Now for the rest of the story and a little extra.

How did I fracture my humerus? I was deep in the Toro Negro rainforest in Puerto Rico on an "adventure" involving some hiking, climbing and zip-lining. Well, I think that there was zip-lining, but I don't personally know since I slipped and fell off the waterfall that I was climbing before I could get there.




Yep, I worked hard for 12 weeks anticipating zipping through the rainforest conquering fears and breaking down barriers. Before my mom passed away, I had thought that doing this adventure would signal some sort of "new me." I really had high expectations of this event. Instead, I broke my shoulder before I could get there. I had worried that I would be afraid and chicken out, but I did not worry about injuring myself. I had told mom about the trip and our adventure plans. Always a protector, she didn't totally approve of it, worrying that it might be too dangerous. Just goes to show that I might should have listened to my mother just one last time. I guess I'll never learn.

And yes, we went on our trip even though I had buried my beloved mother the week before. I figured that the Lord knew when Mom was going to die and He knew when we were going to Puerto Rico and perhaps, his plan was for me to have some time away to grieve and not have to take care of anyone else. We knew the trip would be a different one from the one we had planned, but we tried to make the most of the days that we were given.

Back to the jungle. I guess that I should have realized that I might be in over my head when our tour guides stopped at the US Coast Guard to pick up three guys who were going on the tour with us. Maybe, just maybe, I should have clued in when we had to sign our lives away on the liability forms. However, the most telling sign of all was when I overheard a young lady ask her Coast Guard hubby, "What year were you born, honey?" I nearly fainted when he responded, "1988."

1988 !?!!!?!

Seriously, I was a sophomore in high school in 1988 and had probably not even heard of Puerto Rico by then. And you are telling me that this guy who was born in 1988 is an adult, married and in the Coast Guard? Jeremy's 38 and my 37 years made us look like the grandpa and grandma in the group.

How did that happen? We were just on our honeymoon...uh....oh... 14 years ago.

Oh well. "Hand me my teeth and Centrum Silver, Jeremy. We're going on an Adventure with a capital A!"

As we made our hour long journey to the rain forest in our maroon 15 passenger van, I joked with all the young whippersnappers that it felt like we were on some reality television show. I could just see it, "Eleven contestants from all over the US, brought together by their desire for adventure.... now facing the peril of the jungle " Cue intro music. The others all laughed in agreement as I said, "I just hope we don't get stranded out there and have to decide which of us we have to eat in order to survive. I have never been fond of cannibalism."

Below: That's me , Jokey McJokester getting ready to go! Note all the young 'uns with me.
I don't look that out of place, do I?
Don't answer that.

After snacking on some fresh yummy bananas, they gave us our helmets and harnesses. We set off on the slippery path to the rainforest.

The water was cold and refreshing as we waded about waist deep through the rocky path. All of our fellow contestants, ... er, I mean, adventurers, were very helpful to one another by lending a steady arm or a word of encouragement as we trekked along.

And, I was doing great. My mantra was "It does not have to be pretty. It just has to get done." Honestly, it wasn't pretty at all as I already had huge scrapes on my legs and bumps and bruises everywhere before slipping into the tide pool at the bottom of the waterfall.

But, I was getting it done and that was all that mattered.

I was doing great...until I wasn't.

When I fell, we were climbing beside a smallish waterfall, about 8 feet high. The waterfall is usually more of a trickle, but because of all the rain (in the rain forest), it had worked up to a pretty good flow. I sure wish we had a picture of the waterfall, but my mind was not on photography at that moment.

I was having trouble getting my big feet in the small crevices. I was scared. It took me a few minutes to build up the courage to hoist myself up. When I did, my bottom foot slipped. I held on tightly with my right arm, spun around into the rock face with my shoulder. Then, the waterfall whooshed over me and plunged me down in to the pool at the bottom.

Falling was not that bad. In fact, once I felt the cold water rush over me, I remember thinking, "If that was the worst thing that could happen, then I am ready to tackle the climb again. Let me at it." However, I had an immediate change of heart as the sharp pain shot through my arm when I tried to raise it to get out of the water. I could not lift it at all. Frantically, I tried lifting it with my other arm, but I could not hold it up. It just fell back to my side and hung there throbbing with pain. I waited nervously for the others to finish this part of the trail and kept my arm under the cold water to help minimize the pain.

Finally, Jeremy and the tour guide decided that my adventure had come to an end. We took the "emergency exit" hike out of the jungle to wait for everyone else to climb the BIG waterfall. (They used a rope and harness on that one, by the way.) Once I found out about the emergency exit path, it sort of ticked me off that there was an "easy" way out of the trail the whole time. BUT, I guess that I should be glad for that trail or else I might have a new address. Something like 3 Waterfall Way.

As we maneuvered our way back out through the rocks and water, I began to realize how badly my arm hurt. Focusing on the guide's feet as he led me to the meeting point, I crawled, staggered, ran and did whatever it took to get myself there. I remember panting, "I'm going to throw up." Jeremy thought that I had just run out of energy, but the reality was that my arm hurt so badly that my stomach begged to be be emptied, IMMEDIATELY! At one point, I pleaded with the guide to just leave me there and come back to get me later. He just kept pushing forward. In retrospect, it was a good idea to keep me going, but I was really disgusted with him at the time.

Poor Jeremy chose to cut his adventure short and stay with his injured wife. I felt so badly for him. (and still do.) He says that he is not upset about it, but it sure is a bummer that he had to miss it because of me.

We waited at the top of the next big waterfall for everyone to climb up. He took a few shots of the scenery but did not feel like he should take any of me. Good call, dude. (This is not the big waterfall, either. It is a flat area near where we were sitting.)


Y'all, I was so brave. I was embarrassed and ashamed and really hurting. I was disappointed and disgusted. I wanted to cry and cry and cry. It was just a little too much to handle at the time. BUT, I used my one arm to pull myself up by the bootstraps and get through it. I even managed to make a little joke through it all:

After waiting about an hour for everyone to make it up the big waterfall, Jeremy and I rejoined the group and headed back down the trails to the van for lunch. As we hiked, I held my poor shoulder and pretended to plead with the others as we made our way to van, "Please, please vote me off the island! I just want to go home."

I might not be interviewing for any Survivor seasons in the near future, or ever, for that matter, but I am a survivor in ways that no reality show or rainforest adventure can ever show.

Hey, did I learn something about myself without doing the zip-line? Who would have thought??

There you go!

PS...After lunch, I stayed in the van while the others did the zip line in the pouring rain. Jeremy said that it was really exciting, but hard to enjoy since the rain pelted him in the face as he zipped along. I am glad that he had some adventure of his own, though!