There are people who claim that you cannot really tell if a bone is broken without having a doctor tell you. I beg to differ. I’ve had several broken bones and it is usually rather obvious. To quote an old Johnny Cash song, “I Was There When It Happened, So I Guess I Ought To Know.”
My first experience with broken bones was my head - which may explain a lot. Actually, it wasn’t that traumatic - it definitely did hurt, but I lived. I was only three at the time, I think. Thanks to a bed frame assaulting me, (might have had something to do with my brother and I playing tag in the house) my scalp was split open. No, my brains did not fall out - of that, I’m fairly certain.
I suppose that should have been a sign - a forewarning of things to come. About three years later, I was sitting, minding my own business, watching a baseball game, when an errant throw sent a ball smashing into my nose. I can assure you that nose cartilage is no match for a baseball. I still have a scar to prove it. Over the years, my number of broken bones grew. The list includes; both kneecaps, a couple of toes and fingers, my wrist, and a few ribs, and others. Nowhere near Evel Knievel stats, I realize, but more than enough for me. I never went to the doctor to have any of them set, my dad took care of most of them, or I just wrapped them up. They all seem to have turned out pretty well.
So, how do I know the bones were actually broken? Well, other the familiar dull aching pain, and limbs or digits not functioning properly - or not at all, as the case may be - I did get some proof later in life. I was visiting a chiropractor, due to most of the vertebrae in my neck and back being out of place, which is quite painful in itself, in case you are wondering. After a few x-rays, the doctor came to me with a rather perplexed look. He said, “Although they all have apparently healed up just fine - did you know you’ve had several broken bones?”
Well, I may have been in a lot of pain, but that didn’t mean I’d lost my ever-present cynical nature. I gave him a frown and said, “Um, yeah Doc, I was there for every one of them.”
