Last night, one of my housemates had some painting to do. He and his girlfriend cosplay, and, with a convention coming up this weekend, he was running out of time to finish up all the elements of his character.
He was using spray paint, and decided to do it outside, in the backyard. He'd hardly begun before it started to sprinkle.
Meanwhile, I felt the urge to take a walk. With a word of sympathy for his bad luck, I bundled up, pulled a hood over my hair, shoved my cell phone and inhaler in my pocket, and started off into the cold, rainy night.
Rain has never really bothered me. Sometimes I love it; I still find being out in it therapeutic at times, but since my fall, I had been afraid of it.
My need overcame my fear, though, so along I went, making steady enough progress through the neighborhood, sticking to the streets with the most lights on...
Eventually I ran out of those, though, and my leg was getting tired, so I retraced my steps back towards the house.
I got there, walked through the door, and was met with the strong smell of paint. It went into my lungs and I immediately knew that this wasn't a good plan, so I told him the paint was getting to me, and went back out.
I realized I had nowhere to go.
I didn't feel like walking again.
I didn't really feel like being alone.
There was nowhere dry to go.
Shrugging, I settled myself on the front steps, trying to pull my coat down so that I sat on it, instead of the wet concrete. It didn't work.
After a few minutes, my ass was numb, my pants were wet, and going inside and facing the paint fumes seemed a much better option than staying out.
This turned out to be a mistake.
I walked in and the fumes were much stronger. I started coughing, as they entered my lungs, threatening to choke me.
I made a beeline for my room, trying to hold my breath as I walked through the kitchen/dining area, where my roommate had been doing his thing. I almost made it, but right at the turn towards the backdoor and the tiny hallway that led to my room, a cough caused the breath to whoosh out of my body, which immediately tried to replace it...
Coughing so hard I thought I would retch, I jerked open the door to the backyard and barreled outside.
I didn't make it very far.
Earlier that day, the ramp which had been installed for my move home from the hospital had finally been dismantled. Finally, the brick 'deck' with stairs down to the actual patio and backyard were exposed.
It turned out that they were also incredibly slippery.
I made it about two steps before wiping out- going down in a spin, (with all my weight banging into my bad knee and leg) to lang solidly on my back, inches from the muddy grass.
Incredible pain shot through me, extreme protest by my body for putting it through this type of thing, but there was no 'wrongness' like the day I broke my leg. A small part of me relaxed at that, but she wasn't at the wheel, and the rest of me Was Not Happy.
"F---!" I shouted, then- "Goddamnit!"
I lay there, not moving, rain falling on me, cool drops hitting my face and neck, for a minute before two of my housemates appeared over me.
"Did you break the other one?" one of them said
"Shut up." I snapped, still biting back more expletives as my leg continued to yell at me.
I finally moved it, cursing as I did. I sat up, carefully. Still no huge amounts of pain from anywhere else, no feeling of wrongness.
With great difficulty, I stood, and made my way inside. My leg threatened to give out on me- even the feeling of the fabric of my pants on my knee hurt. A black mood settled over me. I was embarrassed. More than that, I was royally pissed off. I had had enough happen that day, and the fall, the subsequent consequences, were too much to deal with on top of it. I stomped (figuratively) around until I was finally able to make my bed, strip down, dropping my muddy, wet clothes in a pile on my floor, and curling under the blankets, without doing any of my skin routines.
It's the next day, and I regret that last decision. My skin is worse, of course. Especially around my eyes.
My leg is angry too, still- the muscles in the back of my knee are so tight and painful that I can't fully straighten it. I'm limping again, too.
There's at least one good thing about this though. The way that I fell, I really could have- and probably would have- broken another bone. Maybe more than one. It was very fortunate that I was able to take the impact with my knee, and rolled onto my back without my limbs flailing. Yes, I hurt. Yes, I'm limping. And that's incredibly annoying.
But I'm not broken again. And I very, very easily could have been.
So, there's something I should remember to be thankful for, at least.
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