A totally unscientific survey about falls: Have you ever had a bad surface fall?

[hedgehog]

Poll question: A totally unscientific survey about falls: Have you ever had a bad surface fall?

Ms. Richardson's untimely death resulted in part because she had injured herself but wasn't aware of that until she was in crisis. Some years back, I slipped on an icy patch and ended up flat on my back. I looked up and was bemused to actually see stars like in all the cartoons! I was alone, so I got up after a bit, dusted myself off, and went about my business. I had a minor whiplash injury that made itself know every so often for about the next 5 or 6 years.

I could very easily have had the same injury as Ms. Richardson if I had landed just a little bit differently. So I'm wondering, how often does this sort of thing happen?


(I figure if you fall from a ladder or down the stairs, you know whether or not you're in trouble! I'm wondering about falls from just walking along and slipping or tripping)

[The Straight Story]

1. I slipped on the ice some weeks back

Was taking a blood pressure meter across the street to my X. Both hands were in my pocket and I landed hard on my right elbow. Shoulder hurt as did arm for some time, still does.

Don't have insurance right now so will see if problem goes away.

[rockymountaindem]

2. I got a concussion from a fall of my bike when I was 11

I was wearing a helmet.

[TahitiNut]

15. So did I. No helmet. Mid 50s. My grandmother, an LPN, kept me up and under observation.

She knew better than to let me lie down or sleep.

[rockymountaindem]

37. Nobody told my mom about the no sleep thing

When she called the doctor's three days later to ask why her son couldn't stay awake for more than an hour, they told her not to let me sleep. That was after I had been sleeping about 75% of the time for 72 hours :crazy:

[hedgehog]

39. I wonder if the no-sleep thing is an urban myth. If you can't awaken

somebody, then there is obviously a problem. I don't see how keeping someone awake does anything except possibly give an early warning in case they get a headache or start acting confused.

[rockymountaindem]

44. I've had no ill effects

Wikipedia (your trusted source for life and death matters) doesn't say anything about not letting people sleep. Maybe you're on to something.

[ChazII]

59. Same situation for me.

1967 no helmet and I was 9. I still see a neuro although seizure free since 1982.

[notadmblnd]

3. I fell roller skating once. My boyfriend at the time couldn't skate and grabbed me and took me down

with him. I hit my head so hard I actually saw stars just like in the cartoons.

[hedgehog]

4. Weird, isn't it? I wonder if that means that both you and I had concussions.

I'm not sure if there is any treatment other than watchful waiting.

[petersjo02]

5. I took a terrible fall from a horse and landed on back of my head.

It wasn't until months later I noticed something wasn't right. Ended up having surgery to stabilize 5 cervical vertebra. This happened right after Christopher Reeve's injury. My injury was very similar to his, so I thank my lucky stars to be here today and NOT paralyzed.

[newfie11]

6. Many times as I am a Klutz

Edited for spelling

It also appears I must have a hard head inside and out as I have not been injured so far.

This doesn't count the times coming off horses.

[hedgehog]

8. Falling from a bike, ladder or horse, you expect problems.

Falling from a standing position or while just walking down the street, you don't. I'm not sure which category roller skating should be in, although the kid down the street fractured her skull while trying a skate board back in the 70's.

[tridim]

7. I cracked my skull when I was 5

My brother was squirting me with a squirt gun and as I was running into the house I tripped and hit my head on the steel track for the sliding glass door. They stitched me up and I was fine. I can still feel a little divit in my skull.

Today my bangs are a little goofy, but other than that I'm fine.

[adamuu]

9. ice. just bruises. many times. n/t

[Ladyhawk]

10. I slipped on some plastic in my home and hurt my knee.

I knew immediately something was wrong. Unfortunately, I had no one to call because my family were all at a funeral. Luckily, the damage wasn't so bad I couldn't walk after a rest. My knee felt wobbly for a few weeks. It still aches occasionally. More annoying, it sometimes creaks...ew! If I put weight on it at the wrong angle, there is a sharp pain and it will hurt more than usual for a few days.

I have no idea what I did to it. *shrug*

[JerseygirlCT]

11. Yes, and I didn't think I was damaged -

but with some disc problems, who knows? The fall(s) could most certainly have played a part.

I have fallen, hard, on ice-coated sidewalks and stairs several times. News like Natasha Richardson's is awfully scary in retrospect... And awfully scary for any parent who's watched young ones take many spills while they learn to walk.

[Atman]

12. I fell very hard a few times while learning to snowboard.

I didn't take up snowboarding until my early 40's, a couple years younger than NR. I remember one fall in particular where I was cruising along on a green trail at Okemo -- it was only my second or third time snowboarding -- and catching an edge on Vermont's infamous hard pack. I went over backwards with full force. In fact, I thought I could hear my neck and bones cracking inside my head when I hit.

Thankfully, my friend was riding with me to make sure this ol' newb didn't get into trouble. She skied over to me and asked if I was all right, and I just said "I don't know...let me lay here for a minute and decide. If I don't get up soon, you should probably call someone." I really thought I had given myself a concussion or something worse. After a minute or two I felt fine, so we got up and rode the rest of the way down to the base...and continued to ride for the rest of the day.

I never got checked out. That's why the NR story kinda freaks me out.

I'm damned lucky.

.

[hedgehog]

13. I think what happened to you is what happens most of the time.

I've fallen enough that I should be dead several times over if we were all that fragile.

Edit: I don't think Ms. Richardson was that fragile, just a victim of an odd set of circumstances.

[Dogmudgeon]

14. I've had a number of "insults" to my brain

A car accident. An explosion. Two falls. A mugging. A high fever (>104F) and an episode of heat stroke. And several encephalitis-like infections from ear damage. All from 1984 until 1991. (The heatstroke was in 1999.)

None of these, at the time, required much attention. The explosion (a can of spray disinfectant exploded) resulted in some burns but no concussion was diagnosed. The encephalitis was not detected, and discovered in retrospect.

Add to it, that I worked as a neurology tech during much of that time, doing EEGs and involved in developing new diagnostic tests. If anyone was in a position to know, it would have been me. But I'm an American, and ironically, working at an ivy league hospital, I had sub-standard medical coverage. And we really didn't know what the threshold for injury was back then. We do now.

Today, I have mild TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) and can't work now; I'm rehabbing. And thankfully, I stand a very good chance of recovery.

--d!

[Believing Is Art]

28. Are fevers that high rare?

When I was a few months old, my temperature got to 107-108. I've never had it get that bad again, but I can think of at least twice in college when it was above 104 - reaction to a flu shot and bronchitis. I had similarly high fevers before then, but aside from when I had pneumonia in high school I don't remember exactly what was wrong. Is is uncommon to get fevers >104 that often?

[moc]

56. It's not uncommon in very young children. Over the age of 6 or thereabouts (I think)

temps of >104 that lasts any length of time is concerning. Or such I've been told by pediatricians. (My daughter had a febrile seizure at 14 months - something caused not by the height of the fever but the speed of the rise. Hers went from normal to 106-107 in about 2 hours, which is when she seized. Very scary. Never happened again, thank God.)

[Believing Is Art]

58. Similar happened to me when I had the 107-108 fever

Seized and stopped breathing. I don't know if it was a quick rise or not, haven't asked my parents much about it. They have a list of my near-death experiences before age one (the best one is when the babysitter caught the house on fire).

If it happens again, perhaps I should bring it up. I've had at least 2 fevers in the 104-105 range since I became an adult. The second one lasted a few days.

[Dogmudgeon]

64. Yep -- but not for kids

In childhood, high fevers are fairly common. Yes, they can and do kill children, but not as easily as they kill adults.

At age 18, they are rare, but not extremely so. Fevers of around 102, with the flu or infections, are pretty common. Brief (<12 h) high fevers are not usually injurious at that age. The older you get, the more sensitive your brain becomes to the effects of high fever. But the older you get, the rarer high fevers are.

I had a very high Influenza A related fever in 1990, when I was 31. It was likely near or over 105F, but all I had was an early electric thermometer that only went to 104.7F, when it gave an error message. I was delirious for about 18 hours, but did not appear to suffer any significant damage from it. The hallucinations were quite entertaining, but I think I'll skip a repeat. Today, at age 50, a similar fever could possibly kill me (especially with my history of head injury), though it would certainly result in a hospital stay and a night in a medically-supervised cold bath.

The heat stroke was weird. I developed "brittle" high blood pressure, and had to go on a full regime of antihypertensive medicine in 2004. I was also utterly heat-intolerant until recently; it's been a decade and only last month was I able to tolerate a sauna.

The brain is tender -- but not completely so. I had to learn this by being fate's guinea pig. From now on, I'll make sure to go to an ER.

--d!

[hedgehog]

16. You know, I never put two and two together before , but it was

after I took the bad fall that my lifelong low grade depression really kicked in. Coincidence? who knows?



Hmmmm....

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080118115428.htm

[Myrina]

23. I've wondered the same thing ...

:(

[Dogmudgeon]

61. Post-concussion depression is extremely common

Tho 40% figure cited by SD may actually be low. That's for the reported incidence. Many patients and/or physicians have discounted post-traumatic depression; most studies have not accounted for it. In my own head injuries, depression was never even mentioned, and my life-long dysthemic depression (i.e., no manic phase) was also never accounted for.

A SPECT study may show one or more areas of diffuse hypoperfusion or another damage-related abnormality, as it did with me.

Many of these problems can be treated -- though not all. Hypoperfusion can be treated with OTC ginkgo biloba, or prescription isoxsuprine. Exercise is also thought, with good reason, to help these problems. I can tell you anecdotally that exercise helps quite a bit. It has helped me and every head injury patient I have ever met, but that isn't a scientifically evaluable claim. The actual scientific work has only just started a few years ago, and the field is young. Consultation with a neurologist and development of a treatment plan could do a lot of good.

Good luck, whatever route you take.

--d!

[ColbertWatcher]

17. FWIW: California labor (insurance?) law is different for people ...

... who work 9 feet off the ground (on ladders, on roofs, etc).

[hedgehog]

18. Back when OSHA was first enacted and statistics were gathered

and really examined for the first time, everyone was amazed at the number of deaths and injuries resulting from working on ladders. The first OSHA standards had several pages on what kind of ladders could and couldn't be used, requiring that painted ladders or ladders with cracked rungs be discarded, etc.

[ColbertWatcher]

20. Fascinating.

FYI: I've fallen once, but I was on a motorcycle and was wearing a helmet at the time.

[dysfunctional press]

19. my knee is STILL screwed up from a fall on the ice two 1/2 months ago

[Maru Kitteh]

41. You must be a very young critter.

Us "experienced" DU'ers don't expect too much to be healed in just 2 1/2 short months, lol.

[dysfunctional press]

60. i'm a lot younger than i feel, that's for sure...

because of my ankylosing spondylitis, i'm 48 going on 73.

[Nay]

21. I fell from a horse when it was jumping over a fence--I landed face

up, with the horse standing over me. Its hind hoof was standing on my little finger. I had the wind knocked out of me, but that was all. I really don't even remember falling off, but I do remember opening my eyes and seeing the horse's belly.

[Myrina]

22. Yes.

I was walking down the driveway in heels several years ago and hit an icy patch, feet went out from under me and I landed flat on my back. I know I clunked my head cause I was clueless for a couple seconds, but then got up and went about my day, miraculously, with just a big bean on the back of my skull and a horrible headache.

Not sure why I didn't suffer more long term damage but in reality, I'm surprised I didn't suffer at least a minor skull fracture.
Heck, maybe I did? :shrug:

[H2O Man]

24. Yes.

I was with a group of friends, and fell backwards. I dropped approximately 25 feet, and landed on my head. I was knocked unconscious. My friends thought I was dead. When I came to, I knew I was injured. My years of experience in the boxing ring -- including having had a friend die hours after a fight, due to a blood clot -- did not come into play. The character traits that might most kindly be called stubborness and stupidity took over, and I refised to seek medical attention.

[Kaleva]

25. Fell out of a hay loft when I was quite young...

and landed on my head on the cement floor below. After laying their for some minutes, I got up and went back to work.

[GreenPartyVoter]

26. I had your same injury but it was my heiney I hurt. I think my tailbone may have been cracked

[Arkansas Granny]

27. I've had several falls where I only sustained scrapes and bruises,

but a few years ago I slipped on some rain soaked wood and cracked a bone in my ankle. It was litterally one of those "I've fallen and I can't get up" moments. It was late at night and we were camping at the lake, so it was the next day before I was able to go to the emergency room.

[Arctic Dave]

29. My head and body has been slammed so many times I couldn't even begin to count.

Between sports, ATV's, slip trips and falls, the military, bar fights and just plain stupid. I have had more dings to my head then I could remember.

[hedgehog]

30. Ummm, isn't memory loss a result of repeated concussions?

;-)

[Arctic Dave]

32. What were we talking about........? LOL

[BanzaiBonnie]

31. Cracked the back of my head

in December when I slipped on ice and fell straight backwards.


I told my husband to watch me closely for the next few hours. Any sign of confusion or drowsiness, call an ambulance.

[Lisa0825]

33. Yes, I slipped on a mossy concrete boat ramp.

I fell flat on my back, and my head hit the concrete HARD, and bounced up and hit a second time. I didn't pass out, but was dizzy and felt drugged for a few minutes. I didn't see a doctor. My sister questioned me to make sure I was thinking clearly, and we went back to her place. When I woke up the next morning, my neck hurt HORRIBLY. I couldn't turn my head without pain for about a week.

I immediately thought about that after the details came out about Natasha. I was very lucky.

[Posteritatis]

34. I've had some spectacular ones but seem mostly unscathed

Got cheers from the ski lift overhead once.

In hindsight I probably should have died three or four times over by now, but the dice have rolled in my favor so far. Of course, now that I've gone and formed that thought I'll get hit by a bus later tonight despite being on the second storey of this house.

[havocmom]

35. Bad fall last month. Mild concussion, shoulder, elbow damage

and a gash on my face. Dizzy, some headache and confusion for about 48 hours, but nothing bad.

[hay rick]

36. Fell a couple years ago.

I was getting out of a van in a parking lot and tripped. It happened so quickly that I had no sensation of falling. The first thing that I experienced was that my face was an inch away from the curb and I was supporting myself with my two hands, also on the curb. My first thought afterwards was something like "I must have fallen and this has got to hurt." A half-second later the pain caught up with me. The fall knocked one of my shoes off. I scraped my knees and hands and had a contusion of my left thumb. It took a year for the thumb to get better.

The cause of my fall? A macadam handicapped ramp.

[Emit]

38. I fell down the stairs and broke my leg once - awful sound!

And painful as hell. I literally crawled to the freezer to get ice immediately.

That being said, I work in the field of vocational rehabilitation counseling and I see hundreds of cases a year, mostly personal injury cases now. Most falls result in back, neck or head injuries, and many of the significant lasting disability aspects of these injuries do not fully manifest themselves until days and/or weeks after the initial injury.

[hedgehog]

42. I'm guessing that if you went to an ER, they'd find nothing and send you home!

[Emit]

47. In so many cases, that's exactly what seems to happen

Most of the medical records I have to review are a few years old by the time they get to me, but the ER documents usually show that the client/patient came in complaining of pain following an accident, an Xray was taken, and nothing shows up. An MRI is often not immediately ordered in these situations, and sometimes, when they are, even an MRI may not necessarily reveal the 'cause' of a person's pain.

Even in head injuries, it's hard to get objective results, even though the client might have lasting deficits, like short term memory loss or chronic headaches, etc.

[uppityperson]

40. Yes, undamaged, yes damaged

I did a fall like yours yrs back but was fine except very stiff the next day. I whonked my head getting into a van, then whonked the back a could months later and got hurt form that. I saw a doctor right away only the van time, since we were a medical team. The last time, I got a CAT scan done a couple days later since I was worried about a slow bleed like Mr.Richardson had. No slow bleed but still got hurt.

[IDemo]

43. Have taken a few nasty spills on the ski slope, and a couple off motorcycles

Other than road rash and wounded pride, no harm.

[mix]

45. horse slipped

I went face first, while still mounted, into the ground...knocking me out, then the horse rolled over me. i had minor injuries and was riding again the next day, lots of cuts and scabs, a concussion but nothing major. A combination of rider error and a slick surface. The fall is grim and ferocious on video. the ambulance took me away unconscious, lucky me...the horse was fine, he got up, shook himself off and starting sniffing me...it happened during an individual performance/competition in front of a few hundred people. memorable, years later people occasionally kid me about it...condolences to Ms. Richardson's family

[surrealAmerican]

46. Many falls over the years, but no head injuries.

All the bumps, bruises and scrapes have healed, except for the "learning to ride a bike" scars on my knees.

[Breeze54]

48. I only 'slipped' a little but I sued and made a killing!!!!!

with my winnings!!! :woohoo: I bought a house and paid CA$H!!!



:P

[BlooInBloo]

49. I ski and board.

[dkf]

54. No need to elaborate on that huh?

lol.

[BlooInBloo]

55. There's really not.

[No.23]

50. I've fallen hard too many times to be counted.

Some during riding a motorcycle; some during riding a bicycle; some during playing ice hockey; some during rollerblading; and, once during paragliding.

And I never received a sever head injury, thank (fill in your favorite deity here), because I wore a helmet during all of those times.

I am a STRONG proponent of wearing appropriate headgear... when participating in an activity where you may fall hard.

[obiwan]

51. I first started falling on a regular basis in 2005...

... in 2006, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Specifically, what made me fall was a side effect of MS called "origin vertigo". Now that I am diagnosed and taking Copaxone I don't fall as often although my balance really sucks. Falling, at least for me, is very painful, as there's really no way to fall gracefully. I also had to stop biking, skiing, and roller skating.

[dkf]

52. I went snowboarding once.

Nuff said.

[Lars39]

53. Thrown from a horse head first, ice skating, rollerskating, fell on ice...

I figure I'm lucky to be alive in good condition.

[Lex]

57. Yes, a few bad falls but none that involved my HEAD

thankfully. I badly bruised by coxic bone on a fall on carpeted stairs (I had socks on and my feet went out from under me), and badly bruised my ass cheek on a fall on wet wooden stairs, and scraped the heck out of my knee and elbow and palm just a couple of weeks ago on a fall on a gravel trail (tripped on a tree root).

[LooseWilly]

62. dumb luck...

Turns out that ju jitsu training as a youth has apparently led to body memory that minimizes any injury I sustain in any fall...
Apparently, training in how to land when you're "thrown", which you get before you are ever allowed to do any "throwing", leaves a body memory that makes one instinctively land on sides/buttocks... rather than spine/skull... in a fall.
Came in very handy when I managed to get myself knocked off a horse somewhere in a Mexican forest with some Indigenas I was riding with. I knocked myself off by being incompetent on a horse, landed in some shrubberies off the side of the trail... and had nothing but some scratches to show for it. My companions were livid for hours, afraid that they'd broken their English teacher...

(Everybody was kung fu falling... they got bruised but no need for bawling... etc.)

[alfredo]

63. I've had several concussions, but I'm alright, I think.

[MiniMe]

65. Several head hits

The worst one was probably when I was playing softball. we were playing on an ungroomed field, and the backstop was telephone poles wrapped with chicken wire. I was on first base and the guy behind me hit a home run. I was running my ass off, and I stumbled going around 3rd base. Couldn't catch my balance, and unfortunately the telephone pole was on the baseline. I ended up running full speed into the telephone pole with my head. I have a clear memory saying "damn, I'm going to hit that pole", then thinking that maybe I would hit with my shoulder, and thinking no, I'm not. Knocked myself unconcious. Woke up with a very large group of people standing around me. They ended up putting me in a car and taking me to the emergency room. They kept asking me what happened, and I did remember. And wanting to know if I was safe or out - I was safe by the way. They never even took an x-ray. They could see exactly where I hit because the chicken wire had cut into my face and forehead. Luckily I didn't break my nose, hit just to the side of it. Broke my glasses and ended up with 10 stitches, but I went back. Oh, and it was at a company picnic at a job I had just started a few months ago, and one of the VP's was the one who drove me to the ER. I'm sure I made a great impression on everybody. I got about 10 stitches in my face, and ended up with the flu the next day. That was back in the early 80's and I still remember it, although I wish I could forget.

[Maru Kitteh]

66. Shoved my foot into the front wheel of my bike & stopped the whole business w/my 1st medial phalanx

e.g., my big toe.

I remember being airborne, ass end up, and actually giggling about how STUPID I must look - until I remembered my poor husband behind me who must have been horrified (he was). It's truly amazing sometimes how much one is able to consider while in the air or some other terrible situation. At the same time as I prepared for a landing, I was thinking about the fact that I did not have a helmet, and the area I was airborne over was littered with bits of cement blocks in the tall grass. Gymnastics automatically kicked in and I landed on my hands into a roll.

The bike was totaled, along with the big toe.


Now - head injuries?

I was knocked out cold on three different occasions as a child. One fall from the ladder bars, one very hard hit from a soccer ball, and one tackle football injury. 2/3 times I blew chow. I probably could have died from any of those. After the fall from the ladder bars I was actually paralyzed on my left side for about a minute or so. Obvious slap to the right brain.

[Hekate]

67. 6 or 7 times since age 8 (I'm 61). I remember each one distinctly--was injured a couple of times...

In elementary school I was running and slammed into another kid running in the other direction. I lost consciousness for a short time so they sent me home for my mom to watch me.

Looking back, the worst potential injury (that thank God did not happen) was when I slipped and fell hard on my butt while 8 months pregnant. I was hurrying to catch a ride to LaMaze and skidded on some wet grass...

In college I skidded and landed on my coccyx. I almost passed out from the pain. I think I broke something, because the pain would recur every so often for a long time afterward.

Then there was the time on election eve 2006 when I stepped out on my darkened lanai to joyously salute the Moon and stumbled over some concrete blocks that didn't belong there. I hit every damn planter on the way down, face forward, and was well bruised and abraded.

The other times I fell equally hard and only hurt my pride.

Yes, it is certainly possible to have a serious injury from an ordinary fall. I've been lucky. Really, really lucky. No broken bones (except the coccyx), no hurt baby, no head injury. Stone cold sober every time. I'll try not to do it any more from now on (she sez), because eventually a bone will snap due to old age, and then I'll be sorry.

And I'm very sorry for Natasha Richardson and her family. She felt fine -- a bit shaken up, no harm done. I'm sure she waved everyone away. But she wasn't okay at all. :cry:

Hekate

[cliffordu]

68. LIke crashing my bicycle at 20mph????

Yep. I knew.

[Adsos Letter]

69. slipped on a patch of ice when I was a kid...put a 2" gash in my head

[CRF450]

70. My sister dropped me on my head on the kitchen floor when I was a baby.

They said somehow I just cried it off and I was fine, but I dunno... I never did do good in school...

I'v had falls and crashes on my bicycles and dirtbikes but nothing major except the occasional scratches and bruises. Other activities it would be sprang'd ankles, and wrists. I've sprang'd my knee once REAL BAD in 5th grade when I stomped on a ball, worst pain I ever felt! And lately I closed the door of my truck on my index and middle finger a few months ago! Worst pain I ever right their since I sprang'd my knee way back then. I actually did have a hairline crack in the bone of my index fingure, and I have never broken a bone either.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

71. Had a weird one on some stairs.

San Antonio. 1979. Living in a duplex.
Lived upstairs. the staircase had two flights. Halfway down, then back the other way at a 180 degree angle.

Walking down the second flight. At the bottom, to the right, is the front door.

I am dashing down the second flight. I miss a step, go flying thru the air.

I land sitting on my rear at the bottom, facing the front door with my feet in front of me.

How I flew thru the air and did a 90 degree turn, and didn't get hurt much, is beyond me.

I don't remember hitting anything till I landed on my rear. So maybe my rear went over my head.

:wtf:

[ima_sinnic]

72. ice-skating at age 8, slipped and hit the back of my head, saw a bright red pool of "ink"

and stars. My father came over and asked me if I was all right and I could see the words over his head as though he was in a comic book. I don't even remember what I said, because the next thing I knew I woke up lying in the back seat of the car as we drove home, then I passed out again and woke up in bed.

The next year I couldn't go skating because the doctor told my parents if I hit my head again in that spot I could end up a vegetable. AFAIK I have not had any long-lasting effects of that, except I do suffer from "essential familial tremor"--which is supposedly genetic, but maybe this had something to do with it.

[aquart]

73. Define "damaged."

Because I'm holding an icepack on my knees right now. Fell around five pm about ten feet from my front door.

[ddeclue]

74. Tried to stop a carjacking in downtown Atlanta in the 1980's when I was young and bulletproof

ended up doing a "T.J. Hooker" on the hood of the car for a few yards before being thrown off. Got all banged and scuffed and bruised up. Wasn't fun but they caught the guy. Wasn't my car..

New Rule: Don't jump in front of moving cars.

:)