Bikini Race and Broken Arm

Thom had planned to run in the bikini race that was held to benifit people in need of fuel assistance. The volunteers were to run from the post office to the Happy Crab restaurant wearing nothing but bikinis, or the equivilent. The temperature was in the teens. I was to hang out at the restaurant to give him warm clothes when he finished.

When we got ready to go I couldn't get my car moving because of the ice. I kept backing up, trying to find some bare ground. I ended up down at the bottom of the driveway, still unable to go forward. Thom started toward me to help and slipped on the ice, falling face first to the ground. I watched for a minute, expecting him to get up, but he lay there without moving. Panicky, I got out of the car and struggled over the ice to investigate. I found him unresponsive. I said his name over and over, shaking his shoulder, feeling increasingly desperate. I didn't want to leave him there to go call 911, but I began to feel that I would have to. Then he began to answer me, and eventually he got to his feet, but at first he was too dizzy to stand on his own. He still wanted to go run the race and could not be dissuaded. When he could navigate on his own, we got in our separate cars and headed for downtown.

Luckily, the race was already over. Thom was disappointed, but turned over the money he had raised in pledges and went home to ice his arm. He thought he had sprained his wrist. I was still very concerned and asked him to call me later. After a few hours I started to worry again. When I called him, he didn't answer the phone and I feared the worst. In a panic, I got in the car and drove over to check on him. He was sitting at the dining table talking with David on the phone. His arm was in a sling. He had gone to the health center and found out his arm was broken. Otherwise he seemed perfectly fine, his sense of humor intact. We examined his x-rays, visited awhile over a drink, talked and laughed.

With a feeling of great relief I returned home. As a nurse, Thom was fully aware of his condition and apparently the best judge of what he could and could not do. I left him stoically picking up the dishes and getting ready to head for bed to read.

It was the bikini race that didn't happen.