when i was 3 or 4, there was a 7 or 8 year old girl hanging out in the apartment complex we lived in. she had roller skates. i asked to try them, so she put them on me. i couldn't get going, so she gave me a good running push. i didn't know how to stop, so i slammed into a brick wall. took some stitches in the forehead.
when i was about 5, same apartment complex, me and a bunch of kids were walking around the abandoned rail road tracks. i tripped over something and, as is natural, put my hands out to catch myself. i ended up lodging a stone in the palm of my hand. took a few stitches for that one.
when i was 19, i was cleaning the meat slicer at work. the gaurd was off, but i wasn't stupid, i had it unplugged. when i was done, i slid the slicer back on the table (it wasn't mounted down), then grabbed the cord and tossed it behind it. when i brought my hand foreward (gaurd still wasn't on, was waiting for one of the dishwashers to wash it) my thumb caught on the blade. i practically took the corner of it off, through the nail. 4 stitches, one through the thumbnail. the first shot the doc in the ER gave me in my thumb numbed me down pretty good (bout 4ccs of lydicane), but the fucker walked away and didn't come back for about 45 minutes. by then, it was wearing off. so he pumped 5ccs into my thumb and walked away. when he came back another 40 minutes later or so, it was wearing off, but he said "well, let's get this over with." that hurt like fuck.
best for last
when i was 7, i was playing around on the chin up bars at the park across the street from my house. i had been doing this the night before with my parents over there. i would get up on the 6 foot bar and swing back and forth til i got going good, then let go and land. was quite fun. however, when i tried it that day, i got going too good. when i let go, i was too far foreward. i was pretty much horizontal on my way to the ground.
when i landed, i didn't really feel any pain, but i knew something was wrong. i looked over at my left arm to discover that in the crook of my elbow i had a bone sticking out about an inch and a half. i was pretty freaked out. wasn't really any blood though, just a slight trickle every now and then. i walked the 150 feet to our back door. i didn't move my arm for fear of what was wrong. my mom freaked out (who wouldn't?). the back of my elbow was completely flat. we're talking about 3-4" long flat. i kept my arm at about a 60 degree angle and i don't even thinki could've moved it if i wanted to.
when we got to the hospital, none of the nurses or doctors could get a pulse in my wrist. they got me into the operating room as fast as possible. i had a compound fracture of the left humorous. the reason no one could get a pulse was because when the bone broke, it kinked the artery in my arm. i was in surgery for about 4 1/2 hours.
the day after surgery, i was in a soft cast (plaster on the bottom of my arm from elbow to wrist, but gauze inside and ace bandage material all around it) and it was practically soaked in blood. they took me for a new cast late in the morning. it was then that i got to see the 3 stitches in the crook of my elbow....AND 2 6" long pins going through my bicep/tricep...all the way through. freaky shit there. another surgery a few days later (they removed the pins during that surgery). went on to physical rehab a month afterwards, as i was only in a cast for 3 1/2 weeks after i broke my arm. the doctors said i'd either never be able to fully straighten my arm again or i'd never be able to touch my thumb to my shoulder, or both. i can fully straighten it, and i used to be able to touch my thumb to my shoulder, but recently (guess my growing bicep is in the way

) i can't seem to get it to the shoulder.
it wasn't until a few years after all of this i realized the severity of the injury. i was maybe 11 when i found out that i almost had my arm amputated as a result of the pinched artery. from the time i broke it until i got into surgery was about an hour, maybe slightly more. i didn't notice it at the time, but my fingers and hand were starting to turn blue.
though all of this, i still remember being in the ER.....they were cutting my shirt off and taking my pants off. a good looking nurse was taking care of this. when she went to pull my pants off, i warned her that i wasn't wearing any underwear. she smiled at me and said, "that's ok, i don't like to wear underwear either." i don't think i'll ever forget that
