It was 6:00 p.m. and I had been studying for a few hours to prepare for a test the next day in accounting, and it was time for a break. After walking around idly, getting a drink, and clearing my mind, I headed for the stairs. My study area was in the basement where it was private and quiet. However, my wife distracted me and I lost my balance as I turned; my foot slipped off the top step. Time felt as though it had instantly slowed, and I was airborne. Instinctively, my right arm went up to protect my head and face as I fell backward, and my other arm reached out to stop the rapid descent; but, there was nothing but air to hold. We kept a table for storing boots and shoes at the small entrance by the stairs, and my right side went …show more content…
When asked if I could stand up, I didn’t hesitate. They helped me up the stairs to the kitchen where they did their tests. My wrist was badly swelled, the fingers were definitely fractured, but there was no hint at hip or leg damage at that point. When they attempted to get me ready for an ambulance ride, I refused. They were baffled; however, they could not force me to go with them, so they asked me to sign the release form and they left. Why, you might ask, did I refuse hospital care after such a terrible fall? Wasn’t I worried that there might be more serious injuries? What if I was bleeding internally? What if I fractured my hip or leg? Some people might think it was a foolish decision. For me, it was more about getting back up and pushing through the difficult times. It would have been very easy to use the fall as an excuse to stay home, go the hospital, miss the test, ask for a re-write, and nobody would question it. I was, in fact, badly injured. In my mind, though, I was considering the impact of not pushing forward. I got back up. Even though I needed help, I got back up. And I wrote that test. That was, perhaps, the most difficult time as I struggled to arrive early for classes, not miss any work, and deal with being in constant pain each day. Even now, after a month has passed, I am still in pain. What I learned about myself, however, is that I have the strength and the will to
It was a normal spring night and my baseball game had just started. It was senior night and I was pitching, we had just finish the first half of the first inning. My teammate struck out, it was my turn to hit, I swung for the ball and my leg popped twice. I went down and didn't get back up, My leg was stuck to my chest and I couldn't move it. The visiting team's coach was an EMT he ran over and said ¨this is going to hurt¨ and pulled my leg straight. What had happened was when I swung the bat my leg didn't move and my kneecap dislocated and instead of my ligaments tearing, they stretched and broke my kneecap. This was a challenge for me because this was the first time I had never broken a bone in my life. I went to the doctor and he said nothing was wrong, so my
Diana, an Air Force intelligence officer, was a healthy normal person that was diagnosed of having severe osteoarthritis and underwent a total hip replacement. The surgery went well, but when she woke up, no help was provided to her. Her food tray was far from reach and no one went to give her pain medication even after she call for help. Days passed and food was being left far from her. The call bell was not working and she could not call anyone to help her. Diana’s friend was able to transfer her to another hospital where she was put under care of an osteopathic physician that was specialized in brain and spinal injuries. Her second hospital stay was not better than the first. When being assisted to go to the bathroom she fainted and the medical technician was able to catch her and assist to the bed. No report was made, since the hospital protocol was to report only when the patient’s head hit the floor. She ended up having an injury on her hip that was discovered when she did a checkup with her surgeon. The doctor at the hospital treated her pain as “hypersensitivity” and only pain medications prescribed. Two more surgery was done and while on physical therapy the physical therapist dropped her leg
On Tuesday, September 29th my partner and I had the opportunity to interview a 55-year-old patient named Tom at LA County Hospital, admitted nine days prior for injuries he sustained after being struck by a city vehicle. His injuries were quite apparent the moment we sat down with him: his right foot bandaged up, having been crushed by the vehicle’s tires, abrasions and bruising all over his lower limbs and worst of all, a broken pelvis. Yet despite the bad shape he was in, Tom was kind enough share his life story with us and provide the limited knowledge he had about his insurance history.
Imagine laying on the floor of the building that you would come to every day. My leg crushed to the point where I couldn't move with out bringing tons of pain. The first couple of hours of me being trapped I began to hear moment of people. Someone had came to the building looking for survivors, they try to help me
There was no documentation of complications with bleeding or any other abnormal findings. You were kept overnight for and admitted to acute inpatient level of care with a discharge the next day. There was no hemodynamic (blood), pulmonary (lung), neurological (nervous system) or metabolic (chemical process) reasons for the acute level of care. The services and interventions provided could have been done in the observation setting. There were no positive test results or other findings after evaluation by the doctors that would have requested an acute level of care. You could have been kept in observation according to guidelines and with no documented complications confirmed through evaluation and testing you could have been discharged from observation with an ambulatory plan of
“Tough times never last, but tough people do.” The refusal of my arm made me discern this intimately. It all started as I stepped onto the soccer field, ready to win. Approximately thirty minutes into the game, the opponent’s attacker was charging towards our goal. All I could think about was stealing the ball from him, which I managed to do, but something terrible happened. I fell and landed on my left shoulder. I was immediately rushed to the hospital, where I went in and out of consciousness due to the extreme pain. Keep in mind that this is in Ethiopia, where medical care is not exactly timely and pain control is not a priority. After what seemed like forever, the diagnostic test confirmed that my clavicle was completely shattered.
Many years ago I was working in an emergency department when a young patient presented with a potential neck injury. The underage patient had engaged in drinking alcoholic while swimming with friends and had hit her head on the bottom of the pool. She was not responsive on arrival. The attending physician had a difficult decision to make because this particular emergency department was not equipped to handle traumatic neurological injuries. The usual protocol required helicopter transport to a nearby trauma facility. However, a bad storm was moving in, making it a risky and dangerous situation for the helicopter crew to fly. The decision was further complicated by the need to ascertain if the patient was failing to respond due to excessive
When I was in the seventh grade I fell down the stairs at my junior high school on slushy December day. One of my friends helped me to the school nurse and when I got there she simply handed me a ziploc bag of ice and sent me on my way back to class. I went the rest of that day limping class to class. After school, my mother picked me up unaware of what happened earlier that day. Once I told her she took me to the emergency room right away. After numerous x-rays the verdict was in... I had fractured my growth plate in my left ankle. I believe the school should have taken better safety precautions since I was not the only one to fall on those stairs, there were two other falls on the same stair case prior to mine. In my option I think in
I needed to get my injury cleared, so i could get back to doing what i love, playing soccer. I have visited this doctor a couple of times, but hopefully this was the last time. After the nurse got done asking me questions she said, “Dr.Brown will be in shortly” and she then left the room. I sat in a large uncomfortable chair, in the small, bright, white walled room. The room was dead silent. So quiet, you could hear your own thoughts. But the squeaking noise the door made opening interrupted the silence. Dr.Brown walked in; Dr.Brown was a skinny white male, who was no taller than 6 feet, he had brown hair and eyes. He had a very friendly personality, and you could tell after talking to him that he wants me out on that soccer field as bad I wanted to be out there. That's why we had a very good connection, and after 2 months of not being able to play soccer, Mr. Brown told me “You are officially cleared to
I was transported to Children’s of Alabama by ambulance. My sister was taken to the hospital by my grandmother. When the time came for us to find out the extent of my injuries, I was very nervous. I had never had any serious type of injury’s before so I had the fear of having surgery. My orthopedic doctor first told me I could take my neck brace off; which made me feel more comfortable about my injuries because I knew I didn’t have a brain injury or a spinal issue. Then he began to tell me my pelvis was broken in three different places. He went on to tell me I didn’t need to have surgery because the pelvis would heal correctly on its own. The break on the right side of my pelvis was worse than the left. I would have to walk with crutches because
It looked like the forest was dead, and that it had been dead for years. A cold chill ran against their skin, making it crawl.
Their circuitous route took Tom and Marcus into one of the more affluent residential districts. Room 15A was their final destination. Deep in thought, Marcus stared at the duck-egg blue walls while his mind fumbled for the passcode, but at last, remembering, he typed it into the small rectangular keypad beside the doorway and waited for it to open.
Demons bled from the wound in the sky. The ground shuddered under them as they fell to earth. The acrid stench of piss and fear and death hung in the air, fighting with the smoke to choke all who drew breath.
Once they saw I was in pain they took me inside and I told them I felt a pain and I heard a crack, They thought I just cracked a stick and the pain was from the fall, they thought if they would give me an ice-pack it would help, they soon realized that didn’t help either. I went to the hospital and they took x-rays and stuff, they came back with a sling and some pictures, I looked at the pictures and I immediately knew I had a broken collarbone, I put on the sling and went home. The pain I was in is like you had 1000 pound weights on your arm, because I couldn’t move my arm a bit.
Somehow I was able to ride back to camp, but after that I was done for the day. We didn’t have anything such as bandages at the time, so my dad just told me to clean it. My knee from the fall, had a fair sized bruise making it quite hard to walk, but I still did.