Poetic Justice

  I too broke my right wrist, on March 23, 1994. I was called to sub that day, as was usual. And as usual, would drive Danny to school. Dave was getting ready to leave at 7:30 a.m. for a golf date in Miami Beach. Maybe Don was going with him, but I'm not sure. I ran out to start my car. The day was cold.  At the time there were boards laid on the pathway in  front of the house. I slid on the slippery wood and fell. My car keys, on a rather large key ring, were in my right hand. When I fell, the keyring caught between the boards, twisting my wrist. It was painful. I lay there for a while. This I know because one of my fellow committee members mentioned later that he'd seen my lying in front of my house. Must have seemed ordinary to him for me to be lying on the ground at 7:30 on a cold March morning, because he drove right by. The jerk.
   Anyway, I picked myself up and went into the house. I told what had happened, and that my wrist was hurting. Dave, excited about his trip, asked if I could move my fingers. I could, and did. "Then it's not broken," he said. So he left, and  I left in my car, but I could not turn the key in the ignition, so Danny had to do it for me.
  When I got to the high school where I was subbing, I stopped at the nurse's office for her to check my wrist. Dr. Rydinsky got agitated because he thought I'd fallen on school property, but when I told him that wasn't the case, he lost interest. The nurse offered me a cold pack, with instructions to return it, as they were in short supply.
   I did my subbing duties, and was in the faculty room at lunch time when the girls' phys ed teacher noticed me with the ice pack on my wrist, took a quick look,  and told me it was broken. She said I should see a doctor.
   At the end of the school day, Barbara, teaching then, drove me to an urgent care in Clifton Park, where an X-ray confirmed my wrist was fractured. I was referred to an orthopedist in Troy; I think his name was Dr. Constantine. He advised me that if you cannot move your fingers, your wrist would be broken, BUT being able to move your fingers does not mean it's not broken. He liked to use humor with his patients.
     I wore this brace for several weeks, including my 2 weeks stint as a scorer for National Evaluation Systems in Albany. I remember taking it off and laying it on the desk so I could do the scoring:
                                                                                                                                                       When I returned to the orthopedist, I left this thing in my car because it was so dirty,  and Dr. C. was not pleased. How is it going to help you if you don't wear it!