Mary had been fascinated by casts since elementary school. Bracing came later, in Jr. High when the first of her classmates showed up for school in a Milwaukee. Sadly (from her perspective), while she has scoliosis and to her a noticeable hunchback, the curve developed too late and was of insufficient magnitude to require being fitted for her own.
Some years ago, she took advantage of her first partner's absence on a business trip to cast her left arm in white plaster and go for a full six week "recovery". On another occasion, she also found a ladderback TLS brace at a flea market, and managed to convince all questioners that, ill-fitting as she knew it to be, it was required for her health and comfort. She managed to carry that off for nearly a year. But, these subterfuges, brazen as they might have been, only worked because her partner was not the bill payer and was also uninsured. Thus, they never noted the absence of checks to doctors or explanation of benefit letters. When the relationship ended, Mary moved out of state, found the BDSM community local to her new home and managed to keep her fetish fed with leather and latex for many years.
In April of 16, when Mary arrived at the location for the day's filming of "Becky's Bad Day", an independent film her production team had been asked to shoot for a local writer, she had no Idea that the title was prophetic. The set was a riverbank, not far from a bridge over the Cape Fear that had the very convenient attribute of also being a takeout point for a float trail and thus equipped with a small gravel parking lot and outhouse about halfway down the steep road embankment. Mary's role in this production was script supervisor, responsible for shot continuity, and, since this was a freebie for a friend, she also acted as production assistant, "Hollywooding" the actors, setting up awnings, and keeping people and expensive equipment from falling into the shallow grave or the river. The last shot of the day, saved for the golden hour just before sunset after a long day's shoot, was up on the roadway. As soon as everything seemed ready, Mary gave the set a quick review. Something seemed off, but It wasn't actually until after the first shot had been spoiled by a passing pickup truck that she thought to check the actor exit note from the previous shot.
"Dammit, hang on y'all", Mary told the rest of the crew, "She's supposed to be wearing the sweater."
The director told everyone to take 5 and reset, then asked Mary where the missing sweater had been packed when they moved up from the riverbank.
"It's in the costume box, in the back of my truck, I'll run get it."
Mary hadn't meant it literally, but the embankment from the roadway down to the little parking lot was very steep and her gravity-assisted hurry had just turned into a run for her life when, about half way down, her foot caught on a hidden sapling stump that the DOT had chopped off right at mower height. She didn't even have time to scream before she threw her arms in front of her body in what turned out to be a successful attempt to keep her face from being the first thing to hit the gravel parking lot. Her first thought was to hope the resulting crunch/thump had been captured by the sound department, since her script had a shot they could really use that on. Her second was, "Holy fuck that hurts."
She wanted to get up. Somehow, she had ended up on her back and gravel made a shitty pillow, but when she tried to move her arms to lift herself, the pain was incredible. They were clearly both broken. The cast and crew were soon there and they eventually helped her sit up. Ice was fetched, and they plunged her forearms right into coolers set on either side of her. Her right arm hurt from shoulder to fingertips, her left from elbow down, and she wasn't entirely sure about her hip either. But she encouraged the crew to get the shot completed and wrap for the day before taking her to hospital.
In the ER, the first thing they did was give her some very strong painkillers and probably some valium. Still, getting the x-rays hurt enough that she almost threw up. But soon, the doctor arrived back to her bed with a pile of boxes and a basin. It was no surprise when he pulled the x-rays up on the monitor and described the radius fractures they showed. He injected powerful numbing agents, waited a bit for them to kick in while he fussed with the splinting materials, and then set the bones. Next came warm, wet sandwiches of plaster impregnated splinting material wrapped with elastic bandages that encased both of her arms from pits to knuckles. The day finally ended at about 1 in the morning, when Carol, the sound person who had driven Mary to hospital and stayed with her throughout the medical ordeals, helped her back into the passenger seat of the truck and took her back to her place, declaring that Mary was in no condition to be alone.