#theladyjester

So tumbling is getting really popular in the dance scene, aerials being the most widely done tumbling pass. My friend recently learned how to do it, and said that it was basically just getting comfortable doing a one-handed cartwheel and working up the courage to take that hand away. 

Well I had a free evening so I went out in the backyard and decided to work on my aerials (that I had never attempted before, mind you :P). I did a few one-handed cartwheels and those felt really solid, so I decided to just go for the aerial and see how it went. Of course, I wasn't ready for it yet and knew I gonna fall on my head midway, so I put my arm out to catch myself. I heard a huge crack and a few seconds later the pain came and I knew I had done something bad to it.

Somehow I made it inside screaming my head off. My grandma was the only one home since my mom was at the gym, so she heard and came to see what was wrong. For a good thirty seconds I was just pacing the kitchen saying "It's broken.  It's broken." over and over. Then I got really light-headed and dizzy and my grandma made me sit down. I was sweating bullets and even had those cliche dots in my vision. She got me an ice pack, called my mom and went to get a cool cloth for me and (according to her, cause I don't remember) when she turned around, I was passed out. She called 911 (which I remember), and asked me to lay down on the floor. Once I did that, I felt much better except for extreme embarrassment and anger at my stupidity, which only got worse when I had to explain what happened to 7 six-foot paramedics and firemen in my kitchen. 

So after a five-hour wait in the emergency room, we finally found out that I have a radial head fracture in my left arm. The doctor in the emergency room told me I'd be in a full cast for six to eight weeks. Since then, I went to go see an orthopedic surgeon and when I told him that, he rolled his eyes and said "Those emergency doctors are so dramatic. Don't worry honey, you'll be out of this thing in three to four weeks." 

So I'm in a full arm cast (black to match my dance costumes and more of my clothes) and rockin' a bejeweled sling for the next month. My dance teachers are working with me to rework our dances to I can still do them, and I'm more thankful than ever that I'm ambidextrous.