Wipe out!!!!

Emily

Dec 4,2012

Wipe Out!

Bam!  I felt a rock hit my shoulder as I went down into the water.  I didn't know what to do or how  to stop from somersaulting to shore.  I could hear a voice inside my head saying just hold on, this will all be over soon.

It was a particularly foggy day at moonstone beach, but I could see the sun trying to shine through the clouds in the mid afternoon.  High tide was coming.  There for the surf was starting to get very rough, well for an eight year old.  I was paddling out to the outside at moonstone beach surf camp with my friend Greta who was much better at surfing than me.   “Hey Greta wait up” I said. “Don't worry Em I wouldn't leave you” Greta said.   Some other kids came with us but there names I don't recall since it was quite a while ago.  Mango and Peaches the surf instructors who were two of my favorite instructors  came out with us since we were kind of  young and a large group decided to embark on this adventure.  We kept paddling and paddling until we finally reached our destination.  

I asked Mango  “where are all the waves!”  

The surf looked totally dead from my point of view.

She told me “you just have to wait for the perfect wave to come.”   

Then as I was patiently waiting for the perfect wave, I turned around and there I saw this giant wave.  Well it was giant from an eight year olds perspective.  I heard Mango and Peaches screaming “this is the perfect wave take it.”  The wave looked to be ten feet tall.  I was scared but excited.  So I decided to get on my board and go for it.  Then I felt a giant source of energy and power sweep me away, it almost felt like I was flying.  I started to stand up then I flew off my board, it was like the nose of the board  hit something.  I went flying off head first right into the water.  When I went down I felt something hard like a rock hit my shoulder.  It didn't really hurt at the time because my body went into complete shock.  But it really hurt once I got out of the water.  I must of done ten somersault underwater before I finally popped up.   Once I did come up my board hit me right on my head and my hurt shoulder.  Then I fell right back into the water and everything went black.  After a little while I somehow ended up in knee deep water when I finally came back up for good.
“What happened to you” asked mango.  
Before I could even answer the question  some kids came up to me asking “are you ok.”   They were also wondering what happened to me,  they could tell there was something wrong by how white my face was.  
I said “I have no idea but my shoulder really hurts.”  
Mango asked “what kind of pain is it.”  
“It feels like something is poking out of my shoulder.”  

Then Greta being a good friend came and took my board from me so I wouldn't have to carry it.  Mango and Jeff, the guy who runs the camp came and helped me back to shore.  Then my dad came to help me since he was there to pick me up since it was the last day and last five minutes of surf camp. My dad was always the one to state the obvious and get things done when he wasn't watching football.    “It looks like you bifid at least you got to finish the whole week”  my dad said.  So my dad and Jeff helped me walk across the beach all the way back to the parking lot ;  that was one of the longest walks of my life.  Every time I took a step I could feel my bone shaking,and I didn't  like that feeling at all.  Once we were by moonstone rock where camp was set up my dad and some of the instructors started to carefully pull off the top of my wetsuit to see what damage was done to my shoulder.  My dad said “well it looks like we are going to have to pay a visit to the doctor.”  When I looked over at my shoulder I started to gasp because I could see the bone trying to poke through my skin even with my rash guard covering it.  Jeff said “ It definitely looks like you broke something.”  

When all the kids came back from surfing they gathered around me with concern.  “I'm pretty sure I broke something but at least it was on the last day” I said to them.  They all wished me well and hoped I would be alright.  Greta told me to call her when I figured out what happened.  I was really hoping it wouldn't  be anything serious because it was just the beginning of summer and I didn't want to spend all summer recovering. I also had another camp to go to a couple weeks from then.  My mom was also planning on taking me and my sister to the bay area to visit her family.  So my dad took me home to tell my mom the news so they could decide what to do.  

When I got home the house smelled so good since my mom was cooking a turkey for her friend since she was sick and she had kids so my mom thought it would be nice to help out.  The house was  warm so that felt good on my cold skin.    Mom could tell by the look on my face something happened.  

“Are you alright honey” she asked.

 “ No I think I hit my shoulder on a rock.”  

“What do you mean you hit your shoulder on a rock!”  My dad and I explained the whole thing to her.

“I think I need to go to the doctor.”

“I'm sure you're fine” she said.

 My dad didn't question her authority.  

“Mom are you crazy of course I need to go the doctor haven't you seen my shoulder.”

There was clearly a bump on my shoulder and that is certainly not normal.  She said “let me have a look at this shoulder but I think you're being overly dramatic.”  She always thought I was being too dramatic, I admit sometimes I was but this time it was serious.  So my parents helped me take off the rest of my wet suit.  Then I started to get in the shower but I couldn't  lift up my right arm because that was the side with my hurt shoulder.  I also couldn't lift up my left arm because that would hurt my shoulder a lot  as well.  I still had my rashguard on and I had no way of getting it off.  I yelled across the house “mommy I can't get off my rash guard.”  So eventually my mom had to cut off my fifty dollar rash guard.  She was really mad and said I was being a big baby, even though I was in a lot of pain.  

I begged and begged my mom to take me to the Emergency Room.  Then she told me if it still hurt by monday then she would make a doctors appointment.  

I couldn't lay down to go to sleep  with my hurt shoulder so I sat in the chair all night long not sleeping one bit. Finally by morning my mom said that she would take me to the E.R.  I imagine she changed her minded because I was crying all night long.  The funny part is that I wasn't crying because my shoulder hurt I was crying because I stayed up late watching a scary sci fi movie.   My mom started to get ready to take me to the E.R.  It felt like she took five hours getting ready but in reality it was probably only an half an hour.  My mom put my hair in a messy ponytail and I threw on some sweatpants and a sweatshirt and we were out the door.  

When we got in the car my mom put a towel over my seat because I never really got a chance to take that shower the day before so I was dripping in sand.  We drove to Mad River Community Hospital. When we finally arrived at the E.R  my mom filled out some paperwork and I was all set.  At least thats what we thought.  I was starving and I had been waiting for about two hours; I couldn't take it any longer.  There was an older couple sitting next to my mom and I.  I was so bored that I started eavesdropping on their conversation.  They were talking about what they were gonna have for dinner.  The man said “I don't  want no dinner salad for dinner how about some fried chicken from Rays.”  I noticed they had southern accents which was entertaining to hear since I was so board.  I started complaining to my mom about how hungry I was “ I can't take it lets just leave.”  I kept begging my mom to get me some food at the food court but she told me that she didn't want to miss getting to see the doctor.  At the E.R they call your name once and if you don't respond then they immediately take you off their list.  Well at least thats what my mom told me who knows if its true.  

The old southern man told his wife he was going to get some food from the cafeteria at the hospital.  He returned about ten minutes later, and he was holding two different kinds of ice creams in his hand I figured one of them were for his wife and the other one for him.  It turns out I was wrong.  The man came up to me and asked what ice cream I would like.  I was shocked at first I was like a complete stranger is offering me ice cream I guess good things do come from being in the E.R.  I chose the strawberry vanilla swirl and it was delicious by the way.  My mom and I thanked him.  

After about three hours of waiting in the waiting room my mom finally went to the front desk and asked the lady when I was going to be able to get in.  It turns out she forgot to program me into the schedule.  After that I was able to get in immediately.  The doctor came in and took some x rays.  A little while later the x rays came back with results.  From the looks of it I could even tell I broke something.  

The doctor said
“as you can see there is an large gap between those two bones or parts of bone and that bone is her collarbone.”  

“I see that means she broke her collarbone” my mom said.  

“Yes and it is quite a serious brake actually.”  

“What makes it so serious?”  

“ Well there is no cast you can put on your collar bone so all we can do is get you a sling for your right arm.”

I started to cry and my mom and the doctor asked me what's wrong?

“Does this mean I won't be able to surf for the rest of the summer” I replied.  

My mom smiled and said “I'm sorry I think it does.”  

I had to live with a broken collar bone and separated A.C joint  for four months, but on the bright side I got to rub it in my moms face for four months that she was wrong and I was right and that I'm not a drama queen.  Oh and I got a plastic three foot pool that is thirteen feet wide for the summer since my mom kind of felt bad so good things do come from hurting your self.  Even though I had a broken bone all summer it was still one of the best summers of my life!  That summer I learned that you can't let the little things get in the way of having fun and living your life to the fullest!

                                                     

                                                          The end