Hey Gorgeous Lady!
I meant to message back about all my broken bones, when you asked how I injured myself.
When I was 13, I used to play football after school everyday. One day I stood in a pothole in the grass, and turned my ankle so badly that I broke it, tore the ligaments, damaged the tendon, and fractured the front. Anyway, I was on crutches for weeks and weeks. Then a couple of months after I was off crutches and out of my weird ankle casting, I decided to do the bleep test (stamina test) at school in P.E. I was one of the last people still going, and then suddenly - oops! I fell on my ankle and damaged the whole lot exactly the same, all over again! So back to the hospital and back to crutches and loads of physiotherapy for months.
Okay, so my knee. I was travelling through Europe, and my ex boyfriend at the time forced me to go on a scooter. I am only just 5 foot 1 and had never ridden a scooter. My feet didn't touch the ground when I was on the seat, and I didn't feel comfortable riding one. Unfortunately, the ex was a complete bully (I was actually quite shy when I was younger) and I let him force me into riding it, when I said I really didn't want to. So, we're going along, and he starts beeping his horn at me like mad, telling me to pull over. So, not knowing anything about scooters and breaks, I hit the front break and skidded on some gravel, and went flying over the handle bars! Anyway, when I hit the ground, my left knee took the full impact - it made me feel sick. The ex quickly stopped and ran over. It turned out he was beeping me because he thought he had ran out of fuel... but he hadn't.
Anyway, I was taken by a very kind man to the nearest hospital and they told me that I had broken my left leg and my left knee. Great!
The other leg. A few years later, I was sitting there on the doorstep, smoking a dirty cigarette, when I noticed a lump on my right. The lump initially didn't hurt but I thought it was odd. Anyway, fast forward a few months and this lump was becoming pretty damn painful, so I went to the doctors. As I live in England, and we have a crazy shit healthcare system called the NHS (which some old people still think is awesome for some unknown, wartime reason), the doctor said it was just a swollen tendon and to take some anti-inflammatories. So I did as he said. Anyway, the lump wasn't getting any better - right this is a long story. Hold tight!
(Quick Rant)
*This is England, and if you need any medical care, like scans or operations, you need to wait at least 3 years, and still then, nothing might ever be done. But don't worry! We are grateful! Because it's free! Aren't we lucky!*
So, I go back and forth to the doctors and the hospital for FIVE YEARS, trying to convince them that there is something wrong with my knee, because I am in my mid-20s, and even walking was becoming incredibly painful.
Right, I will now highlight how unbelievably incompetent our healthcare system is. So, after a few years of asking for a scan, just so they can check the lump on my knee, they finally gave me an x-ray. They x-rayed the knee flat, and because of this, the x-ray didn't show anything. So, they said it was nothing, and just to get on with it blah blah blah. It was still really painful, so I go back a year or so later and see a different doctor. She said, why did they x-ray it flat when you could only see the lump when the knee is in the bent position? So, she sends me off to have it x-rayed again. When I finally go to have it x-rayed, the person doing it had an actual argument with me because they said I should have it x-rayed flat, and there is no need to have it done bent. Anyway, I threw an absolute shit storm and they did it my way, and low and behold, it showed there was an issue!
Right, so I wait about another year to have an MRI done because now they have acknowledged there is something going on. So, I finally go to have an MRI on my knee and the nurse tells me it's my left leg they need to scan. I said, it's the right leg. They said, it's your left leg, it's written down here. I said, clearly you've made a fucking mistake because I'm telling you it's the right leg! I said well how can I get you to scan the right leg. They said I would have to go back to the doctor, and get a new referral which would take about another 6 months to a year. I ended up losing my fucking shit with them and actually frogmarched them to a phone, to call my doctor to confirm that they were trying to scan the wrong leg!!
Anyway, they eventually did do the scan, and my knee was so bad, that they booked me into surgery within two weeks!!
It turned out, I must have had some sort of impact injury, as bits of my knee cap had become chipped away, and those chipped bits had lodged themselves in the tendon across the front on the knee cap, and were essentially pulling it apart. So, I had open knee surgery, and it was very, very painful.
Phew! Sorry for the massive reply! But yeah, that's a few of my major injuries. And it was only three months ago that I fell out the back of my van and tore the ligaments in my foot. I still can't fully weight bare on it yet. They said it would take a while.
And sorry for the NHS rant. I hate how glorified it is when most people my age and younger know that in fact, it's a failing system.
Anyway,
@Forever hopeful I would be so glad to have you on board for my tinnitus project. And, I've always wanted to go to Boston.