The Beginning

I was always a bendy little girl, I never thought much of it. My brother used to find it amusing that he could bend my hand all the way back until it touched my arm and I didn't cry. Well, that's a lie. I didn't cry out of pain, only to get him in trouble.  I used to stand on the couch and jump off of it, landing a perfect ten on the carpet with my toes folded under my foot. Kind of like a toe dancer would stand, but only more ridiculous looking. I would run that way too. I remember my grandma always thought that was so weird. I also sat with my legs sprawled beside me so I looked like a big "W".

Here is an example of my toe walking. The feet behind me belong to my greyhound. The tattoo on my ankle I got when I was 17 so give me a break.

I was very athletic and really competitive, which isn't very common for kids with EDS. Most of them have trouble learning to walk and are extremely clumsy. Not me, I was a champ. I was always awarded the Presidential Physical Fitness award, did awesome at Jump Rope for Heart. (I wonder if they still do that?).  I could climb rope like a monkey; gym class was a breeze. Almost everything I did athletically I excelled at. I believe I was the 3rd fastest girl in my class. We had about 120 in my class so I think that's pretty damn good.

I went to the doctor a lot because I would convince parents that I broke something, but I never did. Sure felt like it and I would get X-rayed and nothing. I just always hyper-extended myself beyond normal human limits. I have only broke my tailbone and that's it.

I had some "growing pains" here and there but never anything that ever held me back.  My only childhood trauma came when I went to the dentist when I was 7 or 8 after doing a stint living with our mother in Newfoundland. Apparently she didn't find it that necessary to monitor my teeth brushing so I never did and ended up with 7 cavities. I know, I was a scurve. My grandma took me to the dentist and I am pretty sure it took 10 people to hold me down over 2 days of drilling. Everyone thought that I was crying and freaking out from the sound of the drill, not for the fact that I COULD FEEL EVERY BIT OF WHAT HE WAS DOING!!!!! Novocaine doesn't work on some EDS patients. Well, caines in general. Boy that was a shit ton of fun!

When I was in 8th grade it was decided that I needed braces. I don't think it was a hard decision considering my mouth was so crowded it looked like someone opened it up and threw 50 teeth in there and they all were fighting for a place to sit.  I had to have 4 adult molars removed so all my teeth would fit nicely. While going through the mouth numbing phase of the extractions, that's when my dentist learned that I was a difficult patient and needed to use something other than Novocaine on me. Then I went through 4 years of brace face hell. I only have 25 teeth in my mouth, soon to be 24. You wouldn't think that it would take that long for all of them to move. I have one wisdom tooth poking my brain that I need removed. Most people have 32 teeth. See? Small mouth. If you knew me you would NEVER think that though.

Anyway, back to my super awesome athleticism.  When I was in 8th grade, there was an announcement made that all boys who wanted to play soccer, there would be a meeting in the gym. I kind of thought that was a bunch of bullshit, and being the butthole that I can be sometimes, I went to the meeting with another girl friend of mine. I wanted to play too!! And guess what? I got my wish. I played varsity soccer. On the men's team. I was a forward and I had never played a day of soccer in my life. That's how awesome I am.

So, the whole season it was me, a bunch of dudes and a few girls, traveling the fine state of Iowa playing high school soccer. It was so much fun. I loved that summer. I had never been in better shape in my entire life. Then one day it all came crashing down on me. I was running on the soccer field, not a care in the world. I wasn't even NEAR the damn ball and all of a sudden I heard the loudest snap I have ever heard in my entire life. My coach was at the other side of the field and every single person stopped playing because they heard it too. I went down immediately, screaming in pain. I instantly felt sick to my stomach. I thought I broke my leg. Thoughts of me teasing another player earlier in the season came right to my head. He had broke his femur kicking the ball when someone else's leg got in the way. He was carried to the bench where he laid his head in my lap waiting for the ambulance to arrive. I told him that he could die if his femur was indeed broken from significant blood loss or a clot to the heart. Now it was me who was going to die.


Once we got to the ER the orthopod told me that I ripped the tendon sheath behind my ankle bone. It's worse than a bone break. There went my career in soccer. I was devastated.

So, I hobbled around that summer. I was supposed to take drivers ed but had to drop it because I couldn't walk a mile to the school to attend class, plus I couldn't drive with a cast on my leg. I only had a partial cast for a few weeks. When I walked after it was "healed", the tendon that sits behind the ankle bone then flopped back and forth over it. I became a weenie because that shit hurt! I didn't want it to happen again. So, I pretty much aborted my sports career.

We decided that October to have surgery on it to tie the tendon back down. The anesthesiologist that I had was a pretty cool dude. He suggested I have a spinal block so I could watch the surgery. This wasn't like day surgery, this was actual surgery. I'm all about stuff like that so I agreed. I remember laying on the table and them showing me the tendons in my ankle. It was pretty cool. I started freaking out though because as they were working on me, I could feel them leaning up against my legs. I still had sensation. So, they ended up knocking me out.

After everything in my ankle was put back in its original anatomical position, they buttoned me back up and sent me on my way. I lost all my friends that fall because I had the rankest, smelliest cast on the planet. Hell if I was my friend I would have packed up my toys and left too. It was bad. I was a sad, broken, smelly little girl.

I want everyone to know that the injury that I suffered is the same injury that Curt Schilling had happen to him and he then pitched in the World Series and won! That man is my hero. I cannot even fathom doing what he did and winning. He is either a true athlete or steroids are amazing drugs!!!