learning to walk
Mar. 10th, 2002 09:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidobviously i didn't listen well enough when my parents said to pick my feet up.
so, friday i stopped at trader joe's. i headed towards the store, but tripped over an uneven curb. i put my hands out as i fell, and at first thought i would end up with skinned hands & knees.
a bicyclist came over, offered a hand up. 1st i held out my left hand, but it looked odd, so used my right. someone else came over as well, and suggested they call 911. i said no, i'd be ok. what about sitting down in the store? ok. i walked in, holding my left wrist uprigt with my right hand, looking dazed, if my emotions were showing through at all. 2 other fingers were bleeding, but the worst was obviously my left index finger, which was sitting at an odd angle, reminding me of my uncle bob's arthritic fingers. also both knees and my right elbow were scraped (left one much more).
the store employees took me to a back room, gave me a chair to sit on. i still had my coat on (my clothing wasn't damaged at all, just my skin insde it.), sat there holding my wrist, starting to get very hot, and queasy fom it. my finger hadn't started hurting yet; i just could tell it was dislocated/broken loking at it, & it felt weird. i decided i needed to be cooler, got up, & headed out of the store. they said they'd call an ambulance, and i said i'd be ok, drive myself to the hospital. out to the parking lot, wonderfully cooler. but the world was acing a bit strange; i couldn't keep focus... i fell over, lay in the parking lot for a moment.
i got up, picked up the keys & coins that had fallen out of my pocket, then picked up the others that fell while retrieving the first. unlocked the car, sat in the driver's seat, leaving the door open to stay cool. i put my head on the steering wheel, knowing i couldn't yet drive, needed to take a few minutes to gather my strength/focus. a sting song that had been on the radio kept running through my head. i lifted my head, and momentarily panicked b/c everything was blurry. then i realized i didn't have my glasses on. did i lose them when i fell? i found them on the seat next to me where i must have put them, though i don't remember it. i put them on, to avoid later panic, and put my head down.
the next thing i know, there's a woman asking if i'm ok, saying they've called an ambulance. store employees are around as well, trying to be helpful. she asks my name, in case i won't be able to tell the medical people when they arrive. i sit, waiting, still not sure i couldn't drive myself if i had more time to recover in. plus then my car would be home. a fire truck arrives; apparently they're first responders. then a fire dept ambulance. they start asking questions. i described what happened. they asked if i'd passed out. i said no, but the woman said she'd shaken me a bit before i came round, so she thought i'd been out for a couple of minutes. this scared me, b/c i hadn't realized how much shock had affected me. more questions, all of which i could answer. i got onto the stretcher, and they strapped me in, with a blaket over me (too hot, and unpleasant against my scraped knees.) the store guy borrowed my car keys to put some pass on my dashboard so i wouldn't be towed if the car stayed overnight.
stretcher into the ambulance, and a ride to the hospital; i requested the one across the street from my house. i was surprised that the siren wasn't louder. and the potholes on the road did not make me happy... chatted with the guys in the ambulance, then soon arrived at the hospital. wheeled in, put into a treatment place, shifted to the hospital stretcher.
people checked bp, oxygen level, pulse. checked for spine/ head injuries. checked my ears, and for loose teeth. then i just lay there, waiting for the next bit. i finally got a phone, called queue, and some other people, trying to get a message to the people i'd had plans with. over to be x-rayed, asked some of the same questions yet again. no, i'm not pregnant. age stayed the same. so did medicaions, and known allergies. 3 x-rays, then i lay in the hallway, waiting for someone to wheel me back, getting rather annoyed, thinking qeue would be there, and i'd have someone to talk to, distract myself. finally back, and he wasn't there, it was getting closer to shabbat, so i asked to deal with whatever paperwork i needed to sooner rather than later. when the woman came in, she said there was someone asking for me; should he come in? YES. so i finally got to see queue, have someone there to talk to, lean on.
things started to move more quickly. a hand surgeon came down, showed me the x-rays, said i have an unstable break (lowest bone in the finger), so after the swelling goes down, i'm likely to need pins/plates put in to stabilize it. er. got a tetanus shot somewhere in there- not the most pleasant thing. then local anasthetic on my hand, a series of little shots that felt like my skin was being gathered together, then squeezed. not actually painful, other than the shot itself, but really unpleasant anyway. someone cleaned the scrapes while the anasthetic took effect. i was surprised when another friend appeared, bringing bread for shabbat, and a bouquet of tulips. we talked as the doctor et al moved my now-numb finger into a more normal alignment, "reducing" it. i really didn' want to watch, thinking it would hurt if i did. kept talking with friends, even as they put on a temporary cast. i should've paid more attention at this point, since my thumb doesn't seem to be getting at quite enough circulation.
into a wheelchair and queue wheeled me over for further x-rays. eventually back to the treatment area. gathered up all of my stuff and made a followup appointment, got a prescription for painkillers. out of the hospital in three hours, at least half an hour before shabbat.
so, friday i stopped at trader joe's. i headed towards the store, but tripped over an uneven curb. i put my hands out as i fell, and at first thought i would end up with skinned hands & knees.
a bicyclist came over, offered a hand up. 1st i held out my left hand, but it looked odd, so used my right. someone else came over as well, and suggested they call 911. i said no, i'd be ok. what about sitting down in the store? ok. i walked in, holding my left wrist uprigt with my right hand, looking dazed, if my emotions were showing through at all. 2 other fingers were bleeding, but the worst was obviously my left index finger, which was sitting at an odd angle, reminding me of my uncle bob's arthritic fingers. also both knees and my right elbow were scraped (left one much more).
the store employees took me to a back room, gave me a chair to sit on. i still had my coat on (my clothing wasn't damaged at all, just my skin insde it.), sat there holding my wrist, starting to get very hot, and queasy fom it. my finger hadn't started hurting yet; i just could tell it was dislocated/broken loking at it, & it felt weird. i decided i needed to be cooler, got up, & headed out of the store. they said they'd call an ambulance, and i said i'd be ok, drive myself to the hospital. out to the parking lot, wonderfully cooler. but the world was acing a bit strange; i couldn't keep focus... i fell over, lay in the parking lot for a moment.
i got up, picked up the keys & coins that had fallen out of my pocket, then picked up the others that fell while retrieving the first. unlocked the car, sat in the driver's seat, leaving the door open to stay cool. i put my head on the steering wheel, knowing i couldn't yet drive, needed to take a few minutes to gather my strength/focus. a sting song that had been on the radio kept running through my head. i lifted my head, and momentarily panicked b/c everything was blurry. then i realized i didn't have my glasses on. did i lose them when i fell? i found them on the seat next to me where i must have put them, though i don't remember it. i put them on, to avoid later panic, and put my head down.
the next thing i know, there's a woman asking if i'm ok, saying they've called an ambulance. store employees are around as well, trying to be helpful. she asks my name, in case i won't be able to tell the medical people when they arrive. i sit, waiting, still not sure i couldn't drive myself if i had more time to recover in. plus then my car would be home. a fire truck arrives; apparently they're first responders. then a fire dept ambulance. they start asking questions. i described what happened. they asked if i'd passed out. i said no, but the woman said she'd shaken me a bit before i came round, so she thought i'd been out for a couple of minutes. this scared me, b/c i hadn't realized how much shock had affected me. more questions, all of which i could answer. i got onto the stretcher, and they strapped me in, with a blaket over me (too hot, and unpleasant against my scraped knees.) the store guy borrowed my car keys to put some pass on my dashboard so i wouldn't be towed if the car stayed overnight.
stretcher into the ambulance, and a ride to the hospital; i requested the one across the street from my house. i was surprised that the siren wasn't louder. and the potholes on the road did not make me happy... chatted with the guys in the ambulance, then soon arrived at the hospital. wheeled in, put into a treatment place, shifted to the hospital stretcher.
people checked bp, oxygen level, pulse. checked for spine/ head injuries. checked my ears, and for loose teeth. then i just lay there, waiting for the next bit. i finally got a phone, called queue, and some other people, trying to get a message to the people i'd had plans with. over to be x-rayed, asked some of the same questions yet again. no, i'm not pregnant. age stayed the same. so did medicaions, and known allergies. 3 x-rays, then i lay in the hallway, waiting for someone to wheel me back, getting rather annoyed, thinking qeue would be there, and i'd have someone to talk to, distract myself. finally back, and he wasn't there, it was getting closer to shabbat, so i asked to deal with whatever paperwork i needed to sooner rather than later. when the woman came in, she said there was someone asking for me; should he come in? YES. so i finally got to see queue, have someone there to talk to, lean on.
things started to move more quickly. a hand surgeon came down, showed me the x-rays, said i have an unstable break (lowest bone in the finger), so after the swelling goes down, i'm likely to need pins/plates put in to stabilize it. er. got a tetanus shot somewhere in there- not the most pleasant thing. then local anasthetic on my hand, a series of little shots that felt like my skin was being gathered together, then squeezed. not actually painful, other than the shot itself, but really unpleasant anyway. someone cleaned the scrapes while the anasthetic took effect. i was surprised when another friend appeared, bringing bread for shabbat, and a bouquet of tulips. we talked as the doctor et al moved my now-numb finger into a more normal alignment, "reducing" it. i really didn' want to watch, thinking it would hurt if i did. kept talking with friends, even as they put on a temporary cast. i should've paid more attention at this point, since my thumb doesn't seem to be getting at quite enough circulation.
into a wheelchair and queue wheeled me over for further x-rays. eventually back to the treatment area. gathered up all of my stuff and made a followup appointment, got a prescription for painkillers. out of the hospital in three hours, at least half an hour before shabbat.