The "Incident"

So my last few post titles have been lyrics from songs but I had a little mishap on Friday night that I have been referring to as the "incident"... I want to keep my new theme for songs so I just looked it up and there's a band called Porcupine Tree who is releasing an album entitled "The Incident"next month...

Anyway, Friday night was the annual barbecue at my boss' house in Evergreen, Colorado. We closed the office down at about 3:00 and drove up since it's close to an hour drive there. (Evergreen is actually in the mountains, which, as I have mentioned before, Denver is NOT.) So anyway, we get there and eat a few of the appetizers and my fellow VISTA decides it's time for the zip line. I agreed to go on it but I wanted to eat first (I lost out on that one). So three or four people go on it, no problems... Then it's my turn... I get up the ladder and somewhat don't feel like I have a good grip on the handle but I figure it's fine and push off... Well then my hands slipped off and down I came from about 10 feet... Right on my back! I got the wind knocked right out of me and wondered if I would breathe again. Eventually I was able to and respond to the frantic coworkers who are now scrambling to make sure I'm alive. The only thing that hurt at that point was my lungs but they were all extremely concerned so they told me not to move and called 911. When the paramedics arrived, my first aid class came back to me. I knew what they were checking for when they were pressing on me and asking if it hurt (although they didn't have me squeeze their fingers...), which at that point my head hurt a little (obviously since I hit on my back my head smacked the ground pretty hard) and part of my back hurt but other than that I felt okay. So he asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital for x-rays and I told him no that I thought I was fine. Then he asked if I wanted to sit up and I said yes so he let me sit up. Next he asked if I wanted to stand up and at that point I realized I was shaking so I took a moment and then stood up and walked with him to the ambulance (my coworkers were at this point clapping, that wasn't embarrassing at all...). He checked my vitals and said I was fine so I signed the release form and they left. While in the ambulance I did notice seeing "stars" so I probably did have a concussion. This lasted for maybe like an hour and then my vision evened out. And of course by this time, I'm starting to feel it. So I had an ice pack and some Ibuprofen and stuck it out. I didn't sleep well that night as I was in a lot of pain (even though I had taken Advil PM) and had a massive headache on Saturday. Sunday my headache came and went but I was still extremely soar! This morning I woke up and could move my neck without as much pain so today was promising and I'm hoping each day will get like that until I'm pain free! I am incredibly grateful that it didn't result in something worse though... The paramedic told me people often die from a fall that distance and as I was rolling around on the ground trying to breathe I did wonder if I had seriously injured myself... Here's a picture of a similar zip line:

I am still staying with my friend who has said I could stay with them for another couple of months but I am keeping my eye out. I am in contact with a girl living in Provo currently (yes she's a recent BYU grad so I'll have to let that go... If I can...) who wants to move out here. The only problem is she doesn't have a job so I'm a little hesitant about signing a lease with her but she speaks Spanish and doesn't seem to be too picky about finding a job and if you can speak Spanish, then you shouldn't be without a job for long... You may not like the job you end up with, but hey a lot of people out there would settle for anything. I will try to get better at posting but lately I haven't felt like there was much to post about... Until the "incident" of course!