I’ve been asked enough that I’ll tell the story of my broken arm. This is far more personal saga than creativity-related. If you bore easily I’m not hurt if you mosey along.

On October 31, I went for my nightly walk, as usual. I walk to strengthen my bones, though I also get much pleasure from it.

I walked around the same block I typically walk. I decided to go the other direction.

A sidewalk crack caught first my left foot and then my right, and I fell hard. My wrists and palms hurt from the impact, and I scraped and bruised in a few places, particularly on my left side (I am right handed).

I assumed I had bruises and was otherwise fine. I babied it as best I could. I wore a homemade sling for a week or so, and braced my wrist.

Knitting was not a big issue, though I could not do it long. Typing was difficult. Twisting my hands to face palm down took effort, so I limited it or typed with one hand. My iPod Touch was a big help during that time.

I was developing the piecrust recipe for my recent dessert cookbook during this time. I learned to roll piecrust with one hand! I crack myself up sometimes. Keep on, keepin’ on!

It continued to hurt, past the time when a bruise would improve. Therefore, a few weeks after the fall I touched base with my doc. My wrist hurt most, so she ordered an X-ray to be taken before we met up. It showed no break in the wrist.

It turned out that even though my pain was in the upper arm and in my wrist, I broke one of the two bones in the lower arm, just underneath the elbow. The nerve which wraps around the bone at the point of the break, has nerve ends where the pain occurred. I was totally fooled.

I played my bass through it all. We did shows for Riverwalk Theatre, Ten Pound Fiddle, Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine, and a few shows at Foods for Living, while I needed a sling. (The medical-issue sling I received partway through the journey was not my style, so I embellished it with some fabric paint.) For on stage, I found that my many large scarves/Indian wraps worked well as a dressy arm support.

You know, I can be either a wimpy, pouting toddler… or a tough Norwegian farmer like Grandpa B. I never know what I’m being. This time, I guess I did tough while worrying I was a wimp.

Fortunately, the bone doc says that even though it was broken for 2.5 weeks before I knew, I did a good job when I babied it. I don’t need a cast. This is one time where it’s good to be older; I would have been less cautious when I was young.

It’s much better now. I don’t have to even wear a sling at home since mid-December, but I still wear one out in public. It doesn’t hurt, though it is weak.

I do catch the ironic humor in this. I went on a walk to strengthen my bones. I broke a bone. Might as well get a chuckle out of that!

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 15th, 2011 at 12:07 pmand is filed under Miscellaneous Artforms. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.