Extreme Sports

So last week I went snowboarding for the first time and had a blast.  I loved it so much that yesterday I bought my own snowboard and boots! Today I headed up to Mount Hood Meadows with my friend Alan, who is a great snowboarder.  We've been talking about going since Thanksgiving and finally did.  Alan was so patient with me, a beginner.  I had several falls on our first run down the mountain and was much slower than him, but he always waited for me and didn't get frustrated (as far as I could tell).  On our second ride up the lift, I fell trying to get off.  They stopped the lift and I scurried out of the way (once again dragging my dignity behind me).

On the second run, I decided to take my game to the next level by pointing my snowboard more downhill instead of doing the "falling leaf" pattern.  At one point I was going pretty fast downhill, lost control and fell back.  I tried to break my fall with my wrist... and instead just broke my wrist.  I heard a crack when I landed, took off my glove and thought, "Uh oh, this is not good." My wrist was bent and deformed.  Alan had just gone around a curve so I couldn't see him and he couldn't see me, but I knew he was waiting for me just around the bend.  I tried to get back up on my snowboard, but there was no way for me to lift myself up.  So I unhooked my boots, picked up my board and walked around to where Alan was waiting.  I'm sure I looked pretty pathetic and defeated.  "Um Alan, I think I broke my wrist." He took one look and agreed that this was not good.

Alan was so great - he carried both of our snowboards down the hill, walked me to the clinic, answered the nurse's questions about the incident, and waited while they set up my examination.  Thanks, Alan!  The doctors were wonderful. They took x-rays, numbed my wrist with 3 big shots and pulled and pushed to get my bones back in place, and set it in a splint.  I was in and out within an hour.

My friend Drew and coworker Mary Lee were also on the mountain and were kind enough to check in on me before we headed out.  This was definitely not the fun, adventurous day I was expecting.  It's incredible how one instance can affect so much over the next few weeks.  Especially when it's your right wrist and hand that are immobile.  The smallest tasks - making a sandwich, brushing my teeth, putting my hair in a ponytail, writing this post - can be so difficult and take 5 times longer than usual. This is my first time to ever break a bone, so I've broken my streak of "unbrokenness".

But I'm not defeated by this one accident. As soon as that cast is off, I'm heading right back up to the mountain!  This was just my initiation.

deformed

the xray of the broken bone before it was set