The Pond of Aliswan: Mountains of Miracles and Mountains to Go

This week was absolutely insane for me.

Meaning it drove me insane.

Let me explain:

Monday:

meh, not to exciting.

Tuesday:

I started off the day like most days, biking to work, working for a few hours and then heading to class.

Class was in Special Collections in the library and it was absolutely awesome.

For class we are preparing an exhibit and we went to Special Collections to look at old photos but ended up finding boxes and boxes of journals, writings, and books from the woman who donated the collection we are exhibiting.

In a word: AWESOME.

On the way home from class I needed to stop by the Creamery to pick up some ingredients for the dinner we were going to cook for our visiting teachees.

As I was biking to the Creamery I had to bike around a construction sign and go on the grass.

Hidden under the beautiful fall leaves was a nice big rut.

My front tire got stuck and instead of just letting myself fall I jerked my handlebars about to stay upright.

There was some seriously loud popping in my left shoulder.

My first thought was, "Oh crap, I think I just dislocated my shoulder"...which was promptly followed by me trying to move my arm.

I couldn't move it, it just sat there on my handlebars.

Then the pain hit like a freight train.

Oh my goodness it hurt SOOO bad.

I was stranding there straddling my bike and I realized my vision was getting really blurry, I thought I was going to vomit everywhere and there was this unbelievably loud rushing sound in my ears.

My next though was, "Oh crap, I think I'm trying to pass out...ummm...GET OFF THE BIKE!!!"

So I stumbled off my bike, put the kickstand down as I threw my backpack down and laid beside my bike.

I stayed there a good 5-10 minutes before I could move.

When I got up I tested my shoulder and despite some pretty significant pain, I was able to move it.

Because of that I thought that maybe I hadn't dislocated it.

So I thought, "Well, you haven't dislocated your shoulder, I still need to get the groceries".

Yep, I'm a bit of an idiot.

Anyway, quick ending:

I biked to the Creamery

(people looked at me a bit oddly, probably because I was white as a sheet and looked as though I was about to pass out),

got my groceries and ate a mint brownie

(I needed the sugar),

and biked the rest of the way home.

After talking to the padre (who has had extensive shoulder and knee problems) we came to the conclusion that I had very likely dislocated my shoulder and that it needed to be looked at first thing in the morning.

I was in some excruciating pain but I eventually went to bed and thought maybe I would sleep it off.

Wednesday:

After not sleeping really at all I made an appointment at the doctor's office.

She thought that I had dislocated the shoulder but that it had popped back into place.

Just to make sure she sent me to the hospital to get an x-ray.

Final prognosis was somewhat miraculous.

Apparently it is not unusual to have the joint pop back into place.

What was unusual was that I had no pinching or tearing of the muscles and ligaments surrounding the joint.

Everything is just pulled and SUPER sore.

So, I am in a sling for the next week or so and then...well and then I will try to avoid ruts.

Thursday:

I was able to do my shift at the temple with minimal pain.