[travelingmom]

My left foot and ankle was bruised and sprained when service cart pushed by flight attendant knocked into my seat and caused my crossed leg to slip behind steel chair in front of me and become wedged between chair and service cart. I had the aisle seat on the left side. At no time was my right foot in the pathway, and besides, there is not much leg room for any kind of stretching out so to avoid thrombosis, I alternate crossing legs.

Nonetheless, although I let out a cry and pleaded STOP, flight attendant either ignored plea or could not hear me so continued pushing cart forward and back, smashing cart into my trapped foot. She did this three times until my raised hand signal for STOP alerted her fellow crew member who'd been pulling cart backwards noticed my hand waving in the air for help.

When fellow crew member acknowledged my distress and how my right hand had been wrapped in gauze from a 2nd degree burn from the week before, the kind flight attendant who helped me load my carry ons earlier explained to the rude flight attendant that she needed to stop pushing the cart so I could get my foot free.

Meanwhile, as my burned hand wrapped in gauze had been in the air as a reflex to get the cart to stop smashing into my left foot, my waving hand must have annoyed the rude flight attendant because she pushed my hand down then had the nerve to scold me. "It's your fault your foot was in the aisle. We can't see your feet." At no time did she ask if I was okay or if I needed ice or help standing up. Instead, she went on with blaming me.

I explained that as this was an evening flight, I had fallen asleep with my left leg crossed over my right and that it was above my knee in a 'yoga position' which could not really be in the aisle on the floor but as the cart knocked into my right side (there is also a bruise on my right hip from the heavy cart's impact), the initial impact must have caused my crossed leg to lose footing so fell downward and a couple inches into the pathway yet never touched the floor but was about sixteen inches above.

Neighboring passengers could see the accident and rallied to my defense. Rude flight attendant had already pushed with force my blistered burned hand which also hurt so I found myself sobbing in pain, feeling more than shocked. I also had to think of my 8 year old son sitting next to me and did my best to play down the accident and altercation yet he was very troubled by witnessing how a flight attendant basically could hit his mother and then yell at her.

The kind flight attendant at the front of the cart began to ask me if there was anything she could do but the rude flight attendant, who may have been her superior, told her "I've got this" and then she bent down to speak into my ear and said "can I get you a water" but with a rude tone as if being inconvenienced so I said, "just go, please leave me be."

I was in a great deal of pain since my shoes had been off and I was wearing socks. Also, I was more than exhausted since I had been on vacation with my 8 year old son who was seated in the middle plus having to be mindful about his comfort. As I could tell he was distressed, he asked what he could do to help me feel better and I said "just let me lean on your shoulder and take a nap." I cried myself to sleep.

About thirty minutes or so later, the service cart returns with the rude flight attendant walking backwards and the kind attendant pushing the cart. She attempts to bypass me, and apparently she had before when serving drinks so did not offer my son anything to drink while I had drifted off. My son woke me up and said he was thirsty so I noticed the rude attendant at my right and asked her if my kid could have something to drink "drinks have already been passed, this is the meal option. Is there any food you want?" So I say, "no thank you but I could use a pillow to elevate my foot" and she replied, "seven dollars" thus I responded, "I should think it would be free after you smashed my foot, at least for first aid, I could still use an ice bag since my foot hurts a great deal."

Flight attendant raises her voice, "it's seven dollars if you want the pillow" so I ask whether there are first aid supplies and next she says, "you weren't hurt. I didn't hurt you. I don't know who you're talking about. It wasn't me."

By then, my neighboring row mate to the left of my son (three seat row) spoke up, "excuse me, but she really got hurt badly. The cart banged up her foot and no one attended to her" so this incensed the rude flight attendant and what does she do???

SHE THROWS THE SEVEN DOLLAR MESH ZIPPER BAG containing pillow, blanket and eyemask AT MY FACE the growls into my ear, "there's your blanket. You want anything else?" But she does not mean to be helpful but infer further abuse. I am speechless, jaw dropped, stunned in disbelief. Never have I seen such loss of professionalism by any service person, especially with a vulnerable environment where passengers are confined to their seats, strapped in and not able to run.

Next, the rude attendant turns her back to me, ignores me, to which I say, "I am shocked. I can't believe what you did, you just threw that scratchy nylon bag at me. And do you know what she says? She whispers into my ear, "I have to make it look like I didn't want to give you the blanket otherwise everyone will want a free blanket. It's seven dollars. I'm not making you pay." But I am feeling what I need is an apology. I burst into tears and set the nylon mesh blanket/pillow kit on top the cart.

The nice row mate lady speaks up, "pardon me, but you go on ahead and take that blanket and pillow. Your foot needs it and you look in shock. It' not good for you to suffer. Giving that back will add insult to injury so you should not leave this with bad feelings to take home." I thank the woman and retrieve the blanket kit, blow up the pillow, stick under my foot and konk out. Three more hours of flight and at no time did anyone follow up on me to see if I could use an ice bag, which I needed and made my own icebag by dumping the soda with ice into a plastic to go bag and tied that around my ankle.

I realize these are a lot of details but I illustrate the picture so readers may have a clearer idea of what happened from A to Z.

Curiously, while it was obvious that I had been injured since I was limping and could not walk well on my left foot once deplaning, a flight attendant from another plane offered a wheelchair so my kid and I could pile our carry ons and backpacks to push a long haul to connecting gate. This was at Phoenix Airport, going from gate A28 to B16, and remarkably, upon arriving connecting gate, the ticket service agent yelled at me for using the wheelchair, demanded for me to remove my bags, sit in the chair, have my 8 year old son push me and carry everything on top. Impossible!

I've got all the names of attendants involved but will not disclose here presently. I can say though this was for Flight 192 leaving Orlando en route to Phoenix.

Wrapping it up here... next day, as soon as I could see my doctor at home, he reviewed my foot, noted a large bruise on the inner arch (who ever bruises an arch?), swelling and sprain. I've taken photos as well and have written US Airways plus phoned in a report. Three days later, no reply. In meantime, I remain to hobble and can't sleep well due to ankle discomfort and needing to sleep with legs elevated.

Thank you for reading all this.