Today I was very tired and sore, but I think it may be worse tomorrow, as I'm starting to feel sore in other spots of my body including my back and arms.  I did, however, go to the chiropractor and get a gentle adjustment which was good.  I also went to see Grandma and Grandpa who were so relieved I was okay, and then I went to a dinner and the first part of a concert at my church.  I know, I know, probably not a good idea, but I'd already paid for it.  I did leave 2 hours early though and now I'm about to go ice my neck and watch a little TV before bed.



Oh, and we dropped Tyler off at a bus stop today as he was headed to Davidson to visit a friend there.  I tell you what though, that poor kid is probably  never going to CouchSurf again!