Of course we had to do it the hard way, making them come to us. We never saw their actual station, just their great personnel and ambulance. THANK YOU STATION 19!
It started with a mid afternoon lunch date with another couple at our mutual favorite restaurant/deli in the Highland Park area, Cecil's. Tradition has us sitting down when it's not that crowded, as in between major meal times, for great food and lots of conversation without hogging a table. On our way out we usually hit the deli and load up, mostly on their caraway rye bread, sometimes on unique sweets.
This was Steve's first actual outing of a non medical variety since his hip surgery and all that followed. Or at least the non-medical bit was the plan. We take the walker everywhere of course, fighting it up and down our stairs, then into the back seat of the car. We're getting better at that, most days. It's a bit close to my shoulders' weight limit, but gives Steve the freedom he needs to go places, allowing him to use its seat and pouch when needed, or lock the wheels in place in areas like our home parking spot which has a slight but definite slant down onto the street with its own steeper slant down to the lake while switching to/from the car. Neither of us is going running after it if it rolls. A lock controlled by a quick hand pull at each handle is a must when nobody is holding it.
There is a learning curve to using walkers, of course. Yesterday we learned after two years we still had things to learn. After thought given to where to park at the restaurant, on the street out front or around the corner to a parking area inside a fence with only one access point as far as possible from Cecil's front door, we decided to go for a street location with much less walking needed.
It turned out to be a mistake. We'll be using their parking lot from now on, where all is paved and level.
Getting out of the car was fine. There was room between car and curb for feet, and a grassy spot between curb and sidewalk for the walker. Steve could stand once the car door opened, and I'd place the walker on the grass in reach, holding firmly on to the other side, bracing it against movement while he stood, grabbed handles, stepped up, got adjusted, and pushed it onto the sidewalk. I stayed with the car for a minute to lock up after getting my keys and purse out. Steve was already going up their single front step with help from a handrail and a polite young lad of perhaps 10 who held the door open for Steve while he needed it. Easy-peasy so far, and maybe a slight touch too easy, lulling us into not thinking out the return to the car.
When the time came, I was in the line at the register learning exactly how one added a tip via their particular machine, while Steve was already out the door, down the step, and nearly back at the car, lickety split and without me, ready to get in the car while it was still locked. I'm guessing he's a bit too used to our driveway where by the time we're both down our steps I've hit the button on the fob unlocking the car doors remotely. I hadn't done that yet, still too far back. But he leaned just a bit towards the car door from the grassy spot and one wheel started to sink into an unseen divot in the dirt. In no time Steve was down, between the car and the curb, no room to move, and calling for an ambulance. Not help to stand, an ambulance!
He knew what we hadn't seen, that his head smacked the curb hard. He also remembered for us what I hadn't thought of yet in the moment, that while a few strong people could pull him upright with care, as had been done previous times he'd fallen, he was newly on blood thinners. It wasn't going to be that simple! Just to complicate things a bit more, the spot the car was in had no shade, and it currently was 95 out, resulting in him lying on concrete even hotter while waiting for help. He was at minimum feeling like he was getting burned, and whether damaging his body or not he was definitely overheating in a hurry!
We were suddenly surrounded by people trying to help. One of our tablemates was on the phone to 911, trying to give directions to the nearest corner when the route is known by heart to us, street names unnecessary, and signs with their names hard to read. A couple people with different angles on the street, upon hearing the issue shouted out the intersection names. When I informed another person who'd asked that we had no blankets to help shade him with (or possibly put under him- but needing more expertise than we were capable of despite now being joined by a nurse who'd been in the restaurant and rushed out to assist) one bystander ran to his car and pulled out a bath towel still damp from earlier swimming to help both cool and shade him, while another person came up with a large red plastic fabric that I could help hold by holding up to car windows for shade ... like I had normal arm strength. Of course it was assumed, and I did my best while we waited for the ambulance to arrive.
It felt like half an hour and it felt like two minutes. I think three minutes was closer to their arrival time, once they got an accurate location. I was quickly needed to talk with one of the paramedics to give information on not just what happened but his name, address, medical history. Somebody else took over keeping him shaded. "My" paramedic was just a tad annoyed for half a minute when I got called away for a second by the ones tending to Steve, but I was the one who knew the name of Steve's blood thinner, and that was important on the spot. It's one that allows excess bleeding in case of injury - as opposed to one that's hideously expensive even if you have insurance because those companies don't cover it. In Steve's case he might have hit his head hard enough to be getting a subdural hematoma, making brain damage possible if not controlled. We might never know without hospital equipment. I came right back to the first paramedic and resumed filling in information, including spellings, and "what county is that in?"
Transporting him was quickly decided upon, so I had to decide for us whether it would be United or Regions Hospital. I mentally debated a few seconds. I've had good treatment at United, and know people who've found Regions overcrowded and understaffed. To be fair it does serve a slightly different function, but I also recalled knowing better how to get to Regions than United, balanced by Regions being further from us, more challenging mostly because of all the new construction in St. Paul resulting in not knowing from last visits which streets are now open as well as how few landmark buildings look anything like what they did back when I was working. I'd known both hospitals plus others from front doors to docks and every necessary stop in between like labs or medical records, depending on the freight needing to be dropped off or picked up. I knew all the places to park free without getting a ticket with my marked car, and just as important could locate every restroom!
Once United was decided upon for possible quicker testing, things moved faster. Steve was carefully raised to a stand without any pressure put on his knees, something they will not tolerate. The paramedics listened to him when he requested that, plus managing it in that cramped space, earning his continuing gratitude. Everything around Steve except the red plastic sheet was tossed into my car without my giving them any attention. As a result we now have possession of one helpful man's towel, though after its later discovery it was finally spread out to dry instead of getting moldy. I'm sorry to whoever it belongs to, being a nice looking towel from a very helpful person. I wish I knew how to return it.
The paramedics were very helpful to me during the transport, as they had been the whole time, discussing options and so forth. They stopped traffic in both directions on the street, giving me the opportunity to pull out in a U turn and tuck in behind them, where I then tailgated them, with approval and my 4-way flashers on, all the way to where they turned in at "Ambulances Only" and I proceeded on into the parking ramp. No more free parking for me these days. Steve told me later that one paramedic in the back of the ambo with him gave him a running commentary on how I was doing keeping up, keeping him reassured during the drive. They had taken a second before we all moved to inform me that I was to get my parking ticket validated, so all the time Steve was in the ER and wherever else before I got my car out, with or without him, I got a low parking rate. Off we went, the first and hopefully only time in my life I tailgated another vehicle, and did it successfully and safely both on city streets including through stoplights, then onto the freeway and tagging right along through the ramp meters allowing one vehicle on at a time. Any other time I could get a ticket for being vehicle #2 on the same green meter light. The 4-way flashers apparently tied me to the ambulance like glue in other driver's perceptions, except for one entering the freeway at a ramp we were simply passing. That car went away soon enough and everybody got where we needed to together.
I did have one oddball thing happen in the parking ramp. My 4-ways refused to turn off. I tried several times, and nothing. Fortunately, shutting the engine off to park did the trick. Once I crossed the street, a greeter at the lobby front desk offered to escort me from there to the ER, a convoluted and long hike ending on a different floor. However, knowing the lobby from years past, I know there was a restroom hiding in the corner and let her know there'd be a bit of a delay. When I returned she pointed me to an ice water dispenser and cups on the table near her desk and invited me to help myself. It was still 95 out and it had been a walk, so I did. I also got my parking ticked validated, which involved a stick-on bar code across the front. Then we took a long hike to the ER where I got a different tour through the ER to Steve's cubicle. Our friends from the restaurant had already gotten there and had been keeping Steve company until I got there, then kept me company while he was out for a cat scan.
I had come in from the car with all the little scattered things in a large bag. I knew some would be needed, like his billfold with ID and insurance cards. There was also a styro box with his leftovers from our lunch. A phlebotomist poked his head in frequently to take blood, each time finding Steve busy with a different medical person or out of the room for a test. He finally got blood samples plus a compliment from Steve for being painless. Before we finally got out of the ER with a good bill of health, we both agreed that the food had been warm too long to be safe to eat, especially the potato salad, so away it all went in a large trash container. We both noted blood spots on his pillow when he lifted his head, proof of a hard contact earlier. I took the pause during his CAT scan to reach out on my phone to family, locate another restroom because yes, it had been that long, and chat with our friends until they finally excused themselves to head home as it was getting late. They at least had brought a cooler for their leftovers for their supper. (Note to self for next time!!!) (Also buy some "canned ice". The old stuff disappeared somehow.)
They wouldn't allow Steve to walk or even get wheeled all the way through the hospital to the lobby across from the parking ramp. I could easily have driven to that door to pick him up. Instead I got a guide so I could walk that maze to where I could get directions to the car, then dive another maze to head around to the back of the hospital to pick him up. In that process I discovered automated payment booths hate me, the single person inside one booth was a grouch who couldn't understand why somebody with a low compact car and a brand new shoulder had problems reaching as high as the process required, and my final ransom to leave was a mere $5. Steve's pickup spot was easy enough to find but a narrow crazy zoo with cars in all directions and locations full of construction obstacles fighting to get in, then out with their former patient without damage, though somehow we all seemed to survive intact. Or at least for a long as I was there.
The drive home was wondrous, and not just because we were going home. It was over a half hour of watching otherwise ballooning dark clouds rise high enough above the rest to catch the last rays of the setting sun, play peekaboo with other developing columns allowing glimpses of bits here, then huge lumps there and hiding again, their next bright reveal as we traveled going from white to gold to peach to pinkish, still managing to surprise us with new shapes and deep pinks poking out even as we parked the car and stopped a few minutes to chat with a neighbor cross the street for a bit. We hadn't seen each other for weeks, all occupied with different medical challenges and with other folks stopping by to help in one way or another. We all managed to find a moment to view the final colored shapes peeking between grey blobs, all still growing, hiding, peeking, fading, until it was time to get inside, get cool, and sit!
I will note that rain did manage to get our attention a bit later while we relaxed. We had a whole three seconds of it on the south end of our roof, including two or three hailstones. Nothing showed on the street from a peek between the blinds. I remain amazed that a cloud tiny enough to have such a small footprint still managed to hit our roof! Maybe it was just wishing us a good night.
We obliged by having one, as well as we were able. A few new random sore body parts did manage to get our attention in attempts to prevent sleep, but we both did eventually succumb to its charms.
