So I'm just getting started with making dinner and hubby is opening a box to make another piece of my new furniture. He's got scissors wide open and slips and the scissors go sliding into his left arm. He comes running to the kitchen sink.. (where the dirty water comes out!!!!) I tell him to stop running it under water, I don't know if he's hit an artery or not. I grab the cayenne pepper and a clean cloth and pour the cayenne pepper on the cut and the we put firm pressure on the cloth. He's sitting on the stairs, and I keep asking him how he is feeling.. and I can see he's going green. He says his tummy is starting to feel funny.
Now 5-6 years ago, I had a miscarriage. Stuart was standing next to me holding my hand, and he got this look on his face. My other arm is being held by the DR as he attempts again to put an IV in.. and Stuart passed out. I tried in vain to stop him from hitting the floor.. he didn't hit with a terrible thud because I held on to him, but he went down!
So, here I am at 39 weeks pregnant, and I'm anticipating him passing out again. There's no way I could lift him, he's about 220 lbs. I didn't know if he had hit an artery or not, so I asked him if he wanted me to call 911.. he agreed - and I left Rourke to help him. As I walked to the phone, I said to Rourke, watch out that he doesn't fall over.. and just then, BOOM down he went. He has a lovely cut on his forehead which Janney put a bandaid on, and another cut on his knee which Janney also put a bandaid on.
So I call 911, and I'm very frustrated because they have to ASK where I'm calling from, and I don't have an address, so I have to give them directions to my house (stupid, they have my land location.. they should know where I am!! All the land here is divided into squares.. the roads are straight - one road every mile east to west, one road every 2 miles north to south.) So she's asking me all kinds of questions.. Is he conscious, is he breathing, tell him to lie still, watch him carefully, if he looks like he's going to throw up, turn him on his side.. Then she says, can you lock away any pets. UMM?/ How can I lock away the pets if I'm not supposed to leave him? She says to leave my son Rourke with him, and go lock the dogs away. Well that's easier said than done, they're outdoor dogs. She wants me to bring them into the house and lock them in a room.. Ever tried to make a 140lb great dane come into a house that she knows she's not allowed into? So I go outside, I can't even find Iona (the Dane) and HarKelev the burmese mountain dog is there at the front door. I try to get HarKelev into the garage, but again, she doesn't normally do this, she's not allowed, so she's not complying with my strange request. Finally, I half pick her up and shove her in, and lock the door behind her - AND PULL THE LIGAMENT at my pubic symphisis again! GREAT. Now I'm hobbling back to the house.. and HarKelev pushes her way out the garage door where the car would go in! Great. Then I remember there's a collar and rope tied to the tree, I call her over to the tree and tie her up (neither of the dogs wear collars normally, so that's another thing about trying to get them to comply, there's no collar to grab!)
I go back into the house, in pain.. and wait for the ambulance. They arrive and I ushered them in. By this time, Stuart was really wanting to sit up, and the bleeding had stopped. They took him to the table and I told them about the cayenne. They looked at me a little strange. I told them it stops the bleeding. They said they had to irrigate it (fancy term for wash off that terrible cayenne pepper!) and so we all went to the ambulance, they washed him off, and said he didn't need stitches, that it was just a puncture of the skin, but maybe he needed a tetanus shot. Stuart said he'd had a tetanus shot since living here - we've been here 8 years.. so he didn't want to go to the hospital.
The problem is though, if we hadn't gone to the hospital, they would have had to charge us a $250 service charge for coming out, but insurance wouldn't pay it. If we transported to the hospital, the fee would be greater, but the insurance would cover it.. sigh. We decided to go. The nurse practitioner took a quick look at him and assessed that he wasn't an emergency and then went off to see the other patience. We waited and waited.. and the kids were hungry (remember, I was just starting to make dinner when this chaos started) and Asher was running around.. sigh. So finally I grab a nurse and ask her if it's really necessary for us to stay. She offers us an AMA form - AMEN Thank God for AMA forms! We signed, we left, the insurance will pay for the visit.. all is well - we just lost a good 90 minutes of our time.
So, we're home, I've made dinner, Stuart's glasses need adjusting (when he fell from the stairs, he landed on his face, his glasses got smooched out of shape.) I put some arnica on the area around the wound because it was starting to swell.
I wish I hadn't called, it would have saved us a good 70 minutes, but in my condition, I couldn't pick him up by myself if he had needed help when he passed out.
And another funny thing. You know that saying, make sure you're wearing clean underpants in case you're ever in an accident.... well clean underpants was the only thing on Asher that was clean. He had been running around with just a t-shirt on all day, and it's VERY muddy here.. he's black from head to toe.. but when I was waiting for the ambulance, I threw some undies on him - for modesty reasons. When they said we had to go to hospital, I just threw everyone in the car as is.... Asher had no shoes on.. clean panties, dirty shirt and dirt like Pigpen from Charlie Brown comics.
I'm so glad to hear that your husband is okay and it wasn't as serious as it could have been! That's to bad about the hospital visit, it's never fun to sit in the ER :(
I had to laugh about the clean underwear thing, my kids would have fit right in today. They made a dirt slide out in the backyard today and they had hug brown streaks from head to toe on both their front and backsides. LOL. You should have seen the tub after bath time!
Thinking of all of you,
Rosina
Oh, my. We've made a trip to the ER for essentially the same reason (that I couldn't have lifted hubby if he passed out). But we didn't have any children yet to add to the complication of the thing.
I'm glad you're a bit more settled now, and that your hubby is okay!
Header Banner photo of wild oats taken by Trent. background wallpaper is my concept, but Trent's technical abilities.~~~~
I am Sombra, and these are the stories from our house. We're a Messianic family where academics often take a back seat to the work and adventure of life.
Posted by Anonymous 
Jul. 14, 2008 - Untitled Comment
I had to laugh about the clean underwear thing, my kids would have fit right in today. They made a dirt slide out in the backyard today and they had hug brown streaks from head to toe on both their front and backsides. LOL. You should have seen the tub after bath time!
Thinking of all of you,
Rosina