Accident

2-24-12


It felt like a movie.

I had the phone up to my ear and although the number indicated it was Ken, the man on the other line was not my husband. He proceeded to tell me my friend was there and that he had injured himself pretty badly. I struggled to keep the cheery smile on my face because as this terrifying news was being relayed to me, Dax was bounding up to me as his class was released.

I quickly got Ken’s whereabouts as I gestured to Dax to stay by my bike and their scooters while I sprinted up to retrieve Bobby. “Stay calm. Stay calm” is what went through my head a thousand times. I needed to get the boys to understand that we needed to quickly get home so that we could rush to his side. I also needed to keep them from freaking out.

I had the forethought to grab pencils, crayons and the boys’ homework before we ran out to the car. I had no idea how long we would be in the hospital, so I might as well keep the boys busy.

As I navigated the gobs of traffic, I got the notification on my phone that I had voicemails. I was annoyed since I would have rather been able to answer the call. Stupid fucking phone. Two calls were Ken, both incoherent and not helpful in the least in calming my nerves. Aaron had left a message, too, which said Ken was in route to the hospital. My destination had now changed from Ken rescue to getting to the hospital before they had to inject my needle-phobic husband.

I pulled into Torrance Memorial where Ken was slumped on the ground in the parking structure, having just arrived via a Good Samaritan. Thank goodness the peeps at Torrance Memorial decided to put in ER valet parking!! Holy fuck that was a brilliant idea. They were also incredibly sweet and understanding at my rushed demeanor as I gathered the children and rushed over to Ken who was just being put into a wheelchair.

Ken looked rough. He was writing in pain, pale and covered in numerous scrapes and bruises. His right sock was soaked in blood and you could see that it had originated from the bandaged area on his shin. His calf even looked a little swollen.

I checked him in and we went to sit in the waiting room, a hell for anyone who is in agony.

Dax got spooked. He broke out into a cold sweat and he considered throwing up in the trash can. I quickly entertained Bobby with my iTouch, settled Ken in and rushed Dax to the bathroom. He had on two shirts, so I quickly removed one to cool him off. He used the restroom and I cooled him off with some damp paper towels. Thankfully after only a bit of crying, he calmed down enough for us to go back to the others. I handed him the iPad and tended to Ken’s needs.

His pain came in sharp, constant waves. He couldn’t get comfortable and then resorted to lying on the floor with his leg propped up. His actions I think prompted the staff to up his triage standing. His blood pressure was quite low, and the wound looked gross. We were in the waiting area and triage for about 45 minutes.

They took us to another area that was I guess for the quicker treatment. It was basically for overflow and for younger folks that didn’t need things like an EKG or things like that. We got to be in a room which allowed me to set the boys up with homework while Ken met with the doctor.

They removed Ken’s bandages and told him they would need to flush it out. They were going to inject him with Novocain. I think I actually heard the increase in Ken’s heart beat when he saw the needle they brought in. I actually had him grip my arms so that he could stay still and be calm enough for it to happen. He was so panicked that he actually freaked out several times BEFORE they even jabbed him.

I watched them inject it. It looked painful. But they got it done with me sustaining minimal injuries while Ken was gripping my arm.

The flushing was cool looking. They had these splash guards on the syringe that were just amazing. Simple features, yet their simplicity is what I think was so fascinating.

The slice went down to his bone. It also had knicked pieces of his muscle. It was pretty cool. It looked so fake! The bright pink flesh all puffy and clean with pooling blood from time to time; it all was just so surreal.

Dax wanted to see, and he laughed at it. His shock must not have been so much blood based as it was just seeing his father reduced to a crumpled mess. Bobby, however, was less disturbed at Ken’s weakness. He was horrified at the gash. He went up to look, at first excited to see it, but then once the visual was in his little brain, the circuits went haywire. You could seem him starting to freak out, so I quickly scooped him up and rushed him out of the room. Ken didn’t even see us go. Poor kid burst into tears and was shaking. I calmed him down and explained that his reaction was super normal. This did seem to help. Dax came out and we all talked about it a bit and it was understood that Daddy was ok, his wound, although kinda gross, was fixable, and that all of our reactions were totally ok.

Ken got stitched up with 7 large stitches. It was cool to watch, although I was mostly distracted trying to keep the still woozy Bobby on task with finishing homework and keeping Dax entertained by putting the multiple drawings he was doing for me in my pocket. I was the multi-tasking Mama!

They also decided to get some x-rays on his leg. Since it still was not clear on what exactly cut him, they wanted to make sure there were no cracks or bone spurs floating around. They also prescribed him some super antibiotics to make sure no infection would take over. Thankfully, the X-Rays were negative and they hooked him up with Tylenol with Codeine and Ibuprofen.

Ken could walk, which is good, but he is still pretty fucked up. All night, although hopped up on narcotics, he whimpered in his restless sleep. He doesn’t remember this. I worry about him today.

On our way out of the hospital, we were treated to a cool event. The new hospital building was putting up its final beam. They had a whole ceremony going on, with donors and doctors and contractors watching from the parking structure. We were next to the beam, and got to watch them raise it up. They just happened to be doing this 3 minutes after we walked out of the ER! Very cool.

My stress filled afternoon was not over yet. We still had to get to Ralph’s to get Ken’s meds, go home to get the Halldale flyer for the fundraiser night at McDonald’s, go get said food, eat, and then Ken and I had an AYSO meeting!! I considered taking on of my few precious remaining Xanax, but opted against it and had some iced tea instead. Thank goodness that even though the AYSO meeting was mind numbingly boring and insanely long, I didn’t have to think much in it.

I find myself sitting at work now, still in stress overdrive. My house appears to be filled with more Lego than ever. I had planned on doing more cleaning of the place yesterday until the adventure began.

That being said, my understanding of what took place to cause the accident is still a little fuzzy in my head. Ken was riding his bike home from Dr. Weston’s when apparently the auto-shift feature failed. This caused Ken to flip the bike and he did a complete tumble in the middle of the street. Thankfully a nice bus driver and other random guy helped Ken stop the massive bleeding and it was the bus driver who actually phoned me. Ken said the pool of blood on the sidewalk was impressive. Sadly Ken was too out of it to take a pic. Perhaps a field trip is in order later.

I am going to leave work early today. I am thinking around 10. I was going to leave at noon, but if I leave a little earlier, I can do some of the last minute housework for tomorrow before I go get cupcakes for Bobby’s class. I think that I am going to leave Ken at home after school and take the boys to my folks’ where they can do the birthday boxes. This way Ken can rest. Then I will let Bobby pick dinner. We can pick it up and bring it home. Mellow birthday evening and then we can prep for the fun tomorrow.

In the morning, we will go to Target. They are doing a reading of the Lorax, which will be super fun. Plus, since the birthday party isn’t until 1:30, we have plenty of time. I want to go pick up some balloons, and I need to set up clues, and get some chips. My blog is becoming a shopping list!! I need to breathe!!!