Imagine If You Can.

Imagine if You Can...
By Rosanne Catalano (aka R.C.Kayla)

Never could I have imagined that one day I would have chronic pain so bad that I would have to survive on pain medication. Not in a million years would I have believed that my physical lifestyle would alter so drastically. I loved to dance. I took ballet and modern dance classes. I also was an avid bowler. All that changed the day I fell down a flight of stairs on my way to my secretarial job. Now my physical activity is limited, even the slightest movement can change my day from good to bad.

It was a warm, bright and sunny morning a month after my beloved grandmother had passed away. I thought I was going to be five minutes late to work so I rushed getting ready. Just as I hit the stairs to get to my car, one of my high-heels caught on the scraggly rug my landlord had down and I literally flew out of my shoes. I didn't have a chance to grab the banister. In an effort to save myself from possible brain damage, I twisted my entire body around in mid-air to land on my left side.

I cried out to my landlord for help. I could hear the pounding of her feet walking inside her house so I know she heard the fall. I lay there waiting for what seemed to be an eternity but no help came. I prayed to the spirit of my late grandmother to give me the strength I needed to carry on.

Although my knee felt like it was broken and was throbbing painfully, I proceeded to gingerly stand up. I figured that if I was able to stand nothing must be broken. Since I was no longer wearing both high heels, I limped to my car putting pressure on the good foot, the high heeled one. I don't know how long I had been lying on the stairs and then struggling to get up, but it took me an additional 45 minutes to get to work that day.

I immediately sat down at my computer workstation rubbing my left knee vigorously once I got to work. The boss walked over to me. And I told him what had just happened at my house... His reaction was, "you can still type, can't you?"