Save me from my shins

Photo of the Day 02/26/11 - Snoqualmie Valley ER Photo of the Day 02/25/11 - Pike Street - Seattle - Hard Rock Cafe

I love the phrase "hindsight is 20/20". It makes me giggle but it's usually true and best used when there's no way in hail you would have ever known that the predicament you're in now would have happened. Well, let me tell you about my weekend! Friday night we drove up to Hard Rock Cafe in Seattle to see our friends band: A Leaf . We thought they'd play at 10 but they weren't going on until 11:30. So, we said "hi" and left because we had BIG PLANS to get up to Snoqualmie for a day of snowboarding. There's been a TON of slow lately and it was going to be busy so we wanted to leave early. (Hindsight: We should have watched A Leaf and slept-in the next day)

Here's the scenario that's making me wish we'd never even left the HOUSE on Saturday....

2nd run of the day, I'm cruising down an easy run. Out of nowhere this kid pops out of the woods. I'm thinking, "he is going to fly right in front of me without even looking!" He does. Narrowly missing Dan, he drops in a few feet and falls on his face directly in front of me. He probably saw Dan but has no idea that I'm directly behind him. I have NO TIME to react. His board comes up and my shins, both of them, slam into the edge of his snowboard. HARD. I think I flipped over him and rolled because I ended up on the other side of the run. This all happened super-duper fast but slow in my mind, of course. I layed there, beating the ground and cursing like a sailor in my head. The kid got up right away, his fall was insignificant and the blunt force of my entire body hit just his board and so I'm certain he is fine. He claims he didnt see me and asks if I'm okay. "Of course you didnt see me, you didn't look at all, dude!" "I'm fine," I mutter. Meanwhile Dan has stopped and unstrapped his bindings to run back and check on me.

It hurts like a mofo but I decide to shrug it off. I've got some cuts in my (new) pants but I'm wearing about 4 layers and dont feel like taking a look at it now, in the middle of the run.

We continue down the mountain for another 45 minutes and end up at the bottom of a run, near a lodge. I feel tingling in my left shin and warm sensation in my right. Time to check on it, just to be safe. I hobble over to the lodge and, once inside, lift my pant leg. Blood. Through socks and two pairs of long johns there are cuts and blood. "Maybe this is worse than I thought," I think to myself. I'll spare you all the details. The medics come in and clean it up. I've got bruising and abrasions all over my left leg and two lacerations on my right leg. The top lacerations is a fairly shallow 2 inch gauge. They dont let me see the "big" wound on my right leg so I know it's bad. They tell Dan I have to go to the ER.

Danggit! I haaaaate the ER! I got a pretty rad snowmobile ride back to the car complete with sirens and a motorcycle helment.

We get to the ER, do the x-rays, wait, get it cleaned, wait, eat my lunch, wait, get anisthesia, get it stiched up, get it wrapped up, and head home! They said the x-ray showed a tiny sliver of a fracture but it's fine. Thank GOD it wasn't broken! I am so sensitive about my shins and knees. This was the worst place for me to get hurt. I'm feeling much better and it's an interesting story. I still wish it hadn't happened but, as they say, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."