Melissa

Melissa:
June 2, James phoned me on my cell while I was on my way to work to say that Melissa had called him – she fell off her bike on her way to work and would I come and get her. I tried to call her on her cell but there was no answer. I drove across town to where I thought she would be riding but couldn’t find her. I didn’t know her boyfriend/significant other’s cell phone or work number (I now have it!) so I tried his mother but there was no answer. I tried home again and found out that Mel had called an ambulance and was at the hospital.

Like a mad-woman, I drove to the hospital, parked, and went to Emergency where I found her waiting. Apparently she had been trying to jump a curb when her bike went down. She was wearing biking shoes because she has no-clip pedals and I think that in the fury of trying to get her feet out, she landed in the almost worst possible way. The hospital had taken some x-rays by the time I had arrived and determined that she had not just one but two broken arms – one wrist and one elbow!

Fortunately, my cell was charged up so I called into work for her and said she wouldn’t be in. I then called my boss and said I wouldn’t be in either. My boss and I have worked together for 19 years – we started out as peers but she has been one step ahead of me on the promotion line for a while. She has seen Mel and the other kids all grow up so I knew I wouldn’t have any problems on that front.

During all of this, I had to call Steve to come the hospital to pick up her bike because it won’t fit in my car. I think it will be quite a while before she needs it again but it did need to go home.

Anyway, to make a very long story short, they cast the arm with the broken wrist and made us wait for what seemed like forever. About 2 pm, Mel complained that the pain was getting bad so they gave her some Percocet, a really strong pain killer – this would have been fine except she had an empty stomach! She just about fainted so a nurse got some food for her. The problem was that she couldn’t eat by herself because both arms were useless. I had to hold the sandwich and let her take little bites, then hold the cup with the straw so she could have a drink. When I was feeding her the cup of fruit salad, I couldn’t resist – I had to make airplane noises!

Finally they told Melissa to go home and come back on Wednesday morning so they could operate on the broken elbow.

She and Ryan went back on Wednesday, waited all day and were told to come back on Thursday! The hospital finally operated on Thursday and decided to keep her pending an application to a Rehab unit – you don’t realize all the things you can’t do if you have no arms! Eating, opening doors, picking up anything, dressing yourself, going to the bathroom (unless you are naked and even then….), etc .

Friday afternoon, her application for a rehab bed was denied. All weekend, we wondered what would happen because she wasn’t sick enough to stay in hospital but not easily well enough to go home.

Monday afternoon, the doctors discharged her home, much to our dismay. Her roommate was loud, obnoxious, left the tv on high volume then would fall asleep, whined constantly etc. so Mel was glad to be out of there! Steve called a local newspaper to ask if they wanted a story on how bad the medical situation can be. They were quite willing to interview Mel but she wanted nothing to do with that.

She is doing surprisingly well at home. She and Ryan went to a medical supply store and purchased some cutlery holders so with her 4 fingers on one hand, she can hold a fork – Ryan has to cut her food but she can just manage to feed herself. They had talked about getting a bidet when they renovate their house so this has forced their hand a bit. What they ordered is from here: Bidets

She will be off work for a while longer. She is hoping that she qualifies for disability because she hasn’t been working there that long. She is taking some university courses so she had to get medical notes so she could delay writing a paper as well. Having broken arms is not good at the best of times but to lose out on summer and with all the other things going on in her life, this was not a good time at all. At least she had her bike helmet on and so she had no head injuries so if there is something to be thankful for in all of this, that is the silver lining.