What was I thinking?!

I'm a little embarrassed to tell this story, but it's a pretty good one, so here it goes...

Last weekend, I went to an activity at a gymnastic's center with some of my friends from church. I was really excited about it because it's been so long since I've jumped around on a trampoline, balanced on a balance beam, swung from uneven bars, etc. Anyway, within the first 10 minutes of being there, I tried a backflip on the trampoline (I used to do them all the time) and didn't quite make it all the way around. To avoid landing on the top of my head, I cocked my head back and landed on my face, scraping my lip, chin, and bridge of my nose. I hopped right up, but after about 15-20 min., I had to sit down because my neck hurt so badly. I don't think I'd ever been in so much pain! A few minutes later, this guy who happened to be a paramedic came over and started asking me all these questions. The next thing I knew, I was laying on my back with tears streaming down my face and tons of people surrounding me (one of those situations everyone dreads being in). To make a long story short, I got a blessing, decided I was fine, and had my friend drive me and my car home. By Monday, my neck was still really bothering me, so I made a doctor's appt. for that afternoon. The doctor asked me a bunch of questions, had some x-rays taken, said I was probably fine, and sent me on my way. On Tuesday, I got a call from someone in the office who told me that I had a small fracture in one of my vertabrae and did something to a ligament! He said I needed to make an appointment with a spine specialist and would likely need some physical therapy and to adjust my lifestyle! So, after 29 years of never breaking a bone, I can now literally say that I broke my neck....unbelievable!

I wasn't able to schedule an appt. until Friday, so I spent the rest of the week working and wondering what I had really done to myself. Thankfully, I went in Friday and the doctor said that besides the pain, my strengh and range of motion were good. Apparently, the fracture is not even a crack, just a small chip. So, no physical therapy, no brace (thank goodness...I can't imagine how my students would react!), just heat/cold, pain killers, living my life the way I normally do, and massages (can't complain about that one!)

So, that's my story. I'm still in a lot of pain, but it gets progressively better each day. I am so thankful that it wasn't anything worse and am so glad that I have such good friends looking out for me. I'm so blessed!