Ice-1, Patty-0

I’m off to a great start here in Misawa- on Sunday I slipped on some ice and broke my arm. Here is the story (typed with one hand):

On Saturday I saw my first ever snow storm. Watching from the warm comfy indoors, it was pretty awesome. When it was time to go out in it, I was less thrilled. We decided (stupidly, I might add) to walk to Corey’s friend’s house to hang out and have some fun that night since we were getting pretty sick and tired of sitting around in our hotel room. Unfortunately Corey’s friend lives like 2 miles from where we’re staying. Not a big deal if the weather is nice, whole different story in the snow…

So we start walking. It’s kind of cool- fluffy white snow you just sink into, throwing snowballs and all that jazz. With each step the snow comes up to mid-calf. My shoes and pants were completely NOT snow appropriate (I’ll pay anyone who can tell me what I was thinking when I shipped our boots with our household goods, arriving in February) and very soon my feet and lower legs were soaked and freezing cold. But we made it without too much trouble, and aside from the cold it was actually kind of fun to walk through town and see things. We stopped for a delicious bowl of hot ramen on the way, which was to die for. Overall, not too bad of a walk.

We got to Corey’s friend’s house and had some good times watching movies, hanging out and having a few drinks. We go to bed happy and warm.

The next day, we go outside to walk back to our place, and all that lovely snow had frozen into solid ice. We begin walking, and soon realize that we’re screwed. We’re slipping and sliding with each tentative step. Now a group of smart people might have thought, “Hmm, it would probably be prudent to take a taxi or go back to the house and call someone for a ride, because this is ridiculous.” We, unfortunately, are not those smart people. We decide we’re going to make it on foot, and after an hour and a half of the slowest “walking” (in quotes because it was really more scooting across the ice than it was walking) you’ve ever seen, we are about 50 yards from the front gate of base. We breathe a sigh of relief- the end is in sight, we’re almost there!!

Then I take another step and, like in the cartoons, fly up with all 4 limbs in the air and land with an elbow pound to the icy ground. *crack* Was that the ice or my arm? After lying on the ground for a while, I try to stand up, but every time I’m on my feet I begin seeing spots, getting really woozy, and generally feeling like I’m going to pass out. There was no way I could walk at that point, and no way Corey or his friend could carry me on that ice, so Corey’s friend went to go get help on base while we waited in the freezing cold for 45 freaking minutes. By the time the ambulance came, I could stand and walk again, but was so unbelievably cold I couldn’t stop shaking for the next 3 hours.

At the hospital they took x-rays of my arm, but because it was Sunday, the hospital was closed and there was no one there who could READ the x-rays, so they couldn’t tell me if it was broken (lame, but whatever). They put my arm in a sling, gave me Motrin and told me to come back tomorrow. I did, and it was determined that my arm was indeed broken (obviously- even I could see it with no trouble, so I’m not sure what the problem was the previous day). So I got splinted up, got some more Motrin, and was sent on my way.

So that’s my story. I’ll go back to have it looked at on Friday once the swelling goes down. I’m hoping the pain will decrease and I’ll be able to do all the things on the agenda this week. I’ll be thinking “quick-healing” thoughts!