Story Time!!
Being that yesterday was Easter, I spent the weekend at my parents house. As my car is still out of commission, I had take the train back home. My parents drove me over to the station and said they would wait until I got on the train. I could see flashing red lights as the boom gates came down across the road, indicating the soon-to-be arrival of my train. I hopped out of the truck and run towards the platform, hoping I wouldn't miss the train. There was an elevated sidewalk just before you go through the fence to enter the platform. I noted it, and tried to step up onto it without having to stop or slow down. However, my foot didn't quite clear the curb and I tripped.
In my left hand I had a glass vase full of roses that I had gotten this weekend. As the concrete came up to meet me, I only had one clear, coherent thought: I must save the vase!!! So I threw my arm up to avoid the impending contact between the concrete and the vase. The flowers survived, undamaged. My shin, however, was not so lucky.
I peeled myself off of the sidewalk and watched as the train pulled into the station. I took a split second to evaluate my injuries and calculate the possibility of making it down the rest of the side walk, through the fence, onto the platform, pulling out my public transportation card, scanning it, and then onto the train.
Nope, I thought to myself. Not happening.
I heard the sound of my dad's truck door opening as I proceeded to stand up. "You alright?" he called as he hurried over.
"I'm good," I said, trying to keep my voice light and cheerful while my leg screamed it's protest. No, we are NOT fine, it asserted. WE are in PAIN!!!
"Well, there's your train," my dad said as he stopped next to me and helped me collect the things I had dropped.
"Yeah..." I replied. "I'll just catch the next one."
My phone, which had been in my jacket pocket, was lying face up on the pavement. I picked it up and inspected the screen. No damage. I felt the camera lens to make sure it hadn't cracked. Still good. Whew.
My step-mom said they would stay while I waited for the next train and told me to wait in the truck with them where it was warm. I was happy to oblige. While sitting in the truck I was able to assess the damage on my leg. It wasn't as bad as it could have been (there was no blood dripping down my leg), but it was pretty bad. I also noticed that the back of my phone seemed a little banged up towards the top, and upon further inspection found that the back of the phone had cracked. Thankfully, it is still functioning properly.
I managed to catch the next train (I made sure I was on the platform at least 5 minutes before it pulled into the station), and I settled into a seat that was unoccupied. As the train went along, the air conditioning was on, moving the air in the car around. The air moving across my exposed shin made the injury sting even more.
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| Shortly after the incident, riding the train home. |
I talked to my roommate and asked if we had a first aid kit. Naturally, we don't (something to be remedied with my next paycheck). Luckily, the best friend had a first aid kit, and as she was driving me home from the station she was happy to bring it along.
I got home, cleaned up my wound, and used the Neosporin spray that the best friend let me borrow (side note: can I just say that whoever thought to make Neosporin into a spray was freaking genius? It was nice to not have to rub the cream over my skinned shin). I prepared to put on some Band-Aids and realized that the gauze portion of said Band-Aids would certainly not cover the area of offense, and that I would, in fact, end up with the sticky portion of the bandages covering most of it. That simply would not do, as even the thought of trying to peel that off made me cringe.
So I resorted to using a paper towel as a protection between the affected area and the Band-Aids. It worked out splendidly.
Sleeping was awful. There were only so many sleeping positions I could utilize without causing a stinging pain to radiate up and down my leg. Not to mention I am fairly confident that the concrete not only took skin but left some bruising as well. Every once in a while during the night I would forget about my leg and lay on it, or I would brush it against the sheets/blanket in the wrong way. So troublesome...
This morning I woke up and realized I needed to shower. It took me a few minutes to muster up enough courage to actually get into the shower and do so. I devised a plan that I thought would make the experience less painful, but alas, I was wrong. Thankfully I woke up early enough that the extra time spent in the shower didn't hinder me too much from catching the bus, though I was a bit slower walking to the stop today.
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| This morning at work, before putting a new bandage on it. |
So far it hasn't been too problematic. Every now and then I'll accidentally bump it, or I'll get distracted by my work and it has to send out a cry of injustice just to remind me that it's still there. But other than that, it hasn't been too bad, but that's probably just the Midol that I took this morning.
Anyways, I had to share my epic movie moment story (because let's be honest, running to catch a train and tripping just as it's pulling into the station is totally something you'd see in some romantic comedy. Only there was no attractive male lead to come and sweep me off my feet after the incident...). I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend and that the rest of your week is totally awesome!
