Every morning a wake up with a stiff neck (ok, this may be due to my pillow), a hurting right shoulder, and plenty of assorted creaking and groaning joints. I turned 30, ran my first marathon and my body promptly gave out on me.
I've realized now that years of abusing my body have started to catch up with me. I have problems all over that I can trace directly back to some single or series of injuries. Please see exhibit A, my knuckles. This first photo is my left fist. Notice the evenness of the knuckles? This is how my right one used to look...
This is the right... See the difference? Originally my middle knuckle (second from right) was the highest but now is sort of dropped. I can thank Timmy for that one; he decided to crush it between a 50-pound roll of steel banding and a concrete floor. It is harder to see in this shot but my pinky knuckle is also a bit droopy. There is plenty of guilt to go around for that one but the perpetrators happen to be brothers; The Coach and Mr Cool. The latter did the breaking while the former sealed the deal by diagnosing it as merely "out of socket" and yanking on it a few times. According to Sarah, I have what is medically known as "jacked up metacarpals," or a bent hand.
These are the kinds of things that make me feel 10 years older than I am. It's a difficult thing with which to come to terms, but I believe that I will - to use the best line from "The Outlaw Josey Wales" - endeavor to persevere.
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Well, while I shant doubt I played a significant role in your advanced aging, but I need more specifics. Was that the time we were jumping off 20ft sanddunes, full contact basketball/wiffleball/football/ trampoline, or was it one of the more mundane activities such as BB gun wars? As I recall, many a copperhead ball was inbedded in your extremities. I too groan old even at a ripe young age, but it is nice to attibute those creaks and cracks to specific events - like that tackle into your timber and rock retaing wall: was that wiffleball or badminton, it all runs together. Good memories, and my orthopedic surgeon thanks all you who helped, he really likes his new boat...
ReplyDeleteJacked Up Metacarpals are playing the Warped Tour....
ReplyDeleteWelcome to your thirties baby!
Don't blame me for your slow reaction time. We basically had time for a cup of coffee from the time we realized what happened until your hand was a pancake (leave it to the fat guy to usea a lot of food references).
ReplyDeleteTimmy T
It's funny that The Coach misdiagnosed your pinky "dislocation." I, I mean, he had a trainer at a meet misdiagnose a kid as having a tightened hamstring and attempted to stretch him. It turns out that the kid's hip was broken in three places and the muscles had locked to prevent injury (an evolutionary feat if ever there was one).
ReplyDeleteAh yes....and all the Certified Athletic Trainers in the world cringe and draw away from their computers......
ReplyDeleteBroken hips shouldn't be the hardest thing in the world for an Athletic Trainer to pick up on....that poor kid....
Tammi-
ReplyDeletePlease know I don't blame athletic trainers in general. This person was an idiot who happened to be employed as an athletic trainer.
Unfortunately, the training table at this event (the test run for the state championship site) was inside the "restricted area" where coaches were not allowed to be. It took 20 minutes and some un-friendly negotiations before I or his parents were allowed in. We had to rely on information from his teammates until then. Plus I received an official reprimand for my intrusion into the restricted area.
The kid has started to run again - 18 months later. The break was probably pre-existing.
Oh, dear Lord--I just looked at my knuckles and they are all messed up! And I'm a girl?! What did I do wrong in my past? Should I blame piano?
ReplyDeleteNice response guys! I didn't expect that the sentiment would be so universal. I'm glad we can all be invalids together.
ReplyDeleteHey I feel left out if you want I can make your left hand look more like your right unfortunately I not have the medical training like most of your assaulters. But what I am laking in training I make up in effort.
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