For me it has to be Christmas 1991. I was in second grade and my birthday is a month before Christmas and falls on Thanksgiving. My parents arranged to play with a kid from school that I didn’t really like, and my dad took us to the neighborhood playground the day before my birthday. I was sitting at the slide sliding down when I suddenly passed out and woke up on the ground in a pile of rocks. I was in terrible pain and realized the boy was pushing me off the slide so he could go down before me. My father saw the whole thing happening, took us back to the house and got my mother.
I had a bump in the middle of my upper arm and it hurt like crazy. My father told my mother that he thought I had just sprained my arm, so she rushed downstairs to check. She took one look at me, saw me with no color on my face, slapped my father and said, “You can’t sprain your arm like that!” They called the doctor and he asked if I could move my arm may. I stretched it out and felt and heard a loud pop, and the same thing happened when I folded it back. My parents rushed me to the doctor’s office, where they took X-rays and discovered that I had completely fractured my humerus. My arm was fixed and put in a cast.
I was still in incredible pain for the next few days. I missed my birthday, had to eat Thanksgiving in the living room, and sleep in the recliner because it was too uncomfortable to lie flat or walk up the stairs. About a week after Thanksgiving, I slipped on the hardwood floor in the kitchen and landed on my cast. Since I was still in pain and had fallen, my mother took me back to the doctor where they took a few more x-rays which showed that my arm was never properly adjusted. However, since the bone had grown back together, it had to be broken again.
Christmas Eve was the day for the reopening. My dad took me to the hospital, I was hooked up to an IV and they pumped some painkillers through my body. I was still awake even though the doctors and nurses said I would fall asleep. I was wheeled into the next room where the doctor looked down at me and said, “Are you ready?” I bawled my eyes out and looked straight into his soul. I said, “NO!” and he just grabbed my arm and broke it.
I passed out and the next thing I knew I was on the driveway of my house. I wasn’t in as much pain anymore, I had my cast put back on and was still wearing the hospital gown. I went to my room, fell asleep and woke up on Christmas morning. I felt pretty good that day! I ran downstairs and saw what Santa Claus had brought me. There were two HUGE presents with my name written on them in gold glitter taped to red checkered wrapping paper right in front of the fireplace. I tore the first one apart. A train set! I was excited to get this setup and play. Then I jumped into the second one and it was my first video game console ever. The Super Nintendo! I played that thing so many times that day Super Mario World. It was so much fun and a nice ending to a terrible month of my then 8-year-old life. — Nicholas Gerecitano
