Have you ever had a moment in your life where something bad happened, but it seemed too bizarre to believe? But after a few shocking seconds, your brain thaws from that frozen state and adrenaline starts coursing through your veins. Your timeline is blurred as weird, incoherent thoughts whiz around your brain like the Tasmanian devil on a rampage. I had one of these moments the first time I horrifyingly dislocated my knee cap.
It was a bright sunny day, a few clouds floating high in the atmosphere with a bit of late spring chill still clinging to the breeze like a child that won’t let go of their mother. I had just gotten home from school, not a particularly interesting day, and I was just settling in to watch TV when my mom yelled at me

“Dannie, can you go and feed the dogs? Toni says it your turn.”

“What?!” I yelled back, “I’m positive that it is not my turn, have Toni do it.”

“Yes, Danielle, just go and get it over with, I’ll get Toni to go along and help you.”
I pulled myself up from the chair, exaggerating every movement, making it seem like she was making me do the hardest job in the world. You know, typical adolescent rebellion, and then I stomped out the door, not even bothering to put on shoes. That would bother mom, I though mischievously. Soon, I was hobbling across my rock strewn driveway, being careful not to step on any sharp rocks as I regretted not putting on any shoes. Soon, the kennel full of hyper dog was looming just ahead. I remember reaching the door, and fumbling with the lock for a few moments before I swung open the door, and in that split second, that’s when it all happened. The worst nightmare of my life, which I couldn’t just wake up from.
Time seemed to slow to a crawling standstill as I remember twisting to the side to let the dogs hurtle by me faster than Olympic sprinters. In the same motion, I remember hearing an inaudible sound, almost as if a plunger was being pulled, reverberated somewhere below me. Frozen in shock, to soon to know what had happened, I swiveled my head to look at my knee. I couldn’t make out what I was looking at, what was my hand holding onto? There was a weird lump cast off to the side, but there was no pain emanating from my knee. That or I was just too shocked to feel anything yet. A million thoughts went rushing through my head, the big one: what just happened? And then a wave of recognition sent a wave of nausea crashing through my body, making my vision sway as I realized I was holding my knee cap from sliding farther down my leg. At that moment, I sort of came to and realized that I was screaming, panicked screams I had never heard myself make before, and I cut them off as I say my sister just standing there, in more shock than I was in.

At that moment, I remembered something my dad had told me, many years before when I had gotten a bee sting and freaked out, ‘always keep your head in bad situations, don’t panic and concentrate on how to make things better.’ I knew what I had to do, as I slowed my thoughts, I found my voice. First, I had to stop panicking.
“Toni, go get mom, now,” I ordered

“What’s happening?” she whispered back, faintly

“I think my knee might have popped out of its socket, but I don’t know what to do!” I yelled back at her lack of response to the situation, she looked more scared than me! But my attention was already funneled back to my knee. Since my leg was bent up in a 90 degree angle, I decided to try and straighten it, since there was no way I was going to pop it back in place the way it was. As I applied steady upward pressure to my knee cap, and I edged my leg straight, in one swift movement, my tendon yanked my knee cap back in place, with a snap.

That night it swelled up to the size of a small balloon, and the pain finally kicked in. Since then, I’ve dislocated both knees a total of 4 times added together, but I learned a very important lesson that day. Always keep your head in bad situations, don’t panic, and just think it through. It’s not always for the best to give into your emotions.