Jamie loved to climb things. Her mom said she’d been climbing
things ever since she was nine months old. She didn’t remember that
far back, but she sure did like to climb!
There was no tree she wouldn’t try to scale. A pile of rocks was
an invitation to climb. She’d scamper up and over every piece of
furniture in the house. She liked to clamber up into dad’s truck, too.
One day, she was climbing around on the weight bench in the garage, when she
suddenly slipped. She tried to catch herself on the way down, but landed strangely on her
wrist. A flash of pain shot up her arm from her wrist, and she started to cry.
Mom came outside and found her cradling her wrist. They went inside to ice it. Mom
was no stranger to cuts and bruises, but she could tell that this time was different. The
tenderness in the wrist didn’t go down.
The next day, Jamie’s wrist had swollen up and looked dark, almost bruised. She could
barely manage to touch it. It had been hard to sleep the night before, also. It was agonizing to
put any weight on the wrist or to try to carry something with that hand.
They went to the doctor, who took an x-ray. They found out that she had cracked two of
the bones in her wrist. They weren’t completely broken, which was great, but they were
fractured and a cast was required. She got a pink cast put on from her fingers down to her
elbow.
For several itchy weeks, Jamie had to be extra careful not to get dirt or water on the cast.
It started to smell after a while, too, because it was impossible to wash underneath there, and
her arm sweated under the cast.
It was a huge relief to get the cast off, finally. Her arm
underneath looked whiter than the other one, but a little sun would fix
that. Now she could get back to playing outside, swimming, and maybe
even a little climbing!
Jamie had learned to be a bit more careful, but she wasn’t about
to give up one of her favorite things!