connor's birthday party
aurora, IL
july 29, 2006
(updated 8/2)
EASY MISSION, RIGHT?
What should have been one of the more easy missions a trooper could
endure, this one ended in putting TD1043 down for the count. Luckily
though, because I'm just that tough, I was able to withstand the pain.
Thoughts of taking out Jawas and Jedi put my mind at ease, and was lucky
enough to finish my mission. You're probably wondering what happened to
me, right? You'll soon find out.
arrival
We were supposed to meet up at Cindy's house (the birthday boy's
mother) around 3:30pm, and we all arrived pretty much on time. I pulled up
into the cul-de-sac and saw Phyllis sitting in the back of her Jeep
sweating profusely. I asked her why she wasn't sitting inside the Jeep
with the A/C on, and she said because it was broken. Luckily we were just
minutes away from making our way into the townhouse where the party was
going to take place.
Just moments after I parked my car I saw Fitz pull up. I then decided
to make my way to the townhouse and ask it if would be okay to head on
inside. Cindy said all was good so I waved Phyllis and Fitz to come on in.
We unloaded our cars and headed inside. That's when the fun started.
look out for those stairs!
Phyllis and Fitz went up the flight of stairs first, as I followed them
in the rear. I was carrying my storage container vertically, and things
seemed to be going fairly well for us. That's when trouble started for me,
as I tripped over a half-step on the landing in the stairway. As I tripped
I heard a "snap" and my container slightly nicked their wall. The damage
to the wall was minimal, and since Cindy said they were going to be
painting the stairway soon that it wasn't a big deal. However, the snap
that I heard wasn't good, and I began to feel an immense amount of pain in
my left foot's big toe.
After sitting there on the stair for a minute, I decided to continue up
the stairs with my container, and made my way to the master bedroom where
we would change into our costumes. After I took a look at my toe, I knew
right then and there that my toe was either broken or fractured. Whatever
it turned out to be, it hurt like all hell. Now I had to figure out if I
was going to suit up in my armor or not. After thinking about it for a few
minutes, I thought I would at least try suiting up.
It took more than three minutes to get that one boot on my foot. I
thought I was going to die from all the pain I was experiencing, but after
successfully putting on the boot nothing was going to stop me from suiting
up. Well, nothing that I could control.
did someone turn the heat on in here?
I know the Cindy had their air conditioning running hard in her
townhouse, but I was already sweating like a madman. I know that the other
troopers were just as hot as I was. Hell, Rich (Vader) almost passed out
from heat exhaustion while we were there. To prevent us from dying from a
heat stroke we were moved down into the basement. It was quite a
noticeable difference in temperature, but it was still quite warm for us.
After being down there for only ten minutes the sweat started pouring on
again for us.
After waiting in the basement for what seemed like almost a half hour,
the kids started coming downstairs. Now, if I were a kid and saw these
guys all dressed up in Star Wars outfits I would be going absolutely crazy
with excitement, but these kids didn't seem all that enthused about the
whole ordeal. A few of them seemed excited, but not everyone. That all
changed when they began play the Star Wars DVD Trivial Pursuit game.
Some kids were on Luke Skywalker's side (Connor, Rich's son) and others
were on Darth Vader's side (with all the troopers). I couldn't see the TV
without my glasses, and even if I had those on I wouldn't have been able
to see the screen since my lenses were fogging up so bad. The kids really
know their Star Wars trivia, because they were getting all the answers
right. It was great knowing that these kids were so into Star Wars.
wrapping things up
After an hour or so it was time to start calling it a day. I informed
Cindy that we were getting a little too uncomfortable in our costumes, and
that I was going to have to get off my feet (because of the injury to my
toe). She was totally fine with that, so she started taking individual and
group photos of the kids with us. I can't wait to see the pictures that
she took, because I'm sure they're going to turn out great.
can you say, "ouch!?"
Once we were up in the master bedroom undressing, I noticed how bad the
damage to my foot had been. It was very swollen, it turned black, and it
was just throbbing in pain. It was not looking good, but I thought it
would probably just take a few days to heal and then it would be all good.
How wrong I was.
Later in the evening after posting about my ordeal, many people
suggested that I go to the hospital to have my toe looked at by a doctor.
Many said that it if were any other toe than the big toe, it wouldn't be a
problem. But, since it was my big toe, that could become a major problem
down the road since it has such a major role in balancing my weight and
helping me walk. At approximately 10:30pm I decided to head on over to the
hospital.
THE HOSPITAL VISIT
Alright, I just got home from the hospital and it's now 1:15am. I decided
to go to the hospital around 10:00pm, because quite a number of people
said that when you hurt the big toe (like I did) you should have a doctor
look at it. I'm glad I went, because after several x-rays it was
determined that I have a major fracture. The ER doctor thinks I won't have
to have anything done to my toe, but he is requiring me to see an
orthopedic for a second opinion. I'll do that on Monday or Tuesday
(whenever I can get into this other doctor's office). My toe is now BLACK,
swollen and still sore as all hell.
When they asked me how I hurt my toe, all I said was that I was helping
someone move into a new townhouse and that I tripped going up a flight of
stairs. I didn't tell the nurses or the doctor that I had suited up in my
sandtrooper armor, and was marching around for over an hour or two at some
kid's birthday party.
It's been an incredibly long night, but I thought I would chime in while
everything is still fresh in my brain.
Oh, looks like I won't be able to wear my armor at Wizard World because of
this. I'll be wearing a foot cast/boot for a couple weeks at least. This
really, REALLY sucks ass.
post-mortem
It's now two days after my accident (7/31) and my toe is still sore. I
have an appointment with an orthopedic doctor tomorrow morning, and will
see what this doctor has to say about my toe. Check out the three pictures
of my damaged toe here
and the three x-ray images of my toe
here.
Photo Gallery
To see the photo gallery containing 3 photos click
here. |
