the fallout (part 2)

thankfully, the neighbor's husband stayed with me until the ambulance arrived, and even said, oh, you're in luck, the EMTs are cute! when help arrived. and he wasn't wrong! the young and attractive paramedics came over to me and assessed my condition before helping me stand up and walk down a few remaining stairs to the stretcher. i was a little embarrased when i stood up and immediately realized my pants were going to fall off if i did not take a moment to adjust them. i think having my pants fall off would be the only thing that could have topped that scenario!

it's a pretty short ambulance ride to the hospital from my apartment, and the EMTs used that time to clean me up a bit, take my vitals, and stab my fingers a few times. he tried to take my blood sugar levels using some of the blood on my forehead, but for some reason that didn't work. so he drew some blood from my finger instead. but apparently all of my blood was busy rushing out my head and face, because he couldn't get enough blood out of my finger to test! i had to wiggle my arm a bit, but eventually he was able to run the test... which came up 0. i'm not hypoglycemic or diabetic, but we were both pretty sure my glucose level was not actually 0. so we had to go through the whole thing again using a different finger (yes, arm wiggling and all). eventually he got a number that was a bit more realistic - thank goodness!

we made it to the hospital (and the EMT even helped pull back my tangled, bloody hair), and i was wheeled into what would be my home for a few hours. the nurse told me that i could not use my cell phone until i saw the doctor, so i just sat there alone until he arrived. he stitched me up (and did an incredible job, i should add!) and told me that i would need and MRI to check my face for any fractures. When he was putting in the stitches (about a dozen!) and glue on my forehead, the doctor moved my call button - so when he left, i was stranded in the bed, hooked to a bunch of equipment, a bit dizzy, and out of the reach of my cell phone. the low point of this entire episode was definitely laying there alone for 45 minutes without being able to call anyone i care about, or even get ahold of the nurses for help. :(

eventually the nurse returned and she was able to rummage through my purse and give me my cell phone. (extra thanks to my neighbor for gathering all of my belongings which had been flung all helter skelter around the stairs outside my apartment) i was able to get ahold of the important people: the boyfriend, mom, my work (by this time i was over an hour late!) the next few hours involved a few MRI scans, the arrival of my boyfriend, and good news/bad news from the doctor - no brain damage, no facial fracture, but a slight nasal fracture. overall, i was SO LUCKY that the damage was not worse!

i asked my boyfriend if i would scare the small children in the waiting room as we left the hospital. his response? "there aren't any small children in the waiting room" not exactly the boost of confidence i was hoping for...