Ouch!

I spent a glorious hour rollerblading today and just at the end as I was coming down off the bike path that runs from Lexington into Arlington into Cambridge, right near my car where I was about to change out of my skates ... I fell really hard and hurt myself pretty seriously.

Ouch!!!

This seemed completely crazy since I'd put on my knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards, I looking like an armadillo for God's sakes. I was laughing when I started out at the fact that I was so much more protected than most of the skaters who seemed to be wearing nothing more than a tank top and shorts. For goodness sakes, I even had sunscreen protecting the places I hadn't wrapped up with pads.

Somehow, I managed to slip and my feet went out from under me and I landed ... NOT ON MY ASS THANK YOU VERY MUCH WITH ALL ITS HELPFUL PADDING ... but slightly above it ... my tailbone whacking the ground with a spectacular thud.

It hurt like hell and then there was the matter of whether I could get up and whether I could walk ... at least it was in a semi-forested area where no one got to watch me clobber myself ... but then I thought, what if I'm stuck here?!

Luckily, had the old cell phone.

But in the end, I slowly checked to see how my legs felt -- they were there, but smarting -- and if I could bend and move my back -- I could -- and then very slowly, managed to get my skates off and stand up.

I could hobble, not walk. I got back in my car. My lower back was numb. I managed to drive home (a very short distance), then lay in bed for a while and called the doctor. Ice and Ibuprofen was the recipe. And I had to go in to see if I needed xrays.

I spent another summer (two ago) hurt and unable to do sports or swim, so I was already really worried this might be a repeat performance.

Luckily not this time, in fact, the doctor didn't even think I needed xrays. I'm so sore though and I'm the lousiest patient -- not at all patient, that is. And I do not want to spend weeks getting better. In fact, on Wednesday, the parents play against the Little Leaguers and I don't want to miss that game. I'm praying!