The Unhappiest of Ironies

I pity you who wait with baited breath for me to post again. Joel even relies on automated means. Come to think of it, he's probably the only one who reads this blog for that very reason. Alas.

Anyway, as I sit here sipping a glass of Don Julio 1942 that my roommate gave me for Christmas (he's the excessively generous type...), I'm waiting for my icepack to finish re-freezing so I can ice my back again. I got adjusted on Friday, but I needed it again because I somehow managed to get my neck and upper back all bound up again. Fortunately my chiropractor is really cool and didn't charge me anything because it only took about 10 minutes.

See, I went snowboarding this weekend. My first time on the slopes since I blew out my knee last year. It was wonderful! I bought a new board in August after deciding I had outgrown my old one (which I'd had since high school). It's an "all-terrain" type of board, suitable for any type of snow or riding style. It's got plenty of room for me to grow in it, but not like so many potted plants.

The weather was great, the snow was great, I didn't fall over too much which was great, I stayed in a cabin mere miles from the hill which was great, I had two friends with me which was great.

There was only one part that wasn't great. Two people came up with me, both girls. I met both through my church's singles fellowship, called "20s". Sonja I've known for a couple of years. She's like an older sister in many ways. Lots of fun to hang out with. The other is from Louisiana who's over here studying Art Therapy at a small private college in SF. She's cute, but I haven't seen much of her since she first came because her class schedule is unfortunate. I really didn't know much about her before we left. Not even that she skis.

So yesterday afternoon we're up at Squaw Valley enjoying some great spring conditions. Sonja was having some trouble navigating turns on her board, so I tried to give her a lesson in the morning. She was a little flustered and embarassed, I think, but hopefully some of the things I showed her will make her riding more fun in the future. She decided to hang back after lunch and practice on the easy slopes so I went with the other girl to see some other parts of the mountain that she'd explored by herself earlier.

We were having a good time on the slopes, which aren't very crowded on a Sunday. I suggested we try heading a little further down the hill to see what was available from this other lift, so we headed over and began our descent. She was maybe 20 yards ahead of me when I saw her pop over a small ridge and disappear. In her stead I saw a cloud of snow and flying skis and poles. I approached her location (cautiously, in case there was some obstacle or something) and found her on her side, clutching her left leg.

Not good.

I stopped next to her and helped gather her things, but she wasn't that interested in them. She was in a lot of pain from whatever had happened. So I opened her bindings so she could get her feet out (which took quite a bit of strength to do gingerly) and helped her spin around so she wasn't lying head first down the hill. She said she caught her ski in a lump of snow and heard something pop in her knee. That sounded disturbingly like what happened to me.

So I stuck her skis in an X in the snow (The normal symbol for caution/injury) and raced down to get ski patrol. By the time I got back around to her they were already there and loading her into the toboggin. They told me where the clinic was and I said I'd be there as soon as I could.

To add insult to injury (pardon the pun), my CD player somehow fell out of my pocket while I was heading down to get someone's attention. So I slowly re-traced my path, but unfortunately didn't find it. It's silver and white, which isn't very conducive to finding in the snow. I did find someone's digital camera, though. So I turned that in and counted my player as a loss. Guess it's time to get a solid state player or something...

So the three of us had agreed to meet by the lockers at 3:45. It was only 3:15, but I was hoping Sonja might be inside. Sure enough, she was right there, futzing with her bindings (which I thought were a bit close together when I looked at them before). Thank God. I told her Erin was injured and we headed down to the base where the clinic was. The doctors had already looked at her but still needed to do X-rays when we got there. So sonja and I went back to the cabin and packed everything up and returned.

So here's their diagnosis: She tore her left ACL. I don't think I ever posted about it here, but that's exactly what I did last year in march at another Tahoe resort. This better not be a trend--that everyone I go skiing with injures their left ACL like I did.

Anyway, it was an ordeal but we got her home. Her mom back in Louisiana panicked and bought her a plane ticket home for TOMORROW at 6AM. Travelling is the LAST thing she should be doing right now, so I hope she doesn't go, but we'll see what happens. I gave her the contact info for the surgeon who did my knee, but her dad is some kind of medical so-and-so who knows every practicioner in their town, so for better or worse, she may end up staying back there for a while.