Monday, November 17, 2008

Year of Tens: The Day Brandon Saw Me Break My Nose or Why One Shouldn't Run Into Bars

*Warning: I didn't Edit this post, so forgive me if it's grammatically painful!

Yes, dear reader. Ten years ago, I broke my nose!
It was not a happy experience, but it brought about some fun things. Like chocolate. Sympathy. Prescribed medication. This blog post!

I wasn't sure how to tell you the tale. Should I tell you in third person? In present tense? In a choose-your-own-adventure style and link you all over the internet? As exciting as these sounded, I decided to just go with the source. The truth, if you will. This would be different than the messed-up/idiotic memory my brother claims I have (he doesn't know what he's talking about, btw) because it is in written form. Written form, you ask? Yes!
Behold! The Journal!
I was really good at journaling back in the day. In fact, I started at age 6 and wrote in a journal (I have three? Four?) until I was 19. For some reason, after I got married, the journaling didn't stay consistent. Not sure why. Maybe it was the fact I recorded myself through email? Letters to my babies in their baby books? I do know it was the biggest motivation for creating this blog --I am journaling again! And I have been pretty consistent for the last three years. Boo-yah! This brings me peace and joy and yadda-yadda-yadda...yeah, yeah --I know you're already tired of me going on and on about journaling. So without further ado, I bring you excerpts from the Journal (with added information from Cheryl in the present) on How Cheryl Broke Her Nose Around Ten Years Ago:

...Now, to add to the excitement of school, work, and wedding plans, Brandon and I had an interesting adventure. On November 14th [1998], we went to the park for a picnic to start our great day together [we chose to spend the day together rather than go to any of the Preference Dances. For those who didn't go to BYU, this a girl's choice dance, kind of like Homecoming. However, there are two Preference Dances a year and only one Homecoming. Makes sense since the girls outnumber the boys at BYU, eh?]. But it was cut short when I got Brandon wet [with water from a water bottle] and so he chased me around the park and I ran into a bar --face first. Boy did it hurt! [Just so you know, this "bar" was part of an elementary school playground; sort of. You know how they have those big tall Stonehenge-looking bar things of different heights? Yeah? Well, Brandon was chasing me, I was running, laughing, turning back to look at him, trying to run in between the two tall bars, looked back just in time to SMACK myself right in the nose on the cross-bar. I had no idea it was there! I hit the bar so hard it close-lined me and I landed right on my back. I also believe it knocked me out for a few seconds. Later I learned if it had been one inch higher, I would have cracked my head and possibly hurt my eyes. If it had been one inch lower, it would have knocked out ALL of my front teeth. It was seriously a miracle that I hit it straight on the bridge of my nose!] Brandon picked me up and half carried me and half dragged me to the car. He gave me a blessing and we drove to the hospital. Luckily the plastic surgeon was on call! [This is stupid. There's ALWAYS a plastic surgeon on call, Cheryl!] They x-rayed me and gave me some medication and sent me home to wait for the swelling to go down. Brandon was the best! He tok me home, got my prescriptions, got me ice-cream, Hershey kisses, and a rose, and then babied me for 2 days straight (I sure love him! :) ). That Wed., my plastic surgeon, Dr. Hirsche (who knew my Great-Grandpa Proctor!) --[This was true. Dr. Blaine Hirsche was my doctor, and he grew up in Stirling, Alberta, Canada. His Priest's Quorum Advisor was my Great-Grandfather and he knew my Great-Grandmother well; he even remembered how she taught piano lessons! Dr. Hirsche died tragically --along with his wife --in a small airplane crash in 2002. Go here to read more about the foundation he started: Hirsche Smiles. That man was amazing, and I'm grateful I had a chance to know him, even if it was just for a few weeks!]

Where was I? Oh, yeah.

Dr. Hirsche set my surgery up for the next day. Surgery went really well. They sedated me and I went home tired, but feeling well. I had to wear a dumb brace-splint thing on my nose all week, but the pain was gone. (It's a good thing we had our engagement pictures taken on Oct. 31!) I got the brace off on the day before Thanksgiving. I look really great! I just have to be careful with my nose for a while. [Yeah, so careful that I didn't get to dance the Samba in the Floor Show for Ball Room dance class. Curses! I was sad. Oh, and for those who don't understand why one with a broken nose shouldn't dance a group Samba routine --we're talking my whole class, like 40 people --then please watch this! And then pretend that we were just as good. Ha!]

Yeah, okay. So the journal thing didn't turn out exactly the way I had planned. I guess I thought I got down all the memories, but it turns out I only wrote down the gist of it. I must have been in a rush, gosh darn it! Oh, well. It was a fun experiment.
So, there you go, dear reader! That is how I broke my nose and learned how one should never run into bars. But if they do, make sure you have someone like Brandon around!

Have you ever broken your nose? Another bone? In a humiliating way like me?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have never broken a bone (knock on wood). I'm sorry but the image of you running smack into that bar in front of your fiance has me busting up!

Susan said...

I'm not laughing at you, just with in remembering it! It was kind of funny though ;)

Cardalls said...

I have not broken a bone but my sis-in-law broke her nose in a very funny fashion. We were staying in a beach house in CA and there was a huge sliding glass door and well...she turned to go inside and someone had shut the door and she slammed into it and broke her nose...the bad part is the whole fam-dam-ily saw it happen and we were laughing while she was knocked out and moaning...not very nice...but I still giggle when I think about it!

Randi said...

Oh My GOSH! I had emergency surgery from Dr Hirsche when I was at BYU, too! What a small world.

Everyone should have someone like your Brandon to baby them. What a great story!

Annette Lyon said...

Great story! I actually broke my nose a little over a year ago. Didn't need surgery, thank heavens, but it was a pain. (Literally and otherwise.) My story isn't nearly so fun. I had a nasty headache overnight, woke up, and ended up passing out on the kitchen tile. SMACK. Yeah. Good times.

Susan M said...

No broken bones here, but I figured my husband's had enough for both of us.

Anonymous said...

I've never done anything humiliating. Nope. Never.

No broken bones either.

Mother of the Wild Boys said...

I've done so many humiliating things, complete strangers in other parts of the world are probably re-telling stories of my clumsiness right now.

Blogging and Bliss said...

No bone breaking that I can remember but I did have to have sinus surgery and they fixed my nose they said it was broken.. I have no clue how it happened... must have been when I was younger... anyways had to have the surgery... it was AWFUL... The worst part was having the take out the splint thing a few weeks later...