Taylor Burton

November 6, 2014
CLA-199
Ms. Weaver
Charlies Angel: The scar Im not sad about
This is a story about my first broken bone that I acquired while riding my horse, and the
illustration is the day I broke it, and the events that followed.
It was a sunny day in Mint Hill, North Carolina, when I walked with the rest of my math
class to lunch inside the halls of Mint Hill Middle School. I was a seventh grader, and could not
wait until the days of high school, when the food was promised to be better. I turned the corner
to the cafeteria, and my dad popped out! He was holding a bag of Chic-fil-a, which is like
heaven on earth, and two drinks. I was instantly overwhelmed with joy, because there is nothing
better than my dad, especially when theres Chic-fil-a involved. In middle school, sometimes
parents came and surprised their kids with lunch. I was not expecting him to be at school,
because thats not an everyday occurrence. We ate together at one of the tables in our cafeteria,
and he mentioned going out to see Charlie that night. Charlie was my beloved horse, given to
me by my grandparents. I was ecstatic about the day so far, and eagerly awaited that night.
My family and I were at our churches weekly Wednesday Night Happenings dinner
and were making our way through some delicious home-made food. Ready to go? my dad
asked me, as I was chowing down on some ranch dressing with a little salad. I jumped up,
waved goodbye to my friends, and headed out with my dad beside me. Already in his truck were
my riding boots, my half chaps, and my helmet. Hopping in and shutting the door behind me
with a swift slam, I took the passenger seat and we rolled on to the barn. Just a side note, I have
the best dad ever.

[Type here]

We rolled up in the truck, and headed into the barn. I pulled the front two gates apart and
we walked in together, my dad and I. The horses greeted us with neighing, smells, and pawing at
their doors, but I headed down to the last stall to see my boy Charlie. Charlie was a big guy,
dapple grey, and sweet and lazy. He had spent the summer with me at my trainers barn, being
taught to listen better and to train for a trail riding competition. During this time, he had also
become less hefty, probably due to the increase in exercise he was doing. I reached into the stall
and petted his nose. Hey baby, I said softy to him, as I reached around to grab his halter and
lead rope. Once he was out of the stall, cross tied, and had been brushed, I saddled him up. My
dad was hanging out over by Charlies supply bucket, patiently awaiting me to hurry up and take
him down to the arena. This is another example of how great my dad is. He is allergic to horses
and things such as hay, cats, pretty much everything within a barn. But even still, he would take
a Claritin and come out and brave the sneezing and coughing.
The place where I rode Charlie was a sand arena down the road from my barn, its part of
the same property but theres just two different parts. After a productive session of trotting and
cavaletti work, which is making a horse step over a pole, I patted Charlie on the back and praised
him for his stellar performance that day. He was noticeably calmer as we made our way over to
the gate, which I unlocked and Charlie pushed open with his foot. Smart horse, I thought as we
ventured past the barn by the arena I had been using. He hadnt tripped that day in the ring,
which is something that used to happen quite a lot. Maybe it was due to his recent weight loss,
and he did look a little trimmer. Oh, a little background information here: Charlie had something
called calcifications in one of his front feet, which caused him to trip sometimes. Tripping is not
really that big of a deal, but when you add a rider to the equation, it becomes more of a problem.

[Type here]

Luckily, it hadnt happened in a while. So, after an exhilarating night of good riding, Charlie
and I made our way back up to his barn.
My dad had stayed back up at Charlies barn, and I could see him sitting on a bench
about a third of a mile up the road. I breathed out a sigh of happiness and relaxation, and slid my
feet out of the stirrups. I let my legs just kind of dangle by Charlies side, I put the reins in one
hand and let my usual stellar riding form loosen up. The fading sunset accompanied by the
sound of chirping crickets and rocks softly being trampled by my horses hooves created a lovely
melody, and I was soaking up every moment of the wonderful night I had just had. Charlie was
mellow after his workout, and was just walking along when a tractor passed by us. Not even
apprehensive over whether or not he would spook, I continued to ride easy. All of a sudden,
BOOM! He went down on one leg, and fell forward. He had stumbled on some uneven ground,
and it wasnt even that bad of a trip, but me having had taken my feet out of my stirrups and not
really holding on in any way led me to roll right off, toward his right shoulder. My left arm hit
the ground palm up, and I just laid there, a bit confused. Charlie immediately stopped walking,
and put his head down to me as if to see if I was okay. I started to feel hot, and tried to lift up my
arm but couldnt due to a sharp pain. Just being there, holding my arm, everything was numb. I
tried to move it slightly. As soon as I did, an excruciating pain paralyzed my arm, it was like
someone was hitting every part of it with a hammer. I couldnt believe my eyes when I held my
left arm with my right hand, seeing the S-shape that it now made. By now, my dad could see
that I was not okay, and ran over to me.
Dad made his way over to me in record time. Are you okay? He asked me. I was
beginning to tear up, and he saw that my left lower arm had taken a new shape. Oh gosh, its
okay, lets walk up, can you walk? he asked me. He grabbed Charlies reins, and started

[Type here]

leading him back to the barn while walking besides me. Slightly crying but mostly in shock, I
walked along with him, still holding my left arm. When we got to the end of the road, someone
took Charlie for me and led him into the barn, where they untacked him most likely. I say most
likely because I started to become really afraid and kind of went into panic mode. My older
brother had broken his arm a year back and when the doctors set the bone in the hospital, he
wasnt fully asleep and it was very painful for him, as I had heard from the discussions we had
had about it. My dad reached for his cell phone as another horse owner stood by me, and he then
called my mom. Hey, um Taylor is hurt. Like I think its broken, its really broken. You need
to come up here now.
Eventually, my mom and brother rolled up to the barn. By this point, I was freaking out
and it was really starting to hurt. If I even moved it half an inch, the pain shot through my arm
so bad I almost screamed. My mom helped me get into the car and buckle up. Seeing Josh, my
brother, come up to the window by me and tell me goodbye, I started to panic even more. Am I
going to be okay, please come with me, please come with us, I started to ramble to him,
probably not even aware of what exactly I was saying to him. I knew that I wanted him to
accompany us on the ride to the hospital because he had had a broken arm before and for some
reason at that point I thought it would help me. Plus, who doesnt want their older brother with
them when theyre scared? Josh tried to assure me that everything would be okay, and hugged
me.
I had never broken a bone before, and didnt really know what to expect. My mom
however, is a nurse and therefor is familiar with the hospitals in the area so she was on top of the
ball. This was definitely not the Wednesday evening we both thought wed be having, but hey,
life does that to you sometimes.

[Type here]

Carolinas Medical Center located in the heart of downtown Charlotte was lit up bright
when my mom pulled in. I had been anxiously making my way through the car ride, while my
mom tried to soothe me by telling me it was going to be okay and that they would give me some
medicine that would help the pain pretty soon. I couldnt stop worrying about what would
happen once we got to the hospital, but I was becoming pretty sedated due to the pain. My mom
had taken me to the big hospital downtown, versus our town hospital because she is a smart
nurse and knew that if anything happened I would be better off at a more advanced hospital.
Which turned out to be a good idea because I was in for an interesting night.
A nurse came out to the car when we pulled into the circular driveway that wrapped
about the hospitals entrance. She opened the car door, and spoke to my mom for a second. Not
completely paying attention to what was going on, and probably going into shock to some
degree, I stayed sitting in the front seat. My mom was trying to figure out a way to park and get
me into the hospital without having to go park in a deck miles away, so the nurse volunteered to
help walk with me inside. She reached over me to unbuckle me, and when she was bringing the
seatbelt back around, it accidently caught on my arm and moved it. The nurse didnt mean to do
this, but it a shockwave of pain shot through my arm when it accidently moved, and I let out a
scream so loud that poor nurse was probably thoroughly annoyed.
After the waiting room, in which we only probably stayed in for about five or ten minutes
while my mom filled out paperwork and tried to get us all ready. As nervous and in pain as I
was, she was doing a fantastic job handling it all. We walked into the room, where I laid down
on the bed, and my mom talked to me. Trying to make light of the situation, we talked about how
sweet it was that when I fell off Charlie, he stopped and put his head down, as if to check on me
and make sure I was okay. It was like he knew I was hurt, and was going to stay there with me.

[Type here]

He really is such a good horse, I thought. His tripping had been getting better, and it wasnt even
a big trip that threw me over his shoulder, it was just the fact that I didnt have stirrups on or
wasnt paying attention. I could tell that my mom was getting tired, she had had a long day and
it was closer to eight by now. She reassured me that soon someone would come in and put an IV
in my arm, which would make the pain subside. Eventually, someone did come in with a needle
that apparently was a part of the whole IV thing. Normally, I dont like shots and I get really
nervous but at this point I was just excited for a relief from the shooting pain that was going up
my arm. The nurse administered the IV, and after about ten minutes, the pain began to go away.
Mom and I found George Lopez on the television, which is one of my favorite shows of all time.
I let myself focus on Georges argument with his mother Benny, while the IV dripped morphine
into my bloodstream. After about fifteen minutes, the pain was mostly gone from my arm, as I
held it still on a plastic table.
Time passed slowly, and soon enough my dad came to the hospital to switch spots with
my mom I think. A doctor came in eventually, and spoke to my parents and me about the
procedure that would soon be taking place. The doctors were going to try to set my arm, but the
x-rays that had been taken previously revealed that both my radius and ulna had been broken,
and it wasnt clear if both bones would stay set. The nurse attached a new fluid bag to my IV
and explained to me that I would soon feel tired, and that I was going to go under anesthesia. I
did indeed get tired in a few minutes, and I felt myself fading out. This was the first time and
only time that I had ever broken a bone, and all of this was new to me.

The doctor came in the

room before I was completely out of consciousness, and I was awake enough to catch a glimpse
of him but not enough to realize that he was in the room when I said Mom, he is so hot. I was

[Type here]

later told that this was hilarious, the doctor thought so apparently. The nurse counted to ten and
my mom held my hand as I sleepily faded out of consciousness.
I awoke to a bright yellow light and could tell that I was being moved around, but I was
still unaware of what all was happening, due to my drowsy state. I later learned that my arm had
not been responding how the doctors were hoping it would when they set it, and the anesthesia
had worn off. They rushed me into the elevator because they had to get me to a different floor,
and I dont know why I had to be on a different floor, but they had to try to reset my arm again.
Another two or three hours later I woke up with a blue foam brick around my arm, and I started
trying to talk, but it came out a jumble of words.
The next morning, I woke up in my bed early. I started to cry in pain, because all of the
sudden it felt like my arm had broken again. My mom came in the room with a bottle of pills.
Here, take one honey. Itll make the pain better. I swallowed it and settled back into my
pillow. My mom explained to me that the doctors had set me arm and they wanted to see if the
bones would stay put. In a week, I would go back to the doctor and if the bones had moved, I
would have to have surgery and have rods placed in my arm. The next week, I tried to be
extremely careful with my arm, so that I did not have to have surgery.
One week later, I found myself back at the doctors with my dad. More x-rays were taken,
and the doctor came back in and gave us the news. The bones in my arm had moved and I was
going to have to have surgery. A wave of nervousness and certainness rushed over me. Those
feelings may seem weird, but I was nervous about having to get surgery, and I was also relieved
by knowing what was going to happen, and that this would fix my arm for good. Plus I thought,
Id get to eat ice cream while I recovered. I sighed out a gasp, and followed my dad out of the
doctors office.

[Type here]

A few whirlwind days after that visit, I found myself back in the Charlotte Levine
Childrens hospital, and getting ready to undergo my surgery. As I was lying in the hospital bed,
getting another IV put into my arm, my mom and dad talked to me and we said our goodbyes. A
couple minutes later, I was being wheeled into the operating room. Everything looked extremely
sterile, as it should have been. A rather attractive guy nurse who I later learned was one of the
anesthesiologists was talking me through the process, he could probably tell that I was a little
nervous. He explained to me that he would put a mask over my face and it would blow out
laughing gas, which would then make me very sleepy. He would then count to twelve, and I
would probably be asleep by he was on five. I settled back into the pillow and the count began.
After lifting the mask onto my face, he counted to twelve. I was out in no time.
Later that day I woke up with a red cast on my arm. The surgery had gone well and I was
going to have two rods in my arm for eight months while the rods helped the bones heal. I
couldnt wait to go back out to the barn and see my boy.
A few months later, Nannie (my grandmother) took me out to the barn. I saddled up
Charlie, and brought him out to the little round pen behind the barn. I gingerly tightened up his
girth, and climbed onto Charlie. I no longer had to wear a stiff cast, but rather a thin brace
around my arm. I wasnt really supposed to ride, but I decided I would give it a shot anyway,
because thats how I am. I walked and trotted him around and a wave of strength crashed over
me. I hadnt ridden in so long and being able to again was awesome. It was my first broken
bone, on my first horse ever, and we survived, even thrived from it. I dont have Charlie
anymore, it was for the best that I let him go and he moved to another barn and I had to
concentrate on school. But he will always be in my heart, and sometimes when I look down at
my left wrist and see the scar from my surgery, I think of him, and it is fondly that I do.

[Type here]