Earliest Moment

One of my earliest memories is from kindergarten, when I was about five years old. I was at my uncle's appartment with my little brother, Ian, and my two cousins, Brandi and Ashley, who are older than me. We decided to go to the small park behind the house to play on the toys. Being the adventurous person that I am, I decided to try something a little more exciting. I ran over to the monkey bars, climbed up, and tried to jump and reach not the first bar, but the third or fourth (it would have been too easy to reach the very first one!). As I leapt off of the platform, I realized I would never make it, and instead of grabbing the bar, I fell and landed with my arm out and behind me at a very strange angle - CRACK! Everyone went crazy--they started yelling for my uncle and running around!

The last thing I remember was my oldest cousin, Brandi, picking me up off of the ground and running to the house to get my uncle. Before I knew it, we were speeding down the freeway to get to St. Peter Hospital. As we pulled up, I recall my dad picking me up and taking me in. I remember they gave me a teddy bear and some medicine that made me very sleepy! It was scary when the doctor said I would need surgery to repair the compound fracture right by my elbow, but the worst part was when the nurse had to cut my shirt off to get me ready for surgery! It was my FAVORITE! It was a white shirt with the coolest sparkly heart on the front--the kind every five year old must have! I woke up hours later in a hospital room, with a cast on my entire arm. They put my arm back together but two long silver pins held the bones in place and had to stay in for about six to eight weeks. It was really wierd because they stuck out of my arm. I'd rather not mention what it felt like when they pulled those out!

Another big part of this that I remember, is being in a commercial and in an ad for the paper for St Peter Hospital. My mom is a pharmacist at the hospital, so we did an interview, a photo shoot and commercial (with make-up, hair and everything). It was pretty cool, actually.

-Nicole Dandridge