...Teri's bad day...

I got up at 3:00 a.m. to take Petula to the airport. I got home in time to run Bryony to school then rush home and get Jill up and ready for school. My sister Teri took Jill to school and went to the vet to pick something up for me while I stayed home and answered emails. I was sleep deprived and unnecessarily cranky with a couple of people (Sorry Jan and Rachel). I need to be more careful and try not to be so sensitive.

When I was finished answering emails, Teri picked me up. We went to the post office so I could mail Doodle stuff, then we gassed up and drove a couple of hours to my Dad's house. Teri drove so I could do Doodle work. I ordered supplies ($510.00) and worked on organizing my folder. We had a wonderful visit with my father and his wife. We ate, then played dominos, and then went down by the pond. I don't know what Teri was thinking but she was barefoot while we were picking pears. She stepped on a pear that was full of bees. When she was sitting down picking a stinger out of her toe a tiny frog hopped up her pants leg. She jumped up to shake it out, then she sat down in what appeared to be dog poo. Turned out to just be a little pile of mud. Thank goodness, poor Teri.

Teri's truck is broken so Daddy let her take his Tracker home. It is really cute, only has 40,000 miles, and is in great condition. He only used to to drive around on his farm. She lead the way back to the highway. We stopped right before getting on the highway so I could gas up. When I was ready to leave I didn't see Teri or the Tracker so figured she had already left. After driving for a few minutes I got a call on my cell. My heart sank. It was some guy I didn't know and as soon as he said he was calling for Teri I knew something was terribly wrong. She had had an accident and he said the Tracker was totaled. I drove and drove but didn't see her. There was no way I would be able to miss an accident by the side of the road. I called him back and somehow she ended up behind me. I turned around and it seemed like the longest drive in my life trying to hurry back to where she was. It was about 1/2 hour before I got back. Wow, both northbound lanes were blocked off and traffic was backed up as far as I could see. I whipped over and parked on the shoulder of the southbound lane and ran accross the highway. It was terribly dramatic. There was a huge fire truck and police cars with the lights flashing. I was running and running (these Crocs are wonderful shoes but not good for running) and as soon as I was about 100 yards away the police and everybody pulled away and left. man...I don't say swear words, but if I did I would have said a couple then. I walked back to my van and had to drive to the next exit (taking me back to the station from where we started) to get directions to the hospital. The chick working there was so sweet and even drew a map for me. That is good since I can't even find my way out of a shoe box. So, I went back to the correct exit, over the railroad tracks, over the big fancy red bridge (I love getting directions from other women, they are understandable) then...oops, I got lost. Oh well, Columbus isn't very big, I drove around until I found the hospital. So, I finally found her, saw she wasn't hooked up to life support, no bones were sticking out of her body, and she wasn't going to die from this. Whew! then I quickly became appalled at her treatment, or lack thereof. Now I am not an ER nurse and I don't play one on TV. I'm a floor nurse. I understand ER nurses don't always have time for all the little details, but come on, this was shabby care. There was nothing else going one in there, no big emergencies, they weren't busy. I receive about three or four advertisements a week from places trying to recruit me to work for them. This particular hospital is rated as a great place for nurses to work. Now I know why, they don't have to give excellent care. Anyway, Teri did total the Tracker. Her body even bent up the steering wheel. Her neck and back were hurt and she has a history of back troubles. The paramedics were very careful to keep her spine in alignment. As soon as they left her in the ER, the nurses took off the neck brace and had her move this way and that. She let them know how much she was hurting. She even had bumps and scrapes, and could see where she was going to bruise on her face, head, hands, arms, legs, and abdomin where her seatbelt was. Thank goodness she was wearing a seat belt. She had bits of broken glass all over her. Yet they had her move around before they did x-rays. That is a very basic no-no. When I finally got there she was thankfully lying flat on her back. The nurse came in to give her a pain pill and asked if she could sit up to take it. uh no I thought they should x-ray her right hand because it was already bruising, swollen, and was starting to look bad. She is an artest and is right handed. Yet, my concerns were completely dismissed. The nurse person just said "Ah, it'll be fine". When they did the x-rays (of her neck and back only) they had her get up and move all around. She was not only hurting, she was so afraid they doing more damage to her. Then we waited for the results. All this time they never cleaned her wounds, never put any ice on any of the swelling. Turns out thank goodness the x-rays were normal. By now the pain medication kicked in and she was feeling better (but still hurting). I pointed out the bump on her forhead and the reddness on her nose and swelling on the side of her face. That was met with only a shrug. We showed them her swollen leg and foot that was also swollen and turning purple. Again, nothing was done. How are we to know it isn't broken. Her chest hurt, she had abrasions and beginning of bruises on her chest and abdonmin. How do we know her innerds aren't hurt. I told her next time she needs to wreck closer to Indianapolis so she can go to a real hospital and not have to go to a Band-Aide Station. The doctor said he was going to have the nurse clean and dress the abrasions on Teri's hand. When the nurse came in I told him Teri has been dying to get up and wash her hands. He just handed her wash cloth that he had put only warm water on. He told her to wipe her hand. O.k., I figured he wanted her to do that before he properly cleaned it. Nope, he just slapped a band aide on one cut and put a 4x4 and tape on another one. No soap, no normal saline, no H2O2, no nothing. My goodness. Still no ice and they knew we had to drive a couple of hours to get home. So many little things really added up to a not very good impression of that hospital. Teri told me that when they were wheeling her back from the x-ray she wanted to pull the sheet up over her face but she chickened out. That would have been pretty funny.

When we left the hospital we went to the pharmacy store. It was really busy. The paramedics had cut Teri's shirt off so there she was walking around the store in a hospital gown. That was funny too. Man, but she wouldn't drive us home, I had to drive.