Deb Eleanor Is a Little Off-Kilter

Yeah, I literally am.

I went to college in Minnesota.  You may have heard it gets a little chilly up there from time to time.  And one day I’m walking across campus after a recent snowfall.  They’ve cleared the sidewalks, but I do see one patch of ice in front of me.  And I think to myself, “Self, you should probably avoid stepping on that piece of ice.”

Um, yeah.

Deb Eleanor with a broken leg

It’s been a few years, multiple pieces of metal, and a handful of surgeries since that moment, and I am still really wobbly on that foot.  My right ankle gets tired easily, I fall over more than is technically prudent in yoga classes, and if I ever had to take a field sobriety test – well, let’s just say it’s a good thing I don’t drink.

Nonetheless, I do exercise that ankle, I go to yoga classes (just don’t put your mat near mine, or I’m likely to fall on you), and I generally try to make an effort to remember that balance is a state of mind, not just a state of ankle.

So I’m curious – what is the event in your life that really threw you off-balance, and how do you deal with its effects today?

12 Replies to “Deb Eleanor Is a Little Off-Kilter”

  1. The Diet Coke, the pink cast, and the fact that the stuffie also has a cast all make me VERY happy.

    If I didn’t have to start making my daughter’s lunch for school, I’d scan in my “cast picture” too — full leg one — broke the right leg in four places. While I still have a small scar, I must admit it has held up for me remarkably well over the years.

    However, here’s a fun one for balance — I get VERTIGO! It’s a migraine symptom with me. Sometimes I go blind in one eye before the headache, but other times the world actually starts spinning. Happened just yesterday. It rarely lasts long, but it’s very disconcerting…

    1. That bear was a gift from my fiance’s mother – I totally loved it. When she called to order it, they asked which leg I had broken so they could put the cast on the correct foot. Hilarious.

      Ugh @ vertigo – I had that as a side effect from some medication I was on and went off it right quick. I don’t know how I’d deal if it happened naturally.

  2. LOL, this should be a Deb topic — cast photos. Mine was my arm, and I’m sporting a lovely Little Orphan Annie perm (courtesy of my mom, who thought it would be easy for me to care for with the use of only one arm).

    And Elise, I used to get horrible migraines like that. Most members of my mom’s side of the family have them chronically, but (knock on wood) mine mostly subsided after puberty.

    Tawna

  3. I broke my index finger in grad school and had to wear an enormous splint for six weeks. While that might seem inor, think about all you do with that forefinger….including typing!

    1. Btw, on the subject of balance, the end of this comment space (which runs into the archived list of post) always “blinds” me into errors. Therefore the above is meant to read: seem minor.

      1. I know…I’m sorry – I do need to figure out how to fix that.

        I am not surprised to hear that temporarily losing even one finger is not minor at all! I once managed to slam a finger of one hand in a door, and to cut the webbing between two fingers on the other. I was pretty much useless for a week.

  4. Getting fired from my job really threw me. My dream job at my dream company. I was rocked for a long time. That my boyfriend (the one in my book) went skiing that weekend instead of nursing me through my sadness was a telling sign that he was NOT the guy for me.

  5. Oh no! I’m horribly clumsy (not that this was the reason for your fall), and did the exact same thing in college, though no bones were broken–just a nasty bruise and gash on the knee. I cried, right there in the center of Red Square. Glad you’re able to do yoga–such a terrific exercise. My absolute fave, aside from running. I’m taking a break from both at the moment, as I’ve attained beached whale status in the final weeks of my pregnancy. Cute pic of you, too, from college. xoxo

    1. Yeah, this wasn’t clumsy, just stupid. I’m jealous that you got away relatively unscathed!

      I have a love/hate relationship with yoga, but I’m really digging this particular instructor and this particular class. She’s very good at offering lots of modifications to poses and working us up to more difficult ones without making me feel like I’m in the “special” yoga class. Which basically I am. And I do not have pregnancy as an excuse!

      It must be quite hard not to be able to be as active as you usually are!

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