Too young...

So many moons ago, when I was traveling in Central America during the rainy season, I went on this lovely hike. The rains came early that day but I was almost to the top of this super-steep climb and wanted to see what was on the other side before I spent all the hours climbing back down. Well. I finished my climb and then realized I was going to have to descend that super-steep, mud-slickened mountainside with no rocks or handholds. Anyone who has ever been down there probably knows that the mud is the type that clogs the soles of your boots until you are basically just surfing along the ground with no traction whatsoever. To make a long story short, not surprisingly I fell and did this spectacular downhill slide for about 50 feet trying to find some purchase to stop myself. Finally I managed to grab ahold of a rock that was deeply embedded enough that it didn't come loose.

I must've been sliding downhill pretty fast because on the hand that found that rock, I managed to break my thumb just below the bottom knuckle and fracture my wrist in several places ('course I didn't know the extent of the damage until later). Since I was heading home in a week and was out in the middle of nowhere I splinted it myself and made do. The day after I arrived home I had to move out of my apartment and managed to slam that same hand in between the couch and the door jamb - OUCH! The following day I drove to Montana - that hand on the gearshift. And then the day after that I went to the doc.

Doc took some x-rays and showed me the lovely breaks. He said my wood'n'tape splint was well done and that it was healing properly. And then he proceeded to put me in a more modern cast. (He said a plaster'n'ace-bandage-splint would do but he had known me since I was small and figured that the first time I wanted to do something where the splint got in the way I would simply take it off. *laff*) After about 2 weeks of *enjoying* my cast I was at the Idaho ranch and wanted to help round up the cattle and move them to a different pasture. I was riding one of the taller horses (around 16 hands I would guess) and couldn't get into the saddle without gripping the saddlehorn with both hands. So. I broke off my cast ... lucky for me it was plaster rather than fiberglass (so much for the doctor's plans).

Where is this long-winded story going? Every once in awhile, my hand has this deep ache just below the last knuckle on my thumb and it gets stiff and ornery and doesn't want to function like it should. Usually this happens in a humid place when rain is on the way after a dry spell. I remember the oldsters saying these things happened to them along old bone breaks. But I feel like I'm too young for that to happen to me. I don't want to pay for my fun until later! :)