going to the hospital

Sept. 4th, 2013 after being hit

the EMT people(I think there were 4 of them) from the ambulance(s) seemed to descend on me at the scene, and I was ready to surrender to their help...they were there quick(I think they only had to come from around the corner, just a little farther north up Dubuque St.).

..they were very concerned about my neck and spine, and had lots of questions for me to test my mental state....I tried to answer everything clearly, and be a good patient....I still had my helmet on, and had put my phone back in my left front pants pocket(I only had time to take the one picture, they were there that fast) but soon they gently helped me out of my jacket...I told them I had important papers in that jacket(the title to this new motorcycle)

one of the worst things I had to do was take my wedding ring off, the EMTs told me I had to or they might cut it off in the hospital....I told them: "but I've never taken it off since my Wife put in on my finger at our wedding, just a few months ago"...I took it off carefully sliding it over wounds with pieces of skin hanging lose from that finger, and put it in the little watch pocket of my jeans ... it made me very sad...(at the hospital they took it out of my pants and put it in a plastic jar, but when they gave me the ring back, it was covered in blood and had deep scratches in it....also everything else in my pockets was damaged, except for my phone as I have a metal case that it is protected by)

...examining my back, neck, arms, and chest better now without the jacket on, they were also listening to my heart and breathing with a stethoscope....I had told them my chest hurt, but really the worst was my jaw and how the car had run over my head....I said: "I think I can take my helmet off" and they kind of hesitated on that, but I started unbuckling the chin strap anyway...it felt like a few of them were holding on to my head/helmet to steady it, and I said: "let me take my glasses off first" and pulled them off my face thru the visor opening(I think one of the EMTs took my glasses and put them with/in my jacket)...I pushed up on the bottom of the helmet edge and they slowly guided it off my head...then they immediately put a huge neck brace on me...but it felt good to have my head back out into the sun and air; as after having my head squished so badly, it was getting claustrophobic inside the helmet

they had me lay back on the grass slope that went up into the parking lot, and put a board under my back....they wanted to slide me up onto the board more, and they asked if I could push up with my legs if I thought I could help...I said "sure, I'll help" and they counted to three...but when I started pushing with my legs, I arched my back up so my butt was out of the grass and my back could slide easily on the smooth finish of the board....they said: "no, don't arch your back"...I said: "oh, sorry" and used my legs to scooch  back down the board, I wanted to be a good patient and do it right starting over...I said: "ok, I'll try again"... one of them laughed a little, and then they just grabbed me and pulled me all the way up on the board

in the ambulance I told the EMT lady with the long silver hair(the person in the photo I took) that the guy that hit me must of thought he was on a two-way street when he turned from the right-hand(wrong) lane in front of me...and asked her if my helmet and jacket were coming with me now, or if they were left with the bike...she said that they were in the ambulance back there with me....she called to the hospital that we were coming, and started to describe me, my condition, and  what she saw could of happened at the scene....she said I had been on a motorcycle and was hit by a car, then had slid in the center of the street for 10 feet, then dragged by the car until my head was run over...and described me as 30 to 40 years old, I interrupted her and said: "I'm almost 50" and she repeated that on the radio(or whatever they use to call stuff in on these days)

when the accident was happening, time had slowed way down and I was aware of everything going on; now it was like everything was happening really fast, I couldn't keep track of everything, and time was flying by...almost as if I was watching live TV with a DVR, had used the slow motion feature, and then had to fast forward a bunch to catch back up to real time

the ambulance driver helped pull the gurney I was on out and push it in to the hospital, I thanked him for the ride...the lady that rode in the back with me also went in, I also thanked her, and added: "I hope I never have to see you again"....she had me sign a paper; it being the only thing I've signed to date so far, since I signed to get the new title on the bike

the doctors seemed really concerned about my internal organs, and of course the neck and spine ... they cut all my clothes off...I couldn't see my body at all, or what they were doing, as I had the big neck brace on, and could only look straight up; but they spent a long time using a sonogram on me(and I wish I could have seen the monitor)....they switched the neck brace to a smaller more comfortable one, as I lay there in just my underwear(yes Mom, they were clean)
...they did all kinds of x-rays and stuff, even stuck me into the big doughnut looking machine(it took some cool pictures of my head that I got copies of, I'll try to make an animated .gif of them and post it here)

they asked me if I wanted anything for the pain, and I started to describe how it felt like a tooth root canal(I've had one done) or a migraine headache was happening in my face and jaw, and that yes, I'd like something...the nurse said: "ok, I gave you something when you started talking, I'll give you more in a little bit"....but I didn't feel any change, so I asked him for something more after a few minutes, and I still didn't feel any effects
...only much later(about 3 hours since I'd been there) when I finally got my Wife on the phone, did I feel a nice warm rush travel thru my body from head to toe...it was like a little roller-coaster ride, but it still didn't change the extreme pain I felt in my jaw and face

finally they came in and said my jaw wasn't broken, and I asked: "then why does it hurt so much?"
...the doctor left the room, and then shortly came back and said: "your cheek bone is fractured", but that it was so "minimally displaced" that they would not have to do surgery

they never did anything about my hands, except one doctor/nurse said something about how they could see right where the sleeves of my jacket ended, and that I was very lucky to have it on...in person you can see how ripped up and scuffed it is, all over the front and arms...it had to hold up much better than my skin...but it's frightening to look at, as my whole torso and arms would have been as bad as my hands in larger areas had I not had it on...the jacket(which was new this summer, and only used a few times) is ruined, but a lot more of my skin is still intact

here is a picture I took of my jacket there in the hospital when they gave it back to me before I left....in this photo it looks better then when you see it in person, as there are many more rips and places where the protective mesh are ground away than you can see in this shot

when my Wife showed up, she asked why my wounds hadn't been cleaned or dressed and that I was still bleeding...she noted that I had blood on the side and back of my right leg thigh, but I said I thought that was just from my hands....a week later I was still complaining about something not right on the side/back of my right thigh(where I couldn't see it) and we looked at the pants I was wearing and found a cut in them where the wound was...I told her it felt like something was still in there, and talked her into(she really didn't want to do it) digging three pieces of glass out of my leg

before leaving the hospital...my Wife had the nurse clean and bandage my hands and left knee....he did this by pouring a bottle of hydrogen-peroxide first into the wound on my knee...wow, that was really painful(I thought I was being a good stoic patient up to that point) ...I was screaming and grunting, couldn't breath, and held on tight to the bed rails, just kinda shaking ....then water(he said: "this is just water" but it was still a shock), last laid gauze into the wound then wrapped it
...he still had to do this to each of my hands, and I timidly had to let him

my Wife took some pictures:

the different colors vary depending on how much skin is gone, some spots there is none left

I have lots of hair on my legs, not all of it was rubbed off and is still in my wound

after about 5 hours they said I should go home, that they couldn't put a cast or anything on my face, and I should not try to move my jaw or eat anything...warning me that if  I had any strange headaches or sinus pain, blood in my nose or ears, trouble seeing, or a salty taste in my mouth; that I should not waste any time and come right back in there...they gave me a prescription for some pain pills...and when I got home I took two of those right away, which gave me the first slight relief from the huge pain I had in my face and jaw since it was crushed under the white car's tire

...I was getting dressed and complaining about the shirt my Wife brought me to wear home, the Doctors/aids/students/nurses finished up in the room, as they all left the last thing that one of the them said to me was: "we are glad that you are alive"...this was a little funny or strange at first, then all the air in the room seemed to stop moving, the little lighthearted quirky things I'd said fell away; and my mind jumped back to that dark moment when my head was underneath the white car being run over, I swallowed hard and said: "oh"