On Saturday, after a productive photoshoot, I went bodyboarding at Waikiki. I courageously made it out to the surf break with my bodyboard for the first time (baby steps!). I'm totally afraid of cutting a foot on the coralline algae out there, so I am usually pretty careful. I caught a few waves (briefly of course, still not very good) and had a pretty good time. My abdomen was sore when I got out of the water, but at first I thought it was just due to my rashguard riding up, exposing my skin to the wax on the board. I didn't think much of it.

A few hours later, the area in my lower abdomen had gotten progressively more sore. I looked down and noticed a bruise forming, which was weird, because I hadn't really hit that area. I was hitting the board with my body, but not enough to produce a bruise. A few hours later the bruise developed into a deep purple spot the size of a golf ball. The whole area was a solid lump, right where my right ovary is. Since I was raised in a medically aware household I knew that the lump and bruise together (and how it felt) meant internal bleeding. I figure I had ruptured the ovary pretty badly. That in itself probably isn't a big deal (each ovary ruptures on it's own every other month anyway), but the internal bleeding was a concern since I am somewhat anemic. When I did anything strenuous, I could feel it tearing inside. I didn't want to go the doctor for it, because what could they do? Give me some prescription strength Tylenol and tell me not to do anything strenuous I bet. I had no idea I could get such a weird injury, but I'll be more careful in the future (I'm already craving some waves).