Monday Memory Moment

This is an e-mail I sent to my family Sat, 16 Jan 1999.

This all took place yesterday. It was a pretty Friday. I got up and went to work. Just like any other time. After work I decided that I had time to step into the Administration building and get a hot chocolate. They just put in a little espresso shop on the ground floor where I stop to get a cup of hot chocolate if I have time.

I had 1/2 hour before my next class so I stopped. I was still going to early do I picked up an Aurganut (school news paper) to read when I got to class.

With hot chocolate in one hand, back pack on back, and the Aurganut in the other hand I set out of the building for class. There are four steps outside of the building. Which, wouldn't have been that big of deal, but I thought there were only three. I stepped with only half a foot on the last step. I could feel the ground with my toes but it didn't even click that I was falling until I hit the ground. I stood back up and decided that legs would hurt less if I just walked off the pain. I really didn't even think that they hurt that bad. I went on my way to class. At one point I looked down and noticed that I had ripped my jeans. I wondered what my leg looked like, and decided I would go look at in the bathroom when I got to the JEB where my class was.

It is about a 5 minute walk from the ADMIN to the JEB, and there is a set of stairs that take you down the steep hill in between. I was very careful going down those stairs.

I made it to the JEB and went straight to the bathroom. My jeans were torn almost in a straight line from one seem to the other. I finished tearing it so I could get a better look at my knee. That really wasn't enough so I tore some more. It was just scratched so I took a wet paper towel to it. That helped with most of it, but there was a part that really looked like it needed alcohol, or Hydrogen Peroxide in it. I gathered my stuff and went to the office to see if they had a first aid kit. they did, so me and this kind lady went into the conference room to see what was in the kit. There was some "wound cleaner" wipes which I took to the wound. She and another lady said that I should go to the health center, which I walked past to jet to the JEB. I said I would be fine. And that I would go home after class to clean it really well.

I sat through class and then went home.

I put on some shorts and set to work on my leg. The Hydrogen Peroxide must have been doing some good. It really hurt. I decided that my cut was really a lot worse then I had thought. It looked like there were some particles that needed to be taken out, and I didn't want to do this. I called my wonderful sister Nancy and had her come pick me up and take me to the health center. I put on a dress to hide the wound so the whole world didn't have to see it. Nancy bugged me about walking from the ADMIN to the JEB, and then home, and then having her take me back to the health center.

When we got there she needed to go talk to some on in the pharmacy so she left Becca with me. While she was gone the nurse came out to get mee. SO here I am trying to pick up all my stuff, Becca's stuff and hold my dress so that it didn't bother my knee. The nurse was very helpful and took a lot of the stuff so I could carry Becca. She thought Becca was mine, but I told her Becca was my niece and that my sister would be wondering where her baby was when she got back.

She told somebody that when someone came looking for their child it was with her. I told her I just needed her to clean out a wound because I had chickened out.

She looked at the wound and asked when the last time I got tetanus shot was. She went about getting what she needed to cleaning it. By this time Nancy had come back.

As she cleaned she decided that my "little scratch" would need a couple of stitches, and a tetanus shot. So, my right leg and left arm are both a little sore.

I did get out of my boring class.

Remember the hot chocolate that I had in my hand when I fell. I didn't spill it, not even a drop.

Some comments from 2009:

• when I poured hydrogen peroxide in the scratch in my dorm room...instant tears, I couldn't help it.
• the class I sat through was one class I usually skipped
• my "little scratch" received five stitches
• I don't have a picture, but I can show you the scare if you ask, it felt like a crater in my knee for a couple of years.
• I suppose it is about time for another tetanus shot