january 3rd of 2015 is a day i will never forget. my buddy and i were going to get my cat a birthday present. i wasn’t sure what. maybe a toy. some catnip. we headed into the metro station and started walking down the moving escalator. i remember feeling unstable and next thing i know i was on the step unable to stand. my friend said “c’mon man lets go” and shocked i said “i can’t get up!” at that time we were at the bottom of the escalator and i managed to drag myself to off it to the floor. i was in shock. i didn’t know how bad it was. he ran to get the station manager who called 911. i don’t know how much time passed until the paramedics got there but i remember being carried on a stretcher up the other side. i felt no pain. my friend got in the ambulance with me an we rode to sibley hospital. halfway there the paramedic kept saying “don’t look at your leg. don’t look at your leg”. well i of course did and let out a blood curdling scream (and several obscenities). my leg was at a 90 degree angle. i was given 3 shots of dilaudid at the hospital the doctor said it was “worse than the redskins quarterback.” i don’t follow football but i knew it was bad. a grueling x-ray showed that i had fractured my ankle in 4 places. it was pretty destroyed. it took them 3 tries to try to set my leg. all the while my drugged up self kept yelling “it’s my cats birthday!” i was finally sent home with an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. i never thought that a trip to go get my cat a present would change my life forever.