Last Friday Chris invited me along to ice skating, organised by (I think) the law society at his uni. I passed on the invite, and collected Laz, Sarah, Ann-Marie and Scotty along the way. It was the first time Ann-Marie had ice skated, although she’d rollerbladed before, and the first time for anything of the sort for Scotty.
I was so sure I was going to injure myself, probably in the last five minutes like usual. I was very rusty starting out… I guess it’s been three or more years since I lasted skated, and that was only the fourth or fifth time at that. But it didn’t take too long to get back into the swing of things. Within about an hour I was back to where I’d left off. The others were more hesitant, although eventually did get off the wall and actually skate around. :)
Things were going really well right up until just 15 minutes from the end. At that point, Scotty fell over and hurt his ankle. It was immediately obvious from his expression and posture that it was no minor fall. With the help of Laz and one of the attendants Scotty was helped off the ice and onto some seats, where his skates were removed. By that time, though, he was over the initial pain and shock, and it seemed like things were going to be fine – he still had mobility in his foot and toes and all, and didn’t seem to be in enough pain for anything to be broken, so we presumed it was just sprained.
Since he’d driven himself up, we had to figure out a scheme to get his car home, or at least to someone’s home. It was decided that Scotty should go to the Monash Medical Centre to get the foot properly bound up – while the skating rink eventually produced a bandage, they proffered only plastic rulers for use in a splint, and didn’t have anyone on staff with even basic first aid training. Anyway, Ann-Marie took him off for that, while Sarah drove Scotty’s car to her place, and I followed with Laz. We then continued on up to the Pancake Parlour in Doncaster, because Chris and a couple of his friends wanted pancakes, which didn’t sound like too bad an idea. Thus we ate and whatnot. Eventually Chris & Co. left, as did Laz, and yet still no word from Ann-Marie other than a message to say they were going in to see the doctor. Hours later, we finally got a call from Ann-Marie with news. As it turned out, Scotty had not only dislocated his ankle but broken his leg! And while they called it a “clean” break, insofar perhaps as it went right through the bone (the two halves were well out of alignment) there were fractures stemming off into both halves. Definitely broken, good and proper!
So, Sarah & I, knowing now that they definitely weren’t going to make it for pancakes, went on down to the medical centre to meet them. We got there shortly before Scotty was discharged; his leg was already plastered up, the plaster just drying, and the nurse was trying to find some suitable crutches. So we were out there soon enough, “we” being Sarah and I; Ann-Marie and Scotty had spent about three hours at the hospital. Evidently he wasn’t playing it up enough when they went into emergency, so he didn’t get seen to for ages. Once they did the x-rays of course they gave him priority, finally.
Anyway, I gave Scotty a lift, given I was heading to Mt. Eliza anyway; course, I’d expected to be getting there at about 11:30pm, not 3:30am. :) His parents didn’t seem all that impressed when he got home, although his sister was morbidly curious. I presume they worked out some way to get his car back, although I guess it doesn’t matter all that much since he won’t be driving it for a while. :)
I was really impressed throughout by how well Scotty handled the whole thing. He didn’t complain, and was indeed quite amicable on the way home. I think in a way he was slightly enthused by the novelty of it, not having broken any bones before. It’s sure to be a pain for him, but he seems to think he’ll be okay for work and so forth.
He was extremely bored by Saturday afternoon, though, I hear. He can’t get anywhere himself of course… and while he does have Guild Wars, that surely can only suffice for so long.. :)
So, fun and games. I had planned on doing work on Saturday, but that of course didn’t happen. I’m now at four rather late nights in a row, and while I’ve been getting a reasonable amount of sleep, I’m still exhausted. I’m almost looking forward to uni this week so I can actually get some normality back. :)
