essay #9... Practice final

When I think of disaster, I think of death and destruction. My life has not had much of any disasters thrown upon it , but there was a traumatic experience that left me waiting for the doctor to tell me if I was ever going to walk again. Picture in your head a gorgeous summer day with the birds singing and the energy of a young teenager who is enjoying the summer off from school. I was having the time of my life with my best friend, and my dad and my dad's friend just 1/2 a mile from home. My Dad was helping his friend build his new home in a newly expanding part of our community in Fort Kent, Maine. It was early along in the home's construction, so the foundation was freshly cured, and they were building upon it. I, as my friend, were their helpers.

We would help (when we were not playing around!) by bringing them what they needed for building supplies. Since it was a construction in progress, we would have to pass them the stuff they needed by walking the plank. No seriously. We got what they asked for from the truck and got onto the slab of foundation by walking on some boards because walls of the basement had not yet been back filled with dirt. All was fine until my smart and courageous ass decided that I would try to jump across the berm.

I sprinted to get enough momentum to jump the gap between the home and the yard. I made the jump, but barely. I landed kinda funny, and ended up in a heap. I did not think much of it because I still had the rush of adrenaline coarsening through me. But when I got back up, and tried to walk it off, I fell right back down as if my leg was Jello. Then the pain hit. That time I did not get back up either. A wave of excruciating pain seemed to rush from the knee down on my right leg. As I looked at it in horror, my lower leg was pretty much jello. Somehow I twisted my ankle 180 degrees! My toes were literally facing the opposite way. That was the worst pain that I felt in my life. As far away from home as we were, my mother was in the house and she said she heard my screams.

When I got to the hospital, the doctor and nurses seemed like they were not prepared for such a case. The doctor got me in the ER, gave me an x-ray. After a careful study of the film, he laid me down on the table and Then I knew what was coming next. He then (with the help of nurses) had to twist and reposition my ankle back in place. I would not wish that pain upon anyone. I broke nearly every bone from the knee down, and even cracked the growth plate in my ankle twice. After four casts, lots of prayers, physical therapy, I made it through. The leg grew correctly, I was able to walk on it again eventually too after lots of practice. It was like learning to walk all over again.

This disaster had a profound effect on my life. I was not able to go to school for quite a while, so I had a tutor help me with my school work so I would not be held back a grade. Extra curricular activities was out of the question and I was pretty much confined in the house for what seemed like years. I had what seemed like no contact with the outside world unless someone would visit me. So I was pretty much a hermit. I learned to love reading, and to this day I still do. If I could turn back the hands of time, I definitely been a lot more careful, or just tried to jump a little further. I suffered no long-term ill effects from it though. Wait I take that back... to this day I can't watch Stephen King's movie entitled 'Misery'. There is a part of the movie where the lady restrains this man and whacks and breaks both his ankles and the end result is strangely accurate to the injuries that I had.