In March 1997, I was pulling the tarp off a load of lumber, forgot where I was standing, and put my left foot down where there was no load.
I fell eight feet onto a concrete floor. My left elbow was the first thing to hit, followed by my chest, chin, and knees. Yes. I remember that order very clearly. Chipped my right knee and broke my left arm just in front of the joint. At the hospital they operated to clean evreything up. Tuesday, the surgeon comes in to tell me what he plans to do.He said, " I've ordered some plates to go in your arm. You did a good job on it." I said, " So you are planning to tape this, and your procedure will become the standard for this repair? " He did not smile. He said very seriously, " Yes, that's how badly it's broken. Don't expect it to heal quickly." It didn't. It took four years and three more repair operations before the arm healed completely.

When I got home, I went to the emergency room to get the wound looked at. The ER physician looked at the X rays and said, " I' ve been working in this ER ten years, and I've never seen a bone broken this badly."