October 01, 2007

A funny thing happened on the way to a wedding . . .

So, if you read the last post, you know that my dad was in a pretty scary motorcycle accident on Saturday. He is pretty banged up and will be mending for many weeks to come. On the whole it could have been much worse. Had he been speeding, or even going more than the 30 mph he was going, he may not have been here today.

As it is he had a traumatic head injury (though not a serious one), lost a lot of blood, broke his collarbone and possibly his hip and also is littered with road rash and other bruises.

He was less than 1/2 mile from home.

So, I'm going to give you lessons from this accident, bear with me:

1. Please wear a helmet. As a first responder, I can tell you that we call motorcycles "donorcycles" and for obvious reasons we call helmets "brain buckets." I love bikes, I'm not campaigning here.

2. Be aware of your surroundings. Motorcycles are everywhere and you cannot always see them clearly. Be sure you are aware if one is near you.

3. Don't joke about not wanting to go to a wedding (which was what my dad had done . . . he got out of it, that is for sure.)

4. When riding in a helicopter to a trauma center - they won't let you look out the window, so don't ask repeatedly! (smile).

I cannot tell you how friendly and efficient they were at the trauma center. Aside from the fact that no one cleaned up my bloodied father, but rather sent him home covered with dirt and caked on blood - they were great.

The only problem was: my mom, or rather, her poor language skills. She doesn't speak English very well. Consequently, she asks many questions. Add to that the fact she was freaking out cause it was my dad, oh, and let's throw in the fact that my sister was two cars back when it happened and was still freaking out at the hospital. Essentially? pandemonium. As it is, Healthcare workers tend to get a little annoyed with the number of questions she asks.

So, my mom asks me questions to ask the staff, and they try to answer her questions while I try to ask it in plain English. It was a cluster. I think they sorta rushed us out of the hospital early so as not to have to deal with further questions. They didn't even have him stay overnight, though he probably should have. All in all, it was an interesting Saturday.

My observations of the hospital - besides their friendliness and efficiency? The surgeon was a bit flighty, sorta Izzy on Grey's Anatomy. The nurse was a cute 23 year old who was thinking of getting a bike - my dad told her that her face was too pretty to mess up on a bike. The PA was a pain junkie . . .

Anyway, they say all's well that ends well. He is alive. That counts for a lot.

Thanks for the good wishes and prayers they are very much appreciated.

Posted by Oddybobo at October 1, 2007 10:15 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Holy Moses...prayers said.

Posted by: armywifetoddlermom at October 1, 2007 11:15 AM

I'm glad he's okay. I'll be thinking happy thoughts.

Posted by: wRitErsbLock at October 1, 2007 12:07 PM

Wow. Sounds like a rough weekend.

Posted by: vw bug at October 1, 2007 12:37 PM

Glad to hear it's not as bad as could have been! Wishing your Dad a speedy recovery and good pain meds!

Posted by: caltechgirl at October 1, 2007 01:43 PM

Holy crap!

Glad he's okay.

Wishing him a very quick recovery.

Posted by: Christina at October 1, 2007 04:01 PM

I hope he gets well soon.

Posted by: Catfish at October 1, 2007 04:04 PM

All y'all will be in my prayers. Here's hoping he heals up fast!!

Posted by: Richmond at October 2, 2007 07:30 AM

I've asked the Maker to watch out for him.

He was lucky...

Joss...

Posted by: Sam at October 2, 2007 08:48 AM

I wrote an entire comment the other day - only to find out that someone had blacklisted brackets yet again and so all was gone... Poof! *sigh*

Anyhow, let me try again now that I have a few minutes and see if I can remember what I said for the most part.

First of all, since I used to be a nurse, I know there are nurses out there who either feel like it's 1)too annoying to have to explain stuff to families or 2) the families are questioning their abilities as a nurse. ARG!!!

This drives me nuts. In an emergency (and even just in a hospital setting) people are under lots of stress to begin with - so naturally they have LOTS of questions and they don't always "get it" the first time they hear it. I used to work in NICU - I spent as much time as possible explaining things to stunned parents. Answering their questions, trying to give them the information they needed. I knew other nurses who would bitch about how the family didn't think they knew their job. (no I didn't kill them - but it was a close run thing. *sigh*)

As for schlepping your father out quickly. That is an insurance issue - not because your family was a little over the top upset. Now days, insurance runs everything. People can only stay in the hospital under certain specific conditions - foremost being... do they need Intravenous medication... if not - they're out. A while back my father had an aneurysm split... it nearly killed him. After the surgery they had him in and out of ICU every 2 days for 3 weeks!!! When he left ICU they'd ship him to the nursing home... then his blood counts would drop and they'd ship him back to the ICU. ARG!!! Think how much time and money would have been saved if they could have kept him in the hospital until he was really stable.

I hope your dad is doing better. Be rather diligent on the head injury front - it sometimes takes up to a month for a head injury to show with other symptoms.

Posted by: Teresa at October 3, 2007 12:36 PM

I hope your dad gets well soon.

Posted by: Dash at October 5, 2007 03:53 PM

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