No this isn’t a weight in of the little devil cat. Although I’m thinking it should be, that would be more attractive. Its quite hard to get her on the scale, unless she’s at the vet. She loves the vet, the vet loves her. She hasn’t bitten or scratched or tried to devour one of the vet techs. She does all of these things to me and TJ on a daily basis.
I’m getting off topic. I guess I should give some backstory so y’all don’t think I’m just a twenty-something with a problem of keeping her hands away from her mouth. Although…I love me some food 🙂
Summer 2005- I was working for a horse trainer for the summer. I was given a few yearlings that I was working to get ready for shows and auctions in halter classes. I had this awesome little paint colt I was working to polish up for shows. I was also given a 4 year old Appendix QH (1/2 Thoroughbred 1/2 Quarter Horse) that I was told had 90 days of riding, knew the basics, was a little nervous with people on the ground, and just needed some “polishing”. Yeah….he needed polishing alright. I had worked with him several times on the ground and he was absolutely nervous, but was never mean.
D-Day-Actually I think it was a Wednesday (haha) or maybe it was Tuesday. I don’t remember much. What I do remember: I had just finished feeding and the yearlings were brushed. The trainer and her husband (the farrier) had tacked up the project horse for me and wanted me to do a test ride on him that evening before leaving. What they didn’t tell me: they had tranquilized him enough for a horse twice his weight. With the farrier holding him I stepped up to put some weight on his back to feel how he reacted. His reaction: HOLY SHIT THE PEOPLE CAN FLY AND THEY ARE GOING TO EAT ME. He broke loose from the farrier and went bucking around the pen trying to brush me off on anything he could. He finally got me off on the gate and I pulled a superman stunt, flipped and landed flat on my back on solid packed red clay with sand that needed some rain.
Things I knew right away (or thought I did): 1) I had a concussion, a damn bad concussion. I was seeing double, I was dizzy, and nauseous. This wasn’t my first rodeo, and definitely not my first concussion. 2) Holy cow I hurt! From my knees to my ears, I was radiating pain. 3) Closest Hospital=45 minutes 4)Cell phone service= 5 minutes out 5) Not staying here with these crazies.
The trainer let me drive home with a happy “See you in the morning”. I drove (slowly—i think) until I got cell service and called my mom. She offered to come pick me up but it would be 2 hours til she got there, I decided for her to just stay on the phone and we would see how it went. I drove straight to my apartment (90 minute drive) and went and laid down. I woke up every two hours, and took care of my concussion, but like I dumb 18 year-old “tough as nails” kid, didn’t go to the hospital.
6 days later I went to the hospital. 5 days too late for them to do anything. My injuries included: a fractured vertebra, rotated spine, rotated and tilted pelvis (my pelvis was already tilted from a congenital defect), severe concussion, pulled every muscle from my ears to my thighs, and severe bruising and road rash. I was given pain pills and muscle relaxers and told to “keep it easy”. Heres a picture from that night, what you can’t see is that the swelling was about 4″ out from my body. The star isn’t normally crooked like that.
Bruising
I went to the big horse show/auction that next weekend. I showed my little ass off and brought home a decent futurity win check. The next day I quit my job.
When I had my appointment with my orthopedic surgeon (he’s helped me through a lot) I was told: no more running, no more riding, no lifting over 20# (later raised to 50#), no strenuous activities, and if I knew you would listen I would put you on bed rest. Ouch.
I decided not to return to Ohio for my Sophomore year so I could stay with my ortho, chiropractor, and PT and instead took classes at my community college so I wouldn’t fall behind.
Body Stats day of accident: 18 years old, 98 lbs, 2% body fat, size 2 jeans, size XS-S everything else, 34A Bra, 5’4″
Body Stats today: 24 years old, 168 lbs, size 12 jeans, size large everything else, 36DDD bra, 5’2″ (I shrunk somewhere 🙂 )
So starting today I am becoming accountable for my weight. I am in constant pain, and that will never change. I realize that 98 lbs is no longer a possibility, healthy, or attractive. I never dieted or tried to maintain that low of a weight, I was incredibly active with an awesome metabolism. Unfortunately I left that metabolism in the dirt.
Goal weight #1: 150 lbs. I want to be able to get on the package scale at work and not have it read ERR
Goal weight #2: 130 lbs.
Final Goal Weight: 120 lbs.
I have 18 lbs to go for goal #1. I’ll be back next Wednesday to see how I’m doing.
–EM
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305 McConville 