Injuries!

I'm sure some of you have interesting stories to tell behind some crazy injuries. Or maybe you narrowly avoided injury during some death-defying stunts?

Anyway, share, dudes, share. This is a place for anecdotes, after all!

While running up an escalator once, I fell and ripped the skin off my big toe. My white slippers became rather red!

And the best part was, I didn't realise this until I walked a few more metres, wondering why my foot hurt so much.

The skn?!
I'd heard of nails coming off, but skin?!

Wow, and Ouch!

Well, I vaguely remember falling down a concrete hill when I was about 10/11 and got a scar on my knee for that XD

Then when I was 12 I got hit by a car right outside my school, but only got a small scar on the palm of my hand and shock. My helmet (I was on my bike) on the other hand split right down the middle

I have two scars on my inner wrist from when my arm went through a window. Accidentally, I might add.
It was about a year ago, I can still remember looking down at my arm and seeing longshards of glass sticking out of it. Oh, and pulling them out.

I have never seen a helmet split down the middle!

Split helmet means un-split skull => good.

I did have a picture of it... but I appear to have lost it. I think my Dad might have it on his laptop

I've got three.

When I was seven, I got a shiner on my cheek from getting pushed down the slide face first in the wintertime and there was a patch of ice at the bottom.
[if you google "shiner" it's the cheek injury, not the black eye. Or the fish...]

When I was 14 I hit the soft tissue between the joint in my elbow... Guys, try not to do that, EVER. I hit it on a curb.

Just yesterday I burned my finger on hot water from the vegetable steamer. Yeah.

I broke my arm when I was three from falling off a slide...ah, those were the good days when I didn't have to wait for hours at a hospital!

Aren't slides, like, not very high up? lol, sorry.

[I didn't realise this would be so long, sorry!]

The most exhilerating thing that happened to me recently was nearly drowning a few weeks ago, whilst kayaking at sea.
Now, I'm pretty damn good with a paddle, if I do say so myself (Wow, that sounds wrong! Oh, well!)
The thing is, I was in an old river kayak: long, good for manoeuvering and long journeys etc.
However it's not good for when you're at sea. As in: not at all adapted to waves, takes on water easily, a bit too heavy and basically the shape's all wrong and so is a whole bunch of stuff.

So you'd think, when you have that kind of kayak, you avoid going too far out, you avoid the crashing waves, right?
Well, I didn't. The tide was coming in, so there were these huge waves (like, they went way over my head) over the bigger rocks (that reveal themselves at low tide) which were quite far from the shore.
Now, I'd just like to say that I have "surfed" whilst kayaking loads of times, without any unfortunate events. That day, however the wind had picked up remakably, the currents were super strong and there were probably many more reasons for me to get the hell out of there.
What did I do? I headed for the big waves. Real smart, I know.
So I "surfed" these huges waves for quite a while having a great time. After a while, though, I noticed I'd taken in quite a bit of water, so decided I should head back shortly. Yet, I couldn't help it, it was "just one more," then "oh, just this one."
Unfortunatly I was caught off-guard by two waves that kind of crossed paths (b/c of weird rock formations beneath the surface, I think) so I did some crazy manoeuver to avoid it which meant I totally wasn't prepared for what came next.
That would be the big wave that hit me.
It was like I was surfing, except this time I was facing somewhere between sideways and backwards with the currents against me as opposed to forwards with the currents in my favour, thus had no control.
My kayak was heavy with water, making any manoeuvering extremely difficult. The force of the wave made it nearly impossible.
I was desperately trying to get out of the mess I was in, but before I could really even do anyhting I capsized.

That was one of the most vivid moments of my life. I remember my surprise as I felt an incredible force knock the kayak out from beneath me. I remember seeing the blinding white spray I was about to fall into, and going deaf from the roar of the ocean.
Once upside down, I was stuck half in-half out of the boat. Without a sparing a single moment, I gave a harsh kick and pushed my self downwards as hard as I could, freeing myself. The cost of my freedom was plunging into deep water. I'd deperately tried to go as far down as I could and now had to desperately try to get back up again.
I managed to quickly get to the surface, only to be hit in the face by another wave. I was coughing and spluttering, but I was above the water.

I didn't even waste a nanosecond recovering and feeling thankful. My only thoughts were "Shit! My Boat! Shit! My paddle! I can't let them go adrift!" (Something I would laugh about later.)
After succesfully recovering both -though not without some struggle- I managed to get to a calmer spot, with no waves and mild currents.
Having come down from the survival instinct high or adreneline rush or whatever it is they go on about during action scenes in novels, I felt drained.
I had a 2 metre long paddle in one hand and was holding a heavy kayak by a side handle with the other. I wasn't too far away from the shore, but right then -when I was treading water with no idea how deep it was and had a boat and paddle to drag back- it seemed like an awfully long swim.
Now, I'm an okay swimmer, by most standards. I'm not fast, nor do I have any real technique, but I get by. The only thing that troubled me was that I always tended to rely on my more powerful arms when swimming than my legs, sometimes hardly bothering to kick. And right then, my hands were full; I had to swim back with my legs alone and manage to stay afloat without the help of my arms.
It was long, it was tough, but I made it. I can't tell you how thankful I was that I have a naturally good endurance that I've cultivated over the last year.

Thinking back on it, when I finally got to the beach, I'm sure I must've gotten a curious look or to. There I was, in my swimsuit, dragging a kayak, then lay down in the sand gasping for breath.

Know what I did once I recovered? Yeah, I went back out there
(I stayed clear of the larger waves though!)

That sounds really scary... :O But memorable!

I have nearly drowned before too, when I was a little kid who drifted away to the deep end instead of paying attention to the swimming class. Didn't put me off swimming though!

I remember the lure of the deep end during my kiddie swimming classes!
Good thing it didn't put you off though!

Woah Nina, you crazy hedgehog!

The way you described that was really awesome- cliche, I know - I felt like I was there. Great use of language! (And I'll stop sounding like an English teacher... NOW!)

Injuries...
I've been hit by a car - but due to my amazing luck (and possibly quick reflexes) I got away with a slightly-busted ankle, bits of skin missing from said ankle, and the usual cuts and bruises. Thank goodness for Goth boots, yeah?

I've got a nice scar under my left arm from falling out of a window, aged 11, on holiday. The latch decided to embed itself in there. *thumbs up*

I snapped a tendon in the same ankle that got the most grief from my disagreement with a car- about six years earlier, whilst roller skating.

And I currently have a massive bruise on my hip and a smaller but no-less-painful one on my left hand. Due to hooping.

Ah, big bruises!!

I got one the size of my knee from falling while climbing up a different flight of stairs. Yes, I have a tendency of falling DOWN while climbing UP something.

I've got two stories I guess...

The first happened when I was about four I think. My older sister and I were at our babysitter's house (my sister having just got back from her day at school) and we were waiting for my mom to come pick us up. It's all a bit vague, but she ended up swinging me around and around and around the living room. Unfortunately, she was wearing socks and the floor was nice and polished and slippery. She slid and fell, thus making me fall as well, where upon I cushioned her fall. So there was lots of crying (from me) and lots of apologising (from her) but in the end our mother showed up and took us home.

During dinner, my dad noticed that I was eating with my left hand, which was unusual seeing as how I'm right-handed. So he said to my mom, "There's something wrong with her."

"No there's not. She's fine."

"No, really. Look at the way she's eating. I think there's something wrong with her."

"She's fine."

But despite my mother's reassurances, he took me to the hospital, and it ended up that I had a broken collarbone. Good on you, mom XD



The other one happened this summer while I was up north visiting some relatives. We had gone to this campground place and my aunt's friends had an ATV (y'know, like a quad or whatever...) and they were letting us go out for rides on them. I had never driven an ATV before, but I was pretty confident that it wouldn't be a problem. So I took my older sister out for a bit of a ride, being slightly reckless and going faster than I normally would have. At one point in the gravel road, there was a curve that was slanting a bit towards the ditch and this was where I decided to turn around. Being the idiot that I am, I was going too fast and before I knew it the ditch was fast approching and I blanked, forgetting where the brake was.

So into the ditch we went, sister and I. I recall seeing the ATV flip right overtop of my head and all I was thinking was ohshitohshitohshitohshit.

By the time I got up I was shaking all over and I felt so cold even though it must've been close to +30 out. I looked around for my sister, and found her with her leg trapped underneath the ATV, pinned by the wheel. She was a saint through that entire ordeal, never losing her cool and calmly talking me through lifting the wheel off her leg. The first time I tried I couldn't get it, but I managed to lift that stupid thing and free her.

At this point, we insert the panic attack.

During my hyperventilations and crying fits, we got the vehicle out of the ditch and turned back the right way. And then my sister made me drive back (the fool) and then I had to explain to the owners of the ATV that we rolled into a ditch (no damage, thankfully). I'd received a few scratches on my arm and shoulder, but that was the worst of the injuries. The scars haven't gone away yet though.

Aaaand I spent the rest of the night drinking away my sorrow. I don't think I've ever cried that much in my life, to be honest.

And just recently, I found out that my sister had pushed me off the ATV when we started rolling into the ditch, thus probably saving my life. So I kind of owe her one...

Wow, Alyss, that sounded pretty crazy
I guess it's a good thing you only had a few scratches.

And, Aana, your poor ankle! Yikes!
Btw, I very much approve of "crazy hedgehog!" XD

I'm glad, I wanted something original-ish, but not too random. I hope it worked...


And Alyss, you broke your collarbone and your mum didn't notice?! That's CRAZY!

...I think I remember you mentioning the ATV incident before, in a PM... I had no idea you were so upset about it! *glomps*

Yeah when I PM'd you, I was still pretty shaken about it, so I was trying not to think about it too much... I've never felt so guilty or wretched in my life. Even now whenever I think about it (without the blubbering and tears) I keep imagining what might've happened if my sister hadn't pushed me out of the way.

(i.e. a rather large and yellow ATV landing nicely on top of my head and crushing my skull Sometimes it really sucks to have a vivid imagination!)

>o< Eek, you guys had some serious scrapes with death... I'm glad you're still alive!

Here's my stupidity induced story: I was goofing off today before the football game this evening, and I tried to climb up the wall. (You know, where your feet are on one wall and your hands are on the other?) I guess my sleeves were covering my hands because I slipped. My friend I hit the ground so hard that she thought I broke my nose, but I didn't even hit my face. Of all things, I sprained my finger. Not my wrist or even my hand, but one finger.

Maybe it's Fate saying I'm on the computer too much, 'cause it hurts to type... ;~;

Ooh, owie!

I hope your finger gets better soon

I'm glad you didn't get crushed Alyss, I'd miss you lots!

I had a similar experience with an ATV about three years ago. Much like Alyss, I was driving on a road and went to turn around, landing in a smaller ditch. My ATV went to roll over, and my first instinct was to jump off of it the opposite way, so I was unharmed. I don't ride ATV's anymore, although my dad and siblings use them on their hunting trips.

As for actual injuries, I fell and cut my knee in kindergarten, requiring stitches...I attempted to do a cartwheel on my trampoline when I was about ten, jamming my middle finger of all places...then I jammed the exact same finger playing dodgeball in 10th grade. But I have never actually BROKEN a bone, knock on wood.

Then just this week, my new puppy Rosie decided to get crazy--she loves to try and lick you, and she lunged at my face when I was playing with her and bonked my nose HARD. I was expecting it to start bleeding, but it didn't. And just yesterday, she got so excited and tried to attack my hand, scraping one of her teeth on my hand. Ouch.

Story time!


I fell.
While walking.

I know, it sounds remakably far from epic, doesn't it?

Nevermind that I was walking at a swift pace. Nevermind that it was downhill. Nevermind that I actually slipped on some godawful black ice.

I fell face first and ate the pavement. My teeth hurt.
I slid down it over quite some distance (downhill, remeber?) I don't recognize my kneecaps. I had bits of gravel stuck in my hand. My palms are missing their skin. As is my nose, it's almost skinless.

Nothing is broken, just my ego.

I mean, what do you expect? Everyone assumes I was propelled off of my bike/hit by a car/fell from a rooftop. And each time, I have to explain that, no, there were no death defying stunts, no incredible feat of bravery (as there usually is regarding my war wound stories.) There was just me, walking, and the pavement.


Also: Once I was down, my school bag followed. It hit me in the head, thus slamming my head into the cement. I was knocked out.
That was a killer excuse for missing school though:
"Why weren't you here yesterday morining?"
"Oh, sorry, I just wasn't quite conscious."

There's also this gem:
"What happened to your nose?"
"I fell."
"That's what you get for drinking."
"It was at 8 in the morning!"
"Well, you shouldn't be drinking in the morning!"


Luckily my pride was partially saved.
Whenever someone gasped and asked "Did you go to hospital?" I took joy in telling them, "Nah, I spat on the wounds, grabbed some aspirin and went to my afternoon classes."

Yeah, I'm still hardcore
(Though I did actually disinfect the wounds, I'm not crazy!)

Last spring, at a rehearsal for a One-Act Play-Writing festival (in which I was directing a musical my friend and I created) and my co-director was out sick. So I was filling in for her part/director position.

I was running down the aisle in the house (audience) of the theater after finding a spare script somewhere... There was a backpack in the aisle... And being an idiot...I tripped and fell over it. This in and of itself is not so bad. Or wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't kept moving.

I should have just sat down. But I kept going all rehearsal, dancing and everything and putting ice on it when I had a chance to sit.

Turns out that when I saw the doctor the next day, if I had walked on it any more, it would have been broken. That is how badly it was sprained. But... it was still the best rehearsal ever.

(My DI team was ready to kill me... We had regional competition two days after I walked into school with a boot on... ...oopsies.)

What's DI?

It's short for Destination Imagination. In short, it's a problem-solving tournament. It's really obscure, but it's nationwide. Worldwide. Whatever. Basically, you get a challenge at the beginning of the school year (or even earlier, like summer break) and then your team (seven people maximum) creates a solution to the problem meeting the criteria. It was Odessey of the Mind for a long time, actully. It wasn't too long ago when it was changed. I love it, my team is absolutely insane. :3

hope that kinda clears things up a tad.