Upside Down, Turned All Around

Way back in college, I did the most stupid thing that has haunted me ever since. It was a Saturday night and I was hanging out with two of my good friends. We were studying for an upcoming test until we decided to go out in the hall and do some handstands to blow off steam.

Now, I've never been a jock, but I can honestly say that I was in much better shape in college. Still, I should never have been doing handstands. Not only had I just finished physical therapy on my back for some ligaments I tore in Europe, but let's face it- I'm accident prone.

This particular instance, I was doing just fine with my handstands... until, one of my friends dared me to do a handstand up against a wall. Later, my friend explained that she suggested it only because she was worried about me hurting myself and felt that a handstand up against a wall would be safer for me.

Boy, was she wrong. When I went to set my hands on the ground, I placed them too far away from the wall, so my legs couldn't touch it when I threw them up. I felt myself falling backwards and I panicked. I dropped my arms and came down on my head, which subsequently bent to the left.

I remember blacking out when I fell and then waking up still hunkered upside down in a ball. I couldn't breath and so,I immediately stretched myself out on the ground, face down. My friends meanwhile, were laughing hysterically, not realizing the gravity of the situation. My friends told me later that they didn't realize it was a serious accident until after 10 minutes passed with me not being able to breath normally and I was moaning in pain.

To make a long story much shorter... 45 minutes and a lot of confusion later, I was in an ambulance with the sirens blaring on my way to the hospital. There I was, wearing a huge neck brace, strapped to a board. The situation was so overwhelming that I was actually laughing in the ambulance and the driver asked one of my friends if I was drunk! (I wasn't). The doctors at the hospital determined that I had sprained my neck, twisted and crunched my vertebrae, tore a lot of ligaments and some muscle. I was put in a neck brace for three months and underwent physical therapy for just as long.

Despite the care for my neck right after the accident, I have been dealing with the after effects ever since. Recently however, I went to see a specialist and now I am back in physical therapy twice a week. Here's to hoping... I can finally forget about my gymnastic days.

For me- please keep your feet below your head and have a blessed day!