I first broke an arm when I was in the fifth grade in Mary Jo Wilson’s class in Sandusky, Michigan. That was in the ’60s before anyone heard of global warming. It was cold back then and every year we wondered if we would make it to the family Christmas celebration because of a blizzard. Many times we would make it almost to Grandma’s or an Aunt or Uncle’s house and have to turn around, or have to go home early because of snowy roads. My dad plowed out our driveway with his Oliver Tractor outfitted with a plow that he built from scrap metal. He would push it up into a big pile and we would take our toboggan and slide out into the icy driveway. In the late ’60s Evel Knievel and ABC’s Wide World of Sports were at their peaks and everyone wanted to be a daredevil. So I made a jump on the side of the hill with a shovel. I wasn't very good at engineering then because I went flying down the hill and STOPPED! No flying through the air just instant pain when my chunky body slammed my arm into the top edge of the toboggan breaking my right arm. Somewhat lucky, I am left handed/ambidextrous - I write with my left but can do almost everything else with either hand.
Forty three years later, I am living in Woluwe Saint-Lambert, Belgium. It has been a long time since I went flying through the air in anything other than an airplane. It was a nice sunny morning around 60 degrees on the 26th of March and I was riding my XL touring bicycle with panniers and two baskets on the way to the grocery store. I was flying down the street looking for danger, when suddenly I spotted it. To my right behind a too-tall hedge was a minivan accelerating up the street. In Belgium we have a yield-to the-right rule, which means that if the two roads are equal, the person coming from the right has the right of way similar to a four-way stop in the US. So I put on the brakes as hard as I could. The bike almost stopped completely, but I did not. I went over the handlebars and landed on my head (not on my helmet though - on the side of my face) and my hands. I was in a heap a foot away from where the minivan stopped. I felt like I could have been dead. I used to ride my dirt bike very fast in the woods when I was in high school and fell lots of times. None of the times ever felt this bad. I hurt all over and felt like I might faint. The three guys from the laundry truck got out to help me. I forgot most of the French I had learned, and all I could remember was “Je parle anglais, je suis desolee”, which means “I am sorry, I speak English”. One of them also spoke a little English and we exchanged information. I was the one at fault in the eyes of the law so they didn’t have much to worry about. I picked the bike up and one of them picked up the smashed front basket. When I felt good enough to walk home I pushed the bike home. It felt like both arms might be broken. It was very hard to unlock the doors and I could not lock the bicycle. I made it up the stairs to our apartment and Elizabeth. I had smashed glasses with blood on one lens. She checked my pupils for signs of a concussion and I lay down in bed. I eventually decided that something was wrong and went to the Urgency. Everyone was very nice and I was examined by a future ophthalmologist. She didn’t think anything was broken but she had her supervisor/teacher check me out. He thought my right elbow might be broken and ordered x-rays which confirmed it. They put on a temporary cast and told me that I would get a permanent one the following week. I couldn’t write, which made taking notes and tests very difficult in my French class. Ten days later I went back for the permanent cast and they took another x-ray and said that I had healed well enough that I didn’t need a cast. If I had another one I would lose mobility. So my arm is still broken but it only hurts when I twist it. Therefore I am trying not to twist it, only by accident. But I can write and type - something very important to me.
Thanks for praying!
