Them's The Breaks

Well, dumbass that I am, I managed to injure myself something fierce last night, spoiling what was a great night with my fiancee. I had taken Becky to the University of Portland Pilots women's playoff game against Arizona (literally world-class soccer - this team pkays against national teams like Mexico in exhibitions - and wins) and we had a great time.

When we got home, we decided to have a drink. I was going down to the basement to fetch a celebratory Mike's Hard Limeade, when I stepped on a patton-leather work shoe I whad left on the steps to dry (I knew it had been a bad idea to leave them there, but that never stopped me before...). Anyway, I end up surfing the shoe about halfway down the stairs at breakneck speed - before I can even comprehend anything beyond 'oh, shit, this is going to be bad.'

I catch myself with my left arm and hear a loud crack in my shoulder before being blinded with pain. I did remain true to form and get some good blasphemy before really realizing what trouble I was in :) I got a similar injury at Gencon 2002 the night before the show started when fooling around with friends, but this hurt *much* worse. As in, worse than the time when I broke my arm while writing Faceman/Snoop sorta bad - the most intense pain I've ever felt in my life sort of bad.

Becky was shaken, not surprisingly, but she holds it together and we decide to go to the hospital. Sitting in Emergency waiting for the triage nurse seemed like time had crawled to a standstill. The slightest movement of my torso drove iron nails of pain into my shoulder, down my bicep and behind my eyes. I drifted through a sea of nausea, staring at the floor to keep from hurling all over the sick toddlers filling the room. All I could do was curl around my arm, crdling it gingerly and keep breathing while cursing the mothers of the morons that conceived the modern emegency room.

Finally, I get triage and the send me into the e-room for another 30 minutes of waiting. The mobility tests reveal I'm swollen pretty badly, and pinpoint the injury at the place where my pectoralis meets my left deltoid and my rotator cuff (the muscle that lets you pull your arms up and out from your body, even with the shoulders). They give me a gigantic shot of anti-inflammatory, which helps the pain like you wouldn't believe (as someone who's had a lingering shoulder injury for 3 years, i can tell you that swelling is your enemy - just a little bit of irritation in the shoulder socket causes muscles to get pinched between your shoulder joint and collar bone cAusing lots of soreness). They x-ray me and I get the first good news of the night - nothing is broken or dislocated. They give me a raft of vicodin, a sling, and tell me to ice a lot, then send us home.

So, the moral of the story is, I'm going to be dow for a while. I've only got my right hand to use now, which will make business stuff an 10kB writing interesting :) But I'll manage. Needless to say, I'm happy that some drugs and physical therapy are going to be all I need to get better. Too bad the game industry doesn't give hazard pay...