horrific experience

One of the most horrific times of my life was the summer going into sixth grade. I never realized all the conveniences of life I took for granted until the day my life took a turn for the worse. My only intention was to have a fun experience, but unfortunately, I wasn’t thinking of the consequences. The date -July 3, 2008. This day was one of the nicest, yet most disastrous days of the summer. July 31, 2008, was ironically beautiful; birds were out, rays of sun were shining down on the lake making a sensational illusion, and the forest had a particular stunning prospect. Previous months had been cloudy, gloomy, and hazy during this long forsaken summer.
          I was watching my brother ride his scooter that he had recently gotten from our grandparents. The delight on his face as he rode his scooter down our small trail to the lake was consoling. “Kali! Kali!” he shrieked, as he came up from the trail with the scooter in his hands. “You have to try this! It’s so fun!” I took the handles of the scooter and slid the base of the scooter under my feet getting ready to proceed down to the lake. The trail was made up of dirt with vines and roots sticking up from the earth's soil.  I began my small journey down the bewildering trail, mimicking my younger brothers actions. The warm wind was blowing in my face and my hair was dancing all around as I felt the scooter increase in speed. I had picked up speed fairly quickly and my thoughts wandered fast. I began to feel a little frightened because I was going a little too fast for my contentment. I slowed down my speed as I got closer to my destination. As I came to the end of the short trail I was ecstatic and full of liveliness. The scooter came to a slow halt and I quickly gathered myself and ran up the hill with the scooter in my hands -wanting more. Wanting to feel the rush of adrenaline again. 

Just as quickly as I approached the top of the trail I was off again. The speed at which the scooter was going had increased once again, however, this time I didn’t slow down. I loved the thrill of the ride! I approached the lake far more quickly than before, but this time there was no stopping. I figured I would just ride the scooter down the trail, make a turn and start riding up another trail to slow my pace down. Perfect plan, I thought to myself. However, my speed kept increasing and it increased to the point where I had absolutely no control of what I was doing. I bolted down the trail and at the point where I was supposed to make a turn, I didn’t turn quite enough. I slammed into a stump and went flying into the air. I plowed into the ground shoulder first, crashing my head a split second later. I felt this horrific, shocking pain immediately when I hit the ground. Shrieking in pain, I called out to my mother who had seen this whole incident take place. She helped me up to my feet and walked me over to a chair. I sat in the chair for an hour or two shaking back and forth hoping the pain might ease up. But of course, it never did.

 Later, when brought up to the house my mom suggested that I might’ve broken a bone. That thought had never actually crossed my mind. This scenario took place during early afternoon. I remember my mom had promised to go swimming with us later that day and I was super excited because she never goes swimming. It would have been her first time that whole summer. My parents had suggested bringing me into town to have my shoulder checked out, but being as stubborn as I am, I refused thinking nothing was wrong. I spent the whole night in agony being unable to move positions because of the splintering pain in my shoulder. After hours of not being able to sleep and the scrutinizing pain, I began to think I might have a sleepless night. This was indeed what happened. When my room began to lighten up from the sun, a feeling of comfort overcame me. Around seven or eight I heard my dad's footsteps. I tried to build up the confidence to sit up knowing the pain in my entire left arm was going to be more dreadful than it already was. I slowly sat up and a shooting pain went through my shoulder that gave me a feeling of complete discomfort. My parents immediately brought me to the clinic visibly seeing the deformation of my shoulder. The clinic took x-rays of my left arm showing that I had severely dislocated my shoulder, as well as, fractured it. Two different surgeries were to take place and metal pins needed to be placed in my shoulder joint to hold my shoulder and the joint together. 

I was miserable enough as it was not being able to move my entire left arm or dress myself, but, I couldn’t even go to the bathroom or take a shower without assistance. People can’t wear casts on their joints so I was given a sling. Even if I had just moved my finger, I would feel a throbbing pain in my left shoulder. I dislocated and broke my shoulder during the nicest month of summer. I couldn’t do any summer activity that I usually did such as, swimming, biking, climbing and much much more. It took months of time and physical therapy for my shoulder to eventually heal. During this period I also had a rare tick-born illness disease that made me very sick. I had other problems as well, however, I would prefer not to mention these problems because it tends to make me feel uncomfortable. To this day I still don’t have complete movement of my left shoulder and have much less strength in my left arm. What remains is an abnormal scar on my left arm from the two surgeries and a noticeable deformation in my left shoulder.

When I think back on this rough period though, I don’t look upon it with regrets. This experience taught me some valuable life lessons. It was from this horrific experience I learned how fragile life is and how lucky I am to have good health. I learned to make better decisions and think before I act. I learned how everyone makes mistakes and how almost everyone takes everything for granted. Most importantly, I learned the true meaning of life.

-kb