Patella Trials Part I

"Ambulances are a lot smaller than I imagined," I thought to myself, "But I guess this stretcher takes up a lot of room, and all of the supplies in these glass cabinets…"

Suddenly my train of thought was interrupted by a hard pressure on my arm; "Ah, they're just taking my blood pressure—again." As the rubber tightened around my scrawny biceps I tried to think back about how this had all come to be.

Earlier this Saturday morning I had happy headed of to school for drama club practice, opening night being only five days away. I'd been painting the backdrop for the set with a few other girls between time on stage practicing my lines. I was admiring our painting skills as I started to try to make my way around all of the paint jars, brushes, and various other supplies scattered around the floor. While I was still standing I felt my right leg suddenly tighten up completely. This didn't strike me as too odd or worrisome at first, even though this usually happens when I'm laying down. But then my leg started to be enveloped in an increasing pain. I tried to move it, but I couldn't. I couldn't keep my balance, and I fell backwards. The other girls in the room ran over to me, making sure I was all right. I auto assured them I was, but then I became aware of the intense pain yet again. I finally pinpointed the source of the pain to be in my knee, so I pulled my skirt up over it slightly to check it out. I yelped. I was horrified. The middle part of your knee that jets out was… gone—sunken in. Instead, that "bump" was on the outer side of my knee. It was horribly disfigured and not a pleasant sight for me. One of the girls there calmly told me that my knee cap had popped out, and that she'd had it happen to her before. She said I needed to straighten it so it would pop back in (my leg was bent around a jar of paint), but I refused. I wanted a doctor, or someone with some sort of experience/authority. The girls there were amazing though. They called for help, got me some pain medication, held ice against my knee, propped me up, stroked me, and reassured me that everything would be all right in soothing tones. They also cleaning some of the paint off of me—When I fell I hadn't realized that I knocked over huge jars of paint that I was now sitting in, I was literally drenched in the stuff.

When the drama teacher found out what had happened and saw my knee she called my dad, who's had this injury three times. He originally said not to call an ambulance since the hospital was less then a mile away and he rushed over (he had his knees pop-out three times). Once he got their he realized that it hadn't popped back into place, I was unable to move, and I was soaking in paint - so we ended up calling an ambulance. They arrived soon and were very nice and professional, quickly giving me an IV of a strong pain medication. They had to give me two doses to cut down the pain enough to tie my legs together and load me onto a stretcher bed. Then they proceeded to wheel me out of the school and load me into the ambulance.

"We're here." It was one of the paramedics. We were at the hospital. My knee was still not in place. I was dripping in yellow and blue paint, and the next phase II of my trial was about to begin.