For the love of skate

I had a terrible fall on the ice this morning. Embarrassingly, I wasn't even doing anything difficult. I was just skating forward, not even doing crosscuts. I caught my toe pick and *wham*. I went down hard. I banged both elbows, my right knee and my left hip. I even managed to cut the skin over my hip--probably due to the friction between the ice and the seam of my yoga pants. Ouch.

The fall by itself was pretty jarring, but what followed was even worse. I get head rushes. Not everyday, but they're not uncommon either. I usually just stop what I'm doing, lean against something and wait for the sensation to go away. A couple of years ago I ended up in the emerg because I'd fainted after getting up out of bed after a really bad leg cramp. I went to the bathroom to get a glass of water, but wound up on the floor, my head resting against the door frame. It's the only time I've ever fainted and I was worried because I thought I'd hit my head. I also experienced cloudy hearing, sweats and nausea. The phenomenon is called vasovagal syncope.

I'm pretty sure that that's what happened this morning. Vasovagal syncope can be trigger by an event such as severe pain (my fall) then a rapid change in position (I got up immediately afterward to go sit on the bench). What happened was this rapid change in position caused my blood pressure to drop (this is also what causes head rushes). I'm lucky I made it do the bench and didn't pass out on the ice. Once I sat down I kept my head bent over my knees as I waited for my body to return to normal. In the meantime I felt like I was hearing the music in the arena through earplugs and I got really sweaty. The skating monitor came over and made sure I was okay. I lied to her a little bit and just told her I was a shaken up from the fall, then I waited for Andrew to show up before I got back on the ice.

Aside from being really sore on the points of impact I was (and am) all right. After several rounds around the ice I cautiously tried some spins to make sure I wasn't going to get overly dizzy. I was fine and even got in some good sit and camel spins. I can't wait for lessons to start, I want to really work on my spins this year...and my axel. I even got in a couple of great lutzes(sp?), which I've been having a lot of trouble with since I got my new skates.

Anyways, that's all for now. If any fantastic bruises form I might take pictures--as a demonstration of my love for this sport.

Ciao,

Andrea