Broken Bones
Last week I broke a bone for the second time in my life.

The first time I was 15, in a park across the road from the laundrette where my mum was doing our washing because our machine had packed in (stupid Currys). I went on the swing, swung, higher and higher...

And then hit the ground. These were the days before they put that relatively soft tarmacy stuff on top of the concrete.

A nice man nearby phoned an ambulance and went to get my mum. The doctor said later I'd hit the ground backwards at about 50 mph. I fractured the top part of my back and was in hospital for 6 days, then home for 4 weeks. At least school sent work home, oh joy...

We later discovered that the underneath of the swing was cracked and that's why it couldn't support my weight. When I spoke to the council to ask them to fix it, they said "oh no, it's not broken, you must have been too heavy." It was an adult swing and I weighed 6.5 stone at the time....

Anyway, fast forward ten years. Saturday afternoon, just arrived at a friend's party, had a coke and half a burger and I go to the bathroom. I look at the step before me. It's one of those houses where there is a foot drop between the step and the stone floor. "Wow," I think, "That's a bit steep, I better be careful."

I don't remember anything next apart from landing so hard on my right side that I thought I was going to pass out.

My friend Cynthia found me and propped me up in the kitchen with a bag of peas on my foot, then Mr Cakelady came in from the garden and took me to hospital - turns out I'd fractured my 5th metatarsal. Lovely. Now I am in a big plaster cast until Monday when (hopefully) it gets swapped for a lighter, fibreglass one.

My house (b3ta member DracoRattus) and Mr Cakelady have been awesome, bringing me stuff to do and moving things to within my limited reach.

At least the bulky cast makes my thigh look thin in comparison. Every cloud....

Also: I'm supposed to be going to China in just over 2 weeks. Anyone have experience on crutches in Beijing? I've heard some of the Great Wall is now disabled friendly...
( cakelady, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 9:06, 11 replies)

China (maybe a bit less so Beijing now)
is generally not disabled friendly, even the tourist spots. So while you may find a couple of places that cater to your needs, expect to be taxiing rather than bussing / undergrounding, and be stared at even more than usual. Bleh.
(zenmeban thinks the weather could be better, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 11:19, closed)

Yeah
I was reading about the 2008 paralympics, and how the general population of China were given leaflets about people with disabilities and how to react to them!
( cakelady, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 14:50, closed)

or more likely
just the general populations of the city/ies in which events were held ... the Chinese will stare at you anyway, even in so-called cosmopolitan Beijing, and you might get pointed at a bit, and if you're very lucky you'll hear them say excitedly to one another, "lao wai lao wai" which is basically "foreigner" (this happens less in the major coastal cities but it still goes on) ... if you want to have some fun, point back and say "zhong guo ren" which means "Chinese person" and grin :)
(zenmeban thinks the weather could be better, Sat 31 Jul 2010, 0:56, closed)

Haha!
I might do that.
( cakelady, Sat 31 Jul 2010, 18:23, closed)

Metatarsal breaks fooking hurt
If it helps, it'll hurt a lot less if you break it again.
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 13:19, closed)

It helps a bit!
Thanks :)
( cakelady, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 14:49, closed)

No worries!
Happy Candle Day!

Also, once the big cast comes off, it'll hurt a lot less.
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 16:31, closed)

That IS good news
I hope to have it off on Monday, and switched for plastic/fibreglass. Maybe I'll get to pick the colour!
( cakelady, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 17:39, closed)

I was quite shocked by it too
Hope it's feeling better!
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Mon 2 Aug 2010, 9:12, closed)

50mph? From falling off a swing?
They may have been doctors, but they were shaky as hell on basic physics. To reach 50mph, you would have had to fall from 25 to 26 metres up. A more sensible speed of impact would be 15-18mph.

/physics nazi
( MatJ LOOK, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 18:08, closed)

It could be that they said 15
and in my painful state I misheard
( cakelady, Sat 31 Jul 2010, 16:00, closed)