November 21st was a lovely sunny day. No snow, no ice, it was not dark and yet I managed to get both feet into a plastic tie for bundles of newspapers while out for an easy lunch time run. I went down hard and I heard the crack! I was less than a mile from home. A women driving by stopped immediately and offered to help. I turned her down, determined to get home on my own power. After she left I tried to walk and made it to the next driveway before I had to stop but I did walk home, one driveway at a time. My kids were home and they immediately declared that I needed a hospital. I tried to trade down to a doctor but my doctor’s office sided with the kids and my son drove me to emergency.
I walked into the emergency room expecting a long wait. There was a sign by the door.” New process with shorter wait”. It was about 1 pm. I was sent to desk #1 where I was asked to explain why I was there. They sent me to the waiting area. I waited a while then I was called to desk # 2 where they filled out some papers and sent me to another room to wait. I waited there a while and they sent me to an examining room where I waited again. A doctor came and looked at my arm. He took one look and said you broke your elbow go to x-ray. So I went to x-ray and I waited, they took some x-rays and while I was waiting I looked at the monitor, even I could see that the end of my elbow was not attached to the rest of it!
The x-ray people sent me back to the previous waiting area where I waited again. A doctor came in and told me my elbow was broken which I was expecting but then he added something I was not ready for he told me I would need surgery to fix it. I was then told I would have to wait to talk to a surgeon. I had been at the hospital for about 3 ½ hours at this point and between the wait, the pain and the news I had had enough so I called my husband and told him where I was (he was a bit surprised to say the least).
You will not be surprised to hear that I then waited 1 ½ hours to see a surgeon. While I was waiting they put in an IV and told me not to eat or drink. It was past 6 when I met the surgeon who informed me it was unlikely they could get me into the OR tonight. At that point they put my arm in a cast and sent me home but not before a nurse chased me down while I was waiting for my drive because they forgot to take the IV out.
After 6 hours at the hospital I concluded that the new process is not really any faster but if they move you around the hospital every hour or so it does help to pass the day! To their credit everyone was very nice and helpful.
After he got me set up at home my husband went out with my son and hunted down the plastic cord that brought me down. When we returned he asked me if I knew where I fell? He pointed out that I fell on “Tripp” Crescent!
Racing and Traveling over 50. 