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Sunday, January 31, 2010

Nurse Jessica to the rescue

I've always prided myself on being fairly calm in emergency medical situations. I don't get queasy at the site of blood or vomit and I generally keep from crying or panicking if it doesn't involve a niece or nephew. My roommate, R, had surgery on her leg about a week and a half ago. She has been on crutches since. On Friday I took her to the doctor's office to have her stitches removed. The doctor said that she could walk if she was careful and could really shower. (I helped her take a shower once while sitting on a chair with her leg out of door. It was quite the process.) On Saturday I took her to the library and the grocery store. It tired her a little but her leg felt good. This morning we went to church. After Sacrament Meeting R was tired so I took her home. While walking into the kitchen, she felt something wet on her leg. Looking down, we saw blood dripping quickly down her leg. Her long incision had clearly opened. She was understandably alarmed and began to cry due to pain and fear. I ran to grab a towel, her purse, and quickly got her into my car. Off to the emergency room we went at a safe speed. All the while I told her that it would be ok and that there was nothing to fear. She was checked into a room (I asked if she could fill out the paperwork in a room so she wouldn't drip blood on the floor. They agreed.) The nurses cleaned her up and the doctor numbed her incision area, put seven stitches in, and gave her an Rx for an antibiotic. While they were working on her leg I did my best to clean the blood off her shoes while telling amusing stories about my own visits to the ER (fainting, getting a Q-Tip stuck in my ear, having a concussion, etc.) I called a friend and asked her to stop by our house and pick up R's crutches. We were then off to Wal-Mart to fill the Rx. By the time we got home three and half hours had passed. All in all it was an interesting Sunday afternoon.
As to my own life (since it's been a while since I've posted anything) I have had a cold that has lasted over a week. I am getting better but my weak immune system still hasn't recovered. Since I haven't been feeling well I haven't been very social during the past week. I missed church last week along with FHE, temple night, Sarah's dinner invitation, and my regular weekly dinner with a group of friends. This week will be a busy one at work but we will probably accomplish quite a bit. I am generally happy with my situation in life. I wish all of you a good night (or day depending on when you read this.)

1 comment:

Nana J said...

Given that cute Toyota you own, I would say that a nice ride to the E.R., without going too quickly, was a good thing.