Week in Review

Monday started off pretty great. The knee had felt instantly better with the immobilizer. I had some black pants that fit over the knee brace. Clair gave me a ride to work, and the story was interesting to tell, oh, the first five times.

Then things kind of went downhill. I got sore sitting in weird positions that were not too comfortable. I got sore from the crutches. Basically I have been constantly sore since.

I learned that people in Seattle are mean. Monday afternoon I took the bus home and no one stood up to give me a seat for quite awhile. Then I had people stepping on my leg. I mean, I know the immobilizer was hidden beneath the pants, but if someone is carrying crutches, and they are sitting in the handicapped seats, and they have their leg sticking out in the aisle, maybe you should consider that they can’t bend their knee, or that there might be an injury involved.

Other mean things I have experienced: people watching me try to open a door and not helping (I don’t mean that everyone needs to hold a door, I’m talking about the people who make eye contact/definitely are watching someone on crutches struggle with a door and don’t do anything. Those people exist). Also there are people, who again, I have made eye contact with, that won’t veer just a bit to one side of the crosswalk or other, so that I’m the one that has to go around them. C’mon people.

That’s not to say I haven’t had plenty of people offer to help me out. For starters, Clair gave me a ride just about everywhere once I realized the hell on earth that is taking a bus with crutches. Also Emily gave me rides as well, and she fetched me lunch and candy many times, and other little things that were a big help, despite finding out this week that her elbow has been broken all this time. Strangers as well---one woman helped me when I kept dropping my purse (before I learned that you gotta carry a backpack) and many people in the office who I haven’t even spoken to before are asking about how I’m doing and holding elevators and whatnot.

But overall, I give Seattleites a mean score. I think if I had this injury in the south, things would have been easier.

Also, only in Seattle will people think that a skiing injury is cool. When I told my dad, who has gone through a knee replacement himself, what I did, I admitted, “this is a pretty stupid way to hurt a knee,” and he agreed. But when you tell people in Seattle you got hurt skiing, they actually get excited! They want to talk all about what skiing they’ve done recently, and they want to talk about good places to ski and when can I go skiing again. I will tell you now, that based on a week of pain, I never want to go skiing again. You shouldn’t tell someone who is struggling to get around skiing. They kind of hate it.

General observation: Crutches make your clothes smell. It’s not that your crutches smell like your armpits, it’s that your armpits smell like your plastic-y industrial crutches.

One morning, while hobbling around, I broke my phone. So my phone is gimpy too.

I am so tired. I think I have said that. But I am worn out.