This post will take me a while – I can’t type for very long at a time yet and will need to take a lot of breaks. So, here we go:
12/19/2014 – Heading into work and parking in the deck because it’s snowing. I’m loaded down with Christmas presents for my co-workers and both hands are full. I step onto the sidewalk and hit a patch of ice.
In the span of a heartbeat, both feet came off the ground and I went horizontal in mid-air. Then, impact.
The first and worst was my left elbow – then my head took the rest of the force. I lay on the ground for a minute – stunned – then forced myself to my feet and assessed the damage. My elbow was hurting pretty bad, but I had the foresight to take a picture of the area – just in case – then gathered my belongings and walked through the grass down the street to my building. My left arm was worthless at this point, but I got in the office and got my coat off. I didn’t know how bad it was, so I delivered the Christmas presents and checked my email. It wasn’t getting any better, but it’s tough to see your own elbow so I asked another co-worker to take a look.
The reaction when she saw it was enough to send me on my way. I canceled my appointments for the day by email, checked in with another co-worker, and carefully made my way back to my car and from there – to the emergency room.
It took a while to navigate the valet-ish parking, then I got checked in. And I waited 15 minutes while my arm continued to swell alarmingly.
A staff member came out and took a group of us back and assigned us to rooms – like a cattle call. Where I waited again for another 15 minutes. As long as I held very still, I was okay. Any movement and I was hurting.
A nurse came in and started to work with me. When I said that it might be workers comp – she left to get a form. Another nurse – perhaps an angel? – came in and took charge. She carefully helped me get my dress shirt off, got me an ice pack and a pillow and generally fussed over me until the doctor came in. I was still hurting bad, but mentally feeling better that someone was looking after me.
The doctor said I needed an x-ray and I was trundled down the hall to get that done. The techs had me position my arm into some terrible shapes, then sent me back to the room with a tissue to wipe my eyes. Yeah, I cried. Doesn’t make me less of a bad-ass.
The doctor came back after a while and said – “It’s broken”. He and a colleague put me in a splint, gave me a prescription, and sent me on my way with a referral.
I called my boss from the parking lot and explained what was going on – then went home. I made an appointed to see another doctor on the 22nd in the afternoon.
Later that evening I got my prescription filled and spent a lot of time with my arm in a sling trying to find a position that didn’t hurt.
It didn’t really work.