Michelle fell, dislocated elbow, etc.
Michelle fell, dislocated elbow, etc.
busy weekend..
Michelle fell on Thursday (she told me this morning that she had a momentary “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”) while preparing to leave the house. She fell on the glass coffee table, dislocating her elbow. I’ve never dislocated anything, and based on seeing Michelle, I hope I never do. She found new definitions of what “10” pain levels are (“worse than childbirth, worse than migraines’).
She called me at work, I grabbed the nearest co-worker and got a ride home. We pulled into the driveway just as the paramedics were leaving, driving slower on my driveway than I think I’ve ever seen anyone do. After finding out where they were taking her (Good Samaritan Exempla hospital on US-287 north of Dillon), I followed in the car.
On the way to the hospital, I had the presence of mind to make several phone calls. The first was to Diarmid cuz i knew she had a rehearsal that night, and that they would need to find a plan B for Saturday. Next, I called her chirpractor/actupuncturist and got her an appointment for the next afternoon. (This turned out to be one of the best things I did). Called her daughter, Cari, and asked Cari to spread the word to the rest of the kids. (delegation.. )
When I got to the hospital, they had her in the ER already (I didn’t drive as fast as the ambulance.. once they had her on the way, I sorta chilled a little) But they wouldn’t give her more or better pain killers. They gave her Fentanyl, which took about 10 minutes to come on, and about 2 to wear off.. not very helpful. When they brought a portable x-ray to look at her, and started twisting her arm around all kinds of weird ways, I wanted to slug the x-ray tech. I’ve never wanted to hit a healthprofessional before..
The X ray showed that she had a dislocated elbow. Very gnarly, the whole join was out by an inch or so..
They knocked her out for, like, 5 minutes with this stuff called Antonyl, then two doctors on her forearm and a couple nurses/orderlies on her shoulder had a tug of war to get her arm pulled back into position.
Michelle’s doing ok, wearing a sling and ace bandages over a splint. It’s been a little rough on me because there are a lot of things that Michelle can’t do. I took Friday off from work. I got a bunch of movies for her to watch, but today (monday) she’s hanging out in town with Molly and Kara. She’ll be seeing an orthopedist tomorrow. The ER doctor said that this might take a while, and some physical therapy, to heal.