Wednesday, September 17, 2008

BACK BREAKING ---LITERALLY!

Well, the last time I blogged, life was going along as usual. That very day we had decided to ride our bikes on the loop in Cades Cove. It was a beautiful day and I was so excited about having the opportunity to spend the day with Randy. We packed a picnic with hamburgers to grill and all the fixings, loaded up our bikes and took off.

As I got on the bike at the entrance to the Cove the bike seat was up too high. It was a little thing that could be taken care of later-- BIGGGG mistake!! We had ridden probably about 4 miles when we came to a steep incline. There was a lot of traffic so we decided to walk the bikes to the top to let the cars pass. About 3/4 of the way up the incline I started to get off. Because the seat was up too high, and there was an incline, I didn't have good balance. Consequently, the bike fell backwards with me. As I fell down the hill I landed on my backside in a sitting position. All of a sudden, the saying "I saw stars" made sense.

After a few minutes of trying to breathe again, Randy suggested he go get the van. You have to understand though, that on the way into the park, 2 different times the traffic had come to a stand still because people saw bears. I thought that it would be a bad idea to stay there by myself, just in case the bears decided to pay a visit!! So I did what any intelligent woman would do -- I got back on the bike and rode to the van. Thinking it was a pulled back muscle I thought riding would loosen it up so it wouldn't be so sore.

An hour and a half later we arrived at the emergency room at the hospital to find out that I had broken my back!!!! All I could do was laugh and tell them that couldn't be possible since I rode my bike back to the car. The dr. replied, "Well, people have done stupier things before"!!! So now, for the last 5 weeks, I have been in a back brace, not being able to do some of the very simple things I took so much for granted.

My prayer has been "God, whatever you are trying to teach me, could you PLEASE teach me quickly...

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