Part 2- Me VS. Physical therapist

I was loaded into the ambulance, half of my pants left behind on the street. The EMT's quizzed me on my mom's work phone number, my address, and my name.

"Why do you keep asking me that? I already told you my name four times."

"We need to make sure your brain is okay," he answered.

"Am I going to be stupid now," I asked, alarmed.

"No, I don't think you will."

While I was en route to the hospital, the dispatcher called my mom to tell her about the accident and what hospital I would be at. Mom beat me there, making a 30 minute drive in less than 10 minutes.

When I was wheeled into the emergency room, her face appeared above me, worried and pale.

"Mom, I broke that man's car, and I peed on him. Will you tell him I'm sorry?"

"Let's get you taken care of before we worry about apologies," she said.

I was wheeled into x-ray, where it was discovered that I had what the doctor called "a clean break". He explained to my mom that the bone sticking through my skin was only a "slight problem". He went on to explain that instead of traditional anasthesia, I would be given a drug that would allow me to feel everything, but remember none of the pain.

I was taken into surgery, where they started an IV drip. The doctor made small talk, and I told him I hated my little sister. Then I remember blackness. According to mom, the doctor told me it was time to set my leg. I told him I wasn't ready. He started the procedure anyway, and I bolted upright in the bed, and punched him in the face. Two male nurses were called in to assist, but they weren't strong enough to hold me down. Finally, with Charlie's help and two more male nurses, they were able to set my leg and apply a cast. Mom said I gave the doctor a good cussin', with motherfucker being my word of choice. ( I imagine this scene to be very similar to the exorcism scene in the Exorcist)

I woke up alone in my hospital room six hours later. I called the nurses desk to get something to drink. She quickly delivered hot chocolate and pudding.. I finished eating, and took some time to investigate the heavy plaster cast that went from my toes to my upper-thigh. I went back to sleep, only to wake three hours later when a nurse jabbed my toe with a straight pin.

"Had to make sure your foot wasn't dead, sweetheart."

My parents came to visit the next morning. Charlie had spoken to a lawyer and told me "your college is paid for. We're gonna sue his ass off." These hopes were dashed when the accident report stated that I had been jay-walking. Charlie was very disappointed.

I was in the hospital for two days when the physical therapist came. I quickly dubbed her the beast, due to her brusque manner. She came with crutches, and set about teaching me to lift my cast off the ground.

"You're being lazy," she yelled. "If you drag your leg like that, it won't set properly. They'll have to re-break it. They do that while you're awake."

After hours of practice, she made me walk down the hall on my crutches. I took several steps, and told her that I needed to rest because I felt weak.

"No. You can't leave the hospital until you master your crutches."

I took a few more steps, and collapsed in the corridor.

" Get up right now," she hissed in my ear.

"I will not. I'm tired, and I hate you. Go get me a wheelchair, and tell them that I need a new therapist, because I'm not working with you anymore."

My new therapist was much nicer.

I left the hospital the next day. I had to stay home from school for another week so my leg could mend. I watched television and scratched my leg with a wire hanger, unwound, so I could reach far under the cast.

My first day back to school, I was very nervous. This nervous feeling was only compounded when everyone I saw gasped or turned pale at the sight of me. I didn't understand their reaction.

It turns out that everyone thought I had died. There was a dance class in session, down the street from the accident. The much hated Tina was a member of the class, and they had come outside to watch the aftermath. She went to school the following day and breathlessly recounted the details of the wreck, with a more dramatic ending.

"She died," Tina told everyone, "her brains splattered all over Main Street."