Monday, May 4, 2009

The one about the taking Rob to the ER.

It was a gorgeous Sunday after noon. Sun shining. We'd just gone to Menard's to get landscaping bricks and plants. We were making a garden.
I decided to go against my "final word" last year and have sand in the sand box. We would place it out where I wouldn't care if sand happened to end up outside the sandbox.
I was putting the finishing touches on the garden, the children were nicely playing in the sandbox, I'd asked Rob to go get the hose so we could water our newly planted items.
I heard him holler out and asked "What happened?"
My husband is the clumsy type and can fall UPstairs, so I'm used to the hearing him knock something.
It had been quiet for a bit and still no hose. I peeked around the side of the house and he was laying under the deck holding his arm.
Panic set in and I was thinking about 50 things at once. HewashurtmustgototheemergencyroomwhatdoIdowiththekidscallhisparentsthedogsclosethegates.
Just everything...and he wasn't talking to me. I heard something about dislocated and pass out.
Not good.
His parents were on the golf course and our neighbors were about to leave, I took the kids with us. 4:30PM.
The ER wasn't too bad. Busy wise there were a few others there. I figured broken something would get you in faster then a most things. I DID ask about swine flu. YES I DID. I was assured nobody had come in with it.
At 5:25PM I remembered the dogs were in the yard and I had told Butter to cover the sandbox and close the gate. Well, that was in a mad rush to get Rob to the hospital and I wasn't sure if the dogs got loose. I decided to go home and check. On the way, Rob's parents called and said they were on their way it would be "awhile". I wasn't sure what that meant but all I could think was, Sh*t I hope the dogs didn't get out. Ours, Piper, would most likely stay near home, but we had Jackie, the jack russell of Rob's parents, and SHE liked to run away. The gates were closed and latched and I praised Butter for that. (that she was able to concentrate on her tasks.)
I decided I better feed the kids something because I didn't know how long it would take.
Tonya and Gary showed up at 6PM and I went back to the hospital. Rob was in a room now and had gotten xrays. We were now waiting on the Doctor to come back and tell us what next.
6:35PM A Doctor came in and explained it was dislocated and they have to "pop" it back into place. Explained the procedure and said we'd be ready shortly. The nurse came in and gave Rob an IV and some pain meds.
7PM the nurse came back and was about to wheel Rob into the other room for his procedure. Over the intercom we heard "Critical arriving..."
There went "shortly".
They didn't come back until 8PM to get Rob.
At 8:15PM the Nurse brought me Rob's things. (Hat, glasses, watch and ring.) He NEVER takes off his ring. I hit a wall then. I started remembering what the procedure was and the drugs they'd give him to knock him out, how they'd have staff in there if he stopped breathing...
Yeah, feeling his ring on my finger and remembering the stuff about stopping breathing freaked me out. I don't like hospitals. Who does really? The Nurse also said they hadn't started yet, but when they did it would take 15-20 minutes.
At 8:30PM I didn't know if they had started or not, but the room behind us had a screaming child in it.
SCREAMING child. I peeked out and heard the hub bub, french fries up the nose, needing more help with restraining.
That did NOT help my fried nerves, having to listen to that screaming non-stop. It last until 9:45PM
Rob was brought back at 8:40PM, there was joking about how they were going to cut his shirt off...the Nurse was a Nebraska fan and Rob was wearing his Florida Gators Champion t-shirt.
I loved his Nurse. Scott. He was so nice and calming and answered all my questions, checked in often and ALWAYS apologized for the wait.
Rob needed another xray before we could go. The Doctor needed to speak with us about the xrays and what to follow up with. Then the "new" nurse needed to bring in the release papers.
We didn't get out of there until 10PM. As we were leaving we saw "french frie" and mother outside. Mother was smoking and French Frie was running around the parking lot, with no shoes on. It made me very very angry.
I was far too exhausted to say something.
Rob is tough. He was relaxed and calm through out the ordeal, he kept saying stuff like "This is nothing, when I broke my hand they had to re-break it..."
"This is nothing when I broke my leg..."
"I remember when I broke my other arm..."
I finally told him to shut up I couldn't take anymore "when I" stories.
We did have a moment when he was trying to adjust himself into a comfortable sitting position and his shorts rode up, he asked if I'd pull them down a bit, I looked at him and said "Oh, sure and someone will walk in and think something is going on."
He smiled his sly grin and said "Well, how else am I suppose to forget I'm in pain."
Yeah, nice. I don't THINK so mister!
He just left for work after I don't know HOW he showered...
He has to follow up on Friday with an Orthopedic something or other.
When he got up today Butter had written on a piece of paper "My Daddy has a kast."
I'm exhausted just reliving it!

9 comments:

  1. What a day! My hubby had this happen a few years ago and it was bad enough without all the extras you had thrown in. Hope he heals fast!

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  2. What a crazy weekend! Oh my! I'm so glad every thing turned out okay - as okay as can be expected. I understand your stress. With little ones and responsibilities it makes it all hard to handle. You did great!

    Hoping he heals quickly.

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  3. Oh Sugar! Now I know who to send my sister in laws to! I have a few VERY accident prone brothers! Prayers for you all!

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  4. That sounds HECTIC! And your man sounds tough! How is he not bionic already, what with all the broken bones!

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  5. How did he do it? I am trying to picture how you dislocate your shoulder getting a hose!!!

    wow, hoping you can rest a bit today!!!

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  6. Oh my word! So much chaos, poor thing. I totally feel for you - I hate the ER and the eternal wait that is inevitable.

    I sure hope he gets better quickly!

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  7. Wow, Sara. ROUGH day. I hope you're all feeling better now!

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  8. Holy Smokes, Sara! How did I miss this post?!?

    SO glad that everything turned out ok. How scary!!! I would've flipped. Hoping your hubby is all better soon.

    The "how else am I supposed to forget about my pain" line had me rollin'. ;-)

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  9. man, being in the er with your man is awfully sobering isn't it? they cut my guy's u of o shirt off too btw! but in the end, wow sara...i'm glad to hear this ended well. it is hard to grasp what life would be like w/o our men!

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