When I stepped out of bed and saw the bright sun shining lightly through my shades on a wonderful
September morning, I was anticipating a fun filled day at the park with my family. Too bad it didn’t turn out that way. It was a beautiful, warm Sunday, so my grandma, grandpa, dad, mom, my sister, Kate, and I decided to picnic at our favorite place, Lime Kiln Park in Grafton. Lime Kiln Park also had an archery range that Kate and I liked to practice at. It’s a very wonderful park filled with tall trees and a beautiful flowing creek.

We had packed the car with our blanket and bow and arrows, and decided to go to Subway and
brought the sandwiches to the park. Subway is also where we met my Grandparents. After that, we were off to Lime Kiln.

We got there and set up the picnic blanket about six yards away from the water and placed it so
the picnic blanket was half in shade, and half in the sunlight. Our sandwiches were delicious. Then, my Dad, Grandpa, Kate, and I went down by the river to look for skipping stones. We were having a great time.

Then, I had to go to the bathroom. My grandma went with me. From where we were, I climbed up a pretty steep hill to the bathrooms. On our way back, at the bottom of the hill, there was a giant rock that I climbed on. In order to climb on it I had to take my shoes off, so I was in bare feet. Now, this park has many teenagers hanging out, so there is glass all over the park. I slid off the rock and I felt a little impact on my left foot. I thought it was just because I was at a higher elevation, and that when I jumped it was just my foot hitting the ground. I was wrong.

I slipped my foot into my new flip-flops. I took one step and my left heel was suddenly wet. I
thought to myself, that’s weird, why is my foot soaked? Then, I reasoned that it could have
been from the river or mud. I looked down. My heel was in a pool of blood. I called to my
grandma that I was bleeding. Then, she got everyone’s attention by shouting and waving her
arms. In the short time that they came with the car, my entire flip-flop was soaked in blood.
I was scared and frightened because I didn’t know why I was bleeding, and there was an enormous amount of blood that I was shedding. I wanted to cry because I still had no idea what happened or what would happen next. I was in shock, so I could barely talk. Then, my grandpa took out his first aid kit from the trunk of his car, he and cleaned my foot and the cut. My dad said the cut was pretty deep and wanted to take me to the emergency care hospital, just in case I needed stitches. The news that I had to go to the emergency room terrified me because I never had a major injury. I started getting really nervous and got butterflies in my stomach by the thought of what information I would be given at the center. My grandma, grandpa, and
sister were in my grandpa’s car while my mom and dad drove me to the emergency care center, which was in Grafton. We met them there when they were done packing up the first aid kit.
It took a while at the care center for my turn. The waiting created suspense and made the matter
even worse. Now, I was scared and nervous beyond belief, I was thinking about all the situations like: What if there is something still in my foot? What if I will never walk again? How much blood did I lose? Will the procedure hurt? Will they have to put me to sleep? What about swimming? I was thinking of all the worse case scenarios that could happen. It was an endless list. I tried to stay strong . Two nurses came out and took me to the procedure room. They brought the doctor in, which was coincidentally my dad’s doctor as a kid. There were two nurses in the room. We think one was in training and the other was training her. They were preparing something for my foot, and then the doctor came in. He said they prepared it wrong. Then, they started arguing about the cleaning stuff that they were going to put on my foot. It was pretty chaotic, but luckily it didn’t last long. The doctor laid me down on my stomach so my face was on a pillow and he could see the bottom of my foot without going underneath me. He looked at my cut and explained that I needed six stitches in the bottom of my foot. Oh great.

I was really freaking out. I asked my mom if it was going to hurt. She told me that she wasn’t going to lie and explained that it was probably going to sting. I started to get worked up about getting stitches.

I didn’t know what to expect or how it would feel. Just the feeling of not knowing what was really going to happen was an awful feeling. I kept thinking over and over: What happened to the sunny day at the park?

How did this happen and why did this happen? All the worst thoughts filled my head. I just wanted it to be mover and to go home.

To get stitches the doctors needed to numb my foot. I got six local numbing shots in the bottom
of my foot. This was the worst part. It was the most pain I had ever been in. The bottom of my foot was not the most ideal place either. It felt like the needles were touching my bone, and there was burning pain on the inside of my foot. Not fun, trust me. I would think the shots were finally over, and then I’d feel another needle go in. It was dreadfully horrible. I had to get six shots for numbing in a row. Ouch!

I had to keep the stitches in for two weeks. The stitches caused many issues. I could not get them wet. I am on my school's Aquatics swim team, so I couldn’t go to the practices. I hated missing my practices because I love swimming. I was really upset that I couldn’t go to swim practice for two weeks. I even had to get pulled out of a swim meet because of my stitches. I also had to to wear a bag over my foot when I took showers. I had to limp around for a few days, but after about a week I could walk on it.

One Saturday, when I still had my stitches, I walked around at Six Flags Great America all day.
It was a bit sore after that, but it was good practice for putting weight on my heel. Then, the next weekend I finally got my stitches taken out. Getting them out wasn’t so bad. I just felt some tugging. When I got them out I felt free. I could finally stop worrying about my stitches. I could do anything I wanted with my foot free of thread. I could get back in the water and go to swim practices. I was also excited that I could enjoy my showers again.

Getting stitches wasn’t fun, but it makes a good story to tell. The event was a lot of drama
because it was my first time getting stitches, and I didn’t know what to expect. It will be a memory that I will have forever. On September 16th, 2012, a day in a beautiful park didn’t turn out as planned. It went more like, Step, Step, Stitches!