Saturday I was playing tennis on the red clay tennis courts where I work. Let's just say red clay used to be my favorite surface! I was going to hit a backhand on the run and I lost my footing. My foot slipped out from under me and my knee buckled. It was in blinding pain and I heard some cracks and pops and I looked down to see my knee on the ground and my shin laying at a 90 degree angle to the side. I hopped up really quick and scooted to the back fence and it kind of popped back in. One of the coaches came over and helped me up to a bench and had me try to straighten my leg which popped it all the way back in. So I definitely dislocated it at this point and I was still in a little pain. My buddy and one of the kids helped me into the clubhouse and my friend called the ambulance.
I didn't want the ambulance at first but after it was called and arrived they splinted my leg and did a pretty good job convincing me that I did. Fortunately I could hear my wife in my head talking me out of it and so I declined the ambulance but got a free splint out of the deal. My buddy was nice enough to let me lay in his back seat and he drove me to the hospital.
The hospital was a trip! It was fairly ghetto and my injuries were less than life threatening. They basically wheeled me into a hallway in front of a medicine cart which I kept having to move out of the way of so nurses could get stuff out. They all kept giving me these looks like I was such a inconvenience, like I put myself there, but whatever. They took X-rays which of course told them nothing and gave me some drugs and a referral.
Probably the most ridiculous thing at the hospital were the other patients. They kind of had us all jammed together in this hallway with two beds. They pulled the sheet closed for "privacy" but it was a joke. The first patient we saw was already in a bed when they wheeled me in. He had cut his hand and there was a lot of blood so I guess he "won" a bed. They closed the curtain and had this guy who was there with his sick daughter translate to this guy that they were going to cut off his finger. I was like holy crap, I just heard that. The next patient was this guy and his two friends. Not to judge on the spot but he was definitely of the white trash persuasion. The whole time they were in the hallway they were talking about how he was so lucky he gets to miss a couple weeks of work and wake and bake every day. Awesome. There was also this really nice girl from UMD who had sprained an ankle pretty bad. While she was waiting for an x-ray they wheeled her in front of the other supply cart in the joint injury wing of the hallway with me. While we were talking they came back and told her that her bones were not broken and that they were going to give her a brace and some crutches. This crazy nurse come over and was looking at her ankle and then "jokingly" started shaking the girls foot saying "does that hurt?" I was like, no way. I'm looking at the girl who was terrified and in pain and nurse is laughing and saying "just kidding." Surreal for sure, I asked the girl if she was ok and I think we were all a little stunned as the nurse walked away laughing to get the crutches. If she had come anywhere near my knee I think Mahsa would have knocked out her teeth. The last lady I never actually saw but I heard every word of her conversation. It was obvious that she had a foot infection. The nurse was telling her that she thought is was a fungal infection and the lady needed to go to a podiatrist and keep her foot dry and try an anti-fungal cream. All this is gross enough but then the lady mentioned that her tap water has been brown for months. The nurse was awesome, she goes "uh, that is disgusting, you should call a plumber." People man, they kill me.
So I get home, I'm spending a lot of time on the couch icing with my knee up. I had my first doctor appointment with Dr. Farrell and he is an interesting cat. Very matter-of-fact and nice enough although he sorta kicked Mahsa out before he took about a cup of fluid out of knee with a horse needle. It was probably for the best as those things make Mahsa a little queasy. He basically said 100% ACL tear and probably my meniscus too. My next appointment is tomorrow (Friday) so I should know much more then. I had my MRI yesterday and I can see the pictures but of course I have no idea what they mean. I think though I found my torn ACL. Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment