The time the doctor thought I was mentally handicapped

It's story time peeps!

I was on the verge of adulthood at 17 years and 11 months. And after just graduating high school a few weeks before, I was excited to leave for New York City the next morning. It was going to be great! Just a full week hanging out with my mom in the city.

A few days before, I was cleaning my room and put a glass bottle on my floor (not sure why there was a bottle in my room, but there was. I'm sure there was a good reason at the time) and I guess I never put it back on the shelf. Well the night before we were supposed to leave, I was in my room packing and I was looking for my temple recommend. I couldn't find it anywhere! And that's when I stepped on the glass bottle! (I bet you saw that one coming.) It hurt and started bleeding really bad. So I rushed into my bathroom and tried to get it to stop bleeding. I called upstairs for my mom and asked her to come downstairs. Being the nurse she is, she wanted to see my foot. So she looked and decided I would need stitches. That piece of news just sent me over the edge. I started freaking out! Needles and I do not have a very good relationship and I am absolutely terrified of them!

Five minutes later, my foot was wrapped in a towel and I was in the car with my parents headed to the emergency room. I don't remember much about the ride over or what happened in the ER. But I do remember not wanting anyone to look at my foot. I was taken into a room to wait for the doctor. He finally came in and I kind of feel bad for him. I one hundred per cent acknowledge the fact that I am a difficult patient and I'm sure I didn't make his job any easier. When he asked if he could take the towel off my foot so he could look at the cut, I cried even harder. I was so scared! I kept saying "No. No. No. Take me home. No. No. Take me home. No. No. No. Take me home. No." I'm sure I sounded like a broken record and that was all I said the whole time at the ER. The doctor confirmed I would need stitches and asked to talk to my mom out in in the hall and I later learned that the following conversation took place.

Doc: So is there anything we should be aware of before we start?

Mom: No, I don't think so.

Doc: Are you sure?

Mom: Yes. Let's just get through this. I know she is not going to like this.

Doc: I just need to ask, does she have any learning disabilities?

Mom: *caught off guard* Umm... No. Why?

Doc: Well, I just wanted to check because we approach those patients differently.

Mom: She is definitely not mentally challenged. She is a straight-A student. She is just really scared.

They came back in and the doctor put 10 stitches in my foot!

When we got home, all I could think about was how my perfect vacation was ruined! How was I supposed to walk all over NYC now? I had stitches in my foot! I finally calmed down enough to sleep and we still left the next morning.

My nurse-mom was worried about my foot getting infected from walking through the dirty streets of New York. (I also learned later that the doctor was worried about infection as well so my mom was prepared with a prescription for something we could get filled in New York if we needed it.) I spent the week with my foot wrapped like this:

*Side note: See those cute sandals at the top of the picture? Those were the sandals I bought right before this trip, but because of the wrap on my foot, they didn't fit.

We tried to make the best of the situation and found benches specifically for me.

Nearly two years later, I am left with an ugly scar.