Ice, Ice Baby....

This time of the year, when it gets cold outside, I walk very carefully to avoid falling. But every year I always manage to have one great fall that shatters my nerves, and makes me afraid to walk where ever ice is possible. So then I end up walking like a granny. (no offense to anyone who is..) It's hard to believe that there was a time in my life that I use to love the ice. I was not the greatest skater, nor the fastest, but when I played hockey with the boys, I can admit, I wasn't bad. I only played for fun in gym, recess, and after school. Yes, our elementary school Woodriver in Fairbanks, was so awesome, that we had our own skating rink!

I never played on a real team, but my brother's did when we lived in Evanston, Wyoming. Jason was my new husband at the time, and I pushed him to play with my little brothers all of the time. Since I was unable to skate any more because of my knees, he did. There was only one outdoor rink that anyone can use. When it wasn't being used for practice or games, it was open to the public and there were skates avaible to rent.

Well one night, when I was visiting my mom while Jason was out skating with my brothers, something happened. Something, gross and disgusting. I still remember the moment when I was eager for Jason to be back and my brother's came into the kitchen being loud as usual. Jason came in and acted as if nothing was wrong and he sat down to take of his wet boots and then said something to the effect of needing a bandage or something. I can't remember then, what my brother's were saying, something like how he got to drive Jason home and that he swore! (Danny was only in middle school at the time) but Jason pulled up his pant leg, and exposed this giant bloody hole! Yes! It was a pretty bad wound and Jason was even smiling. What is wrong with him? My mom rushed to his side, she being a nurse, she was always the one to go to for help. I could barely look at it, just the thought of where it came from was enough to be sick about! Apparently, the rink did not have any hocky skates for his size, so...he wore figure ice skates while playing around with my brothers. Showing off, I am sure! He fell and the long end of the skate went right into his leg! ALL THE WAY TO THE BONE! He pulled it out through his jeans, and the meat stuck into the inside of the pants. According to Jason, and then he swore for the first time in front of my brother's, who were totally shocked by this!

(Okay, you are proberly thinking this is the last of my gross stories, but nope, there are plenty more...ha ha ha)

I had to make my mom stay home while I personally drove him to the hospital. He didn't want to go. He said he was fine. When we got there at that little hospital, we were like the only ones there and they seemed to give us a ton of attention. They first did not believe the story, they thought it was a bullet hole! It certainly looks like one! Poor guy, he may be able to stand blood on animals, but he is a complete baby when it's his own. They had to clean him out, and when they shined the light inside, they let me look, and yes, there was the bone! I asked if they could just sew it, but they couldn't. So they packed it with a long piece of cloth, which had to be changed a few times a day until the hole closed up from the bottom up. You can image what that looked like, when they pulled out the blood soaked cloth. They sent him home the next day, after they fed him IV stuff, and then after that, it was a process to go through twice a day to get cleaned and restuffed. So, so, so gross. He has a scar for life that looks like a bullet wound. After this, I never ice skated again and neither did Jason.