If it ain't one thing, it's another!
Early Sunday morning, Joey and I decided to take Andrew out to breakfast at Denny's after he got out of work. We all were starving and looking forward to feeding our bellies with not so healthy food. LOL
As we pulled up to a stop sign at the end of the exit ramp (which is only about half a mile from Denny's) Joey made a comment about how heavy the traffic was for being 12:30am. All of the sudden, our Blazer got hit from behind by another Blazer! We all had our belts on, thank God!, but Joey and I got thrown forward. Andrew did also, but didn't seem to be affected by it. Joey and the other driver pulled up onto the overpass so as not to block the exit ramp, and he and Andrew got out of the car to check the damage and get the other driver's info. I was pretty shook up, and started having neck pain and pvc's. Andrew came back to me and took my pulse, checked my eyes, asked me questions to assess my alertness, and kept me as calm as he could. He was awesome! Joey would come over and ask me how I was doing in between dealing with the other driver.
Andrew suggested I get checked out, so I called 911 and requested the police in the township we were in. When I talked to the twp police, they told me I had to talk to the State police. She said she would transfer me, and then hung up on me. So Andrew called 911 and requested state police. He calmly explained the situation and described my injuries. They said they would call an ambulance and be right out. It took the State police 10 minutes to get there. They told us to move down to the grocery store parking lot.
We sat in the parking lot for another 15 minutes waiting for the ambulance. When it pulled up Joey said, "Hey! That looks like Shane." Shane is one of Andrew's good friends, a fireman in our department, an EMT, and he's on my friends list as The Beer Guy. I also consider him one of my "sons". Shane asked me how I was feeling, and suggested taking me in to get checked out. I agreed.
Any time you have neck or back pain, you have to be put on a board with a neck brace. They strap your head, chest, waist and legs down to the board. VERY uncomfortable if you have a slipped disk like I do. Andrew got into the back seat and held c-spine, which is reaching around the seat to hold the patient's head. Shane put the neck brace on me and it got stuck in my dang hair! LOL He and Andrew fixed that, and then Shane helped me out of the car and onto the board. Ugh! Joey came around and stood next to the stretcher while they strapped me in. They had to tilt the board to put the straps through it, and I thought I was going to roll off. So I reached out to grab Joey's jacket, and aimed a little too low! Sorry, Joey! xoxoxo LOL
I was put in the ambulance, and Shane let Andrew sit in the compression seat so he could assist. He helped Shane strap me in again, and helped to adjust the neck brace so I wouldn't gag. Then he helped Shane put the canula (sp?) in. That's the oxygen tube. Then the bp cuff, and blood/ox finger clip. Andrew helped to fill out the info sheet while Shane worked on me. Andrew held my hand the whole way to the hospital. :-)
I spent an hour and a half on that damn board! I know it's procedure, but my back hurt so bad by the time they took me off of it. Then the nurse told me I could have been off of it an hour ago. Grrr!
I got a little ahead of myself. When we arrived at the hospital, Joey told Shane his neck and head had started hurting on the drive up. Shane told him to sign himself in. I didn't see him or Andrew for 2 hours. I asked where they were, and the nurse told me Joey went into x-ray when I came out, and Andrew was in the waiting room.
Ok, I'm making a novel out of this as usual! LOL After they took me off the board, and told me I have whiplash, like I couldn't figure that out on my own, They told me which room Joey was in, so I walked down there to see how he was doing. He was getting the same results. We have matching injuries. Isn't that cute? LOL I asked him where Andrew was, and he said he was sitting out in the waiting room with my mom. My mom! None of the nurses told me she was there, and they wouldn't let her or Andrew come back to see me. Grr! I asked Andrew if he was ok, and he said yes. I figured by that time (3am) something would have shown up if he wasn't.
To make a long story short, we were still starving, so Joey and I picked up some food and brought it home. Andrew was asleep in the recliner, so I woke him up to check on him and give him his food. Then I called Shane to let him know we were ok. Andrew went back to sleep, Joey fell asleep around 5am, and I was up til 7am.....waiting for Advil time. LOL
I want to thank Andrew for being so amazing in taking such good care of me. You are my hero! I still think you should become an EMT! Thank you Shane for doing what you do best, even though you told me you were "just doing your job". And I want to thank Joey for being my strength. Just having you there made it much more tolerable. I hope you're feeling better very soon!
Ok, so that's my exciting news for the weekend. It's Advil and sleep time. I might throw in an ice pack just for sh*ts and giggles. LOL
I love you all!
Laurie
