Hello everyone. I just found this site so this is my first post. For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by everything medically related, but especially orthopedics. I had spent countless hours in self-examination, trying to understand why I had such an unnatural interest and have concluded that it began when I was very young. When I was three years old, I fractured my femur in a farming accident and spent a few weeks in traction, then several months in a hip spica cast. Being so young I don’t remember a lot about this time, but I do have several lasting images that I pull out from the back of my mind, like black and white photos from an old album. A few go like this:
It was feeding time for our cattle and my older brother had just climbed the ladder into the top of our barn to throw down a few hay bales. I remember yelling up at him as loudly as a three year old could that I was coming up, but he didn’t hear me and he pushed a hay bale out of the opening and it landed on me. I remember my dad picking me up in his arms and yelling at my brother.
I remember lying in the hospital bed with my leg elevated in traction, held by ropes and pulleys and weights. Back in those days children weren’t allowed in the patient areas of hospitals so one day several of my cousins came and waived to me from outside my window. I also remember that my brother had gotten to go to the circus and he brought me a little toy telescope that actually worked and I thought that was the coolest.
I remember when they applied the plaster. They put on layer after layer and a soothing warmth surrounded me. I also remember when they removed the plaster with a cast saw. I cried because the saw was scary but also, I think, because I felt safe inside my cocoon and didn’t want to lose it. Looking back, it makes sense to me that this was the beginning of my medical fetish. At three years old, the mind is growing rapidly and I received a lot of extra love and attention during this period, especially from my mother.
I love seeing people in casts and braces and imagine myself in their place. The bigger the better, preferably covering two joints such as a long arm cast or full leg cast. Unfortunately, casts like that on adults are nearly a thing of the past. Thanks for reading. There’s a lot more to my story and maybe I’ll share other pieces at another time.