BLOG: I Fell Down in Washington DC

[m00npie]

This is a story about how I fell down last week in Washington DC — not figuratively, but literally. Like, face down, inside a restaurant. While explaining the logistics of last week’s trip to friends and family, I feel like I am telling one of those math word problems with two trains headed toward one another at different speeds. On June 22 Susan and I hopped in my car headed for West Virginia, on June 27 I drove from West Virginia to Washington DC, and on July 1 the two of us hopped in my car headed back to Oklahoma. In the middle of those dates, Susan flew home for a few days and flew back out to DC a few days later before I left. The only takeaway you really need to know for this story is that for a few days, I was by myself in Washington DC. The place where I was staying in DC required me to take a bus to get to a metro station before taking the metro into downtown DC. It was my first time staying at this location and knowing that Susan would return in a couple of days, I opted instead to eat at local restaurants I could walk to. One of those places was a pizza restaurant. Call me lazy, but I figured a large pizza would last me at least three meals, which meant less walking in summer temperatures and DC humidity. Upon entering the restaurant, a series of events happened very quickly. First, I entered a dark restaurant and didn’t give my eyes time to adjust. Second, because I knew I would be dealing with a cashier I was in the process of putting on my reading glasses, which really affect my depth perception. Third, the restaurant’s concrete floor was painted with dark maroon paint. I took two steps into the restaurant and on the third discovered — too late! — that there was a step DOWN. My right heel caught the edge of the step, my left knee buckled, and before I could catch my balance I felt myself heading face first toward the floor. From a standing position and down a step, I landed knees first on the concrete floor before sprawling out onto my elbows. (Fortunately, my face was spared.) I occasionally have problems getting up after laying on the floor, but you would be surprised how quickly one can leap to his or her feet with half a dozen employees and a restaurant full of people staring at you. Under other circumstances I would have immediately turned and left the restaurant, but unfortunately for me, I had ordered the pizza online and already paid for it. By the time I collected myself and approached the front counter, I could hear employees debating whether or not they should call me an ambulance. “No, I think he’s up,” said one. When the cashier reached for my pizza, I asked him if he could wrap it in bubble wrap. I made my way out of the restaurant as quickly as possible (being sure to look for the step up on my way out). I was wearing blue jeans, and I knew my knees were bleeding by how much they stung every time they touched my pants. Once I made it back to our place I immediately dropped my drawers to inspect the damage. Both knees were skinned pretty good, and a few minutes later I felt something rubbing against my shirt sleeve which turned out to be skin from my elbow. That’s fun. I wish I could say that my ego was more bruised than my body, but this time that wasn’t the case. On my left knee I’ve developed two quarter-sized bruises, one on either side of the scrape. Worse now is my back, which feels like someone took a baseball bat to the muscles that allow me to stand. They say things get worse before they get better, and I spent several days with things getting worse. I’m still patiently waiting for the part where things get better. While I’m moving a little more slowly than usual I’m still getting around, mostly thanks to the Ibuprofen I’m popping like M&Ms. Things could have been worse, and the whole thing was a good (but somewhat painful) reminder that I need to take things a little more slowly. Similar Posts:

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Source: https://www.robohara.com/?p=13646

[Kid Ice]

Dude, I think your family needs a dedicated EMT at this point.

[Flack]

Not a bad idea.

[k8track]

Immediately the first thing that popped into my head when I read that was my concern for you and hope that you were/are feeling OK. The very second thing was that I wondered how many other people that exact same thing has happened to. I'm thinking it might be sort of a common occurrence. Unnecessarily dark room + unmarked step down = danger that should be corrected.

[Flack]

I can't imagine I'm the first person this has happened to, and it seems like something that could be solved with a single strip of white or yellow duct tape.

[Kid Ice]

Your working days are over!

[fergojisan]

I'm glad it wasn't worse for you Rob, I hope you feel better soon. I hope your ride home wasn't too painful. I am deathly afraid of falling down, I've seen it happen to my dad twice. Once when he was carrying a wedding cake (which was the only thing injured besides my tender ears), and the next when he was much older, where he ended up tearing both rotator cuffs. It's so hard to slow down when everyone else is moving so fast.