I don't like hospitals.
Now, I'm sure there are some very nice hospitals, and I know from experience there are wonderful people working in them. But that doesn't make me want to be at one.
But I'm still here, laying down (or I will be in a moment) in a hospital room recliner. Not the way I intended on spending my Saturday night.
In the bed next to me is my wife. The little green light on the IV pump blinks about every other second as it pushes saline solution into the little needle stuck in the back of her hand. I haven't kept track of how often she has pushed the little button that lets a small amount of morphine flow into the line.
She fell today. Just a run of the mill, every day accident. She misjudged the width of the bottom stair, slipped, and fell.
As unlucky as the fall was, she is very lucky. A few inches one way and her elbow would have came down on cement paving stones instead of the grass. A few inches the other, and her head might have bounced off of a large decorative stone. When you actually look at the alternatives, a (probably) ruptured patellar tendon doesn't seem so bad.
The MRI tech should be here around 8 am -- six hours from now -- and if she can get here, that's when we'll be going in. Best case scenario, they'll see what they need to right off the bat and get her in for surgery tomorrow. Not likely, since it is a Sunday, but we can hope.
It was strange, seeing her laying there helpless like that, yet still in charge of the situation. She was more worried about the cake she had made getting delivered than she was about herself.
The mistakes I made...
I put the cake in the car before I called for help. In my defense, it was the only way to get my wife to calm down, answer my questions, and let me check her over. I did call 911 before I called my Aunt to deliver the cake, though -- despite what she wanted.
Before calling, I didn't confirm the location of the injury: knee vs ankle. She was right there, and I could have gotten that info to EMS on the page.
What I did right:
- Checked for head injuries. Not that it would have made the response time any better; but if there had been a head injury the EMTs would have been prepared.
- Kept the patient calm and immobile.
- Assisted in removing obstacles from the area so EMTs could work.
- Found a driver to get the wedding cake delivered on time.
We're probably going to cancel our anniversary/daughter's birthday trip. Even two weeks out, I don't see my wife being up for a three hour car drive, shopping trip, etc. That's what was bothering her the most when mom and dad left the hospital room tonight; that she ruined the 15th birthday trip. That if she can't get to work for a month, she's going to have to use the money we were saving for our daughter's band camp for a car payment. That she's already racked up an ambulance ride, ER visit, a night (and likely a second) in the hospital, and knee surgery; how can we afford to pay for it?
I would love to tell her it's all going to be OK, but I really don't know. We've got pretty good health insurance, but she's not wrong; there's going to be quite a bit that's out of pocket here. And if she's not able to work, money's going to be even tighter. So our plans for a 10th anniversary Vegas trip next year, or getting a house any time soon are probably going to get put on hold.
I hate hospitals.
