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My First Ambulance Ride
16 years ago
General
Kyoo no tema wa kore desu....
I alluded to this in a previous journal (http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/846553/). Really, it's no big deal, and was more a comedy of errors than anything else.
This past Tuesday, I woke up early, got a lot of chores done, then took a nice long lukewarm shower. I must have been a little overenthusiastic in my ablutions, because I looked down and there was blood all over the bottom of the shower.
What the hell?!? I quickly found the source: a fountain of blood, streaming with great force from a varicose vein on my lower leg.
Let's be blunt: I'm a big fat pear-shaped 41-year-old hag with jacked-up legs. While camping, one of my varicose veins got punctured (I don't know how, it could have been anything, who cares). There was minimal blood, I wiped it with some peroxide, it scabbed over, I didn't think any more about it until Tuesday, when it sprung a high-pressure leak.
The blood was pretty much everywhere. I bled through a towel, a pair of undies, and 2 socks. I was just grabbing & using the first thing I could find to staunch it--the blood really was gushing out & spurting several feet. What finally seemed to work was pouring baking soda in another sock, wadding that against the vein, then wrapping it all up with an Ace bandage. As it turns out, all that did was slow things down.
Tuesday is my D&D night, so I got in the car & drove to our DM's place. By the time I got there, I was disoriented & not making much sense. Kynn, our DM, made me drink a lot of water & said that we would go to Urgent Care RIGHT NOW.
Urgent Care took one look at it (by that time I had bled through the baking-soda sock & Ace bandage), said that the entire vein needed to be tied off, and that needed to be done at a hospital. They wrapped my leg with a much better compress, then called an ambulance because I was still a little glossy-eyed & they didn't want me driving.
But first, the entire local fire dept arrived to check me out. That was embarrassing. I got to ride on a gurney, which was both embarrassing & fun. Likewise with the ambulance.
At the hospital, I was kept waiting sufficiently long enough that the new compress did its job & the tiny hole scabbed over. I was also feeling much better, having been rehydrated, and given a drink with electrolytes from Urgent Care. The doctor there said that tying off my varicose vein was unnecessary. He gave me a local anesthetic (which hurt like hell) and gave the vein several stitches so I wouldn't bleed like crazy next time the scab gave way. It was pretty neat watching him stitch me up.
In the meantime Kynn, was flustered & kept in the dark. While in the hospital waiting room, he was calling several folks for a ride home for us. When I was released, I was feeling chipper & a little abashed by all the trouble I caused Kynn, and was all for just taking a bus. Too late-- Wolf was already on his way. As were Suzanna & Chelsea, a cute couple in our D&D group.
So many thanks to the nice folks at Urgent Care, the fire dept, Nicole & Jerome in the ambulance, some of the folks at NorthWest hospital, and especially Kynn & Wolf & Suzanna & Chelsea for their help! I'm sorry for the trouble, guys. 9_6
This past Tuesday, I woke up early, got a lot of chores done, then took a nice long lukewarm shower. I must have been a little overenthusiastic in my ablutions, because I looked down and there was blood all over the bottom of the shower.
What the hell?!? I quickly found the source: a fountain of blood, streaming with great force from a varicose vein on my lower leg.
Let's be blunt: I'm a big fat pear-shaped 41-year-old hag with jacked-up legs. While camping, one of my varicose veins got punctured (I don't know how, it could have been anything, who cares). There was minimal blood, I wiped it with some peroxide, it scabbed over, I didn't think any more about it until Tuesday, when it sprung a high-pressure leak.
The blood was pretty much everywhere. I bled through a towel, a pair of undies, and 2 socks. I was just grabbing & using the first thing I could find to staunch it--the blood really was gushing out & spurting several feet. What finally seemed to work was pouring baking soda in another sock, wadding that against the vein, then wrapping it all up with an Ace bandage. As it turns out, all that did was slow things down.
Tuesday is my D&D night, so I got in the car & drove to our DM's place. By the time I got there, I was disoriented & not making much sense. Kynn, our DM, made me drink a lot of water & said that we would go to Urgent Care RIGHT NOW.
Urgent Care took one look at it (by that time I had bled through the baking-soda sock & Ace bandage), said that the entire vein needed to be tied off, and that needed to be done at a hospital. They wrapped my leg with a much better compress, then called an ambulance because I was still a little glossy-eyed & they didn't want me driving.
But first, the entire local fire dept arrived to check me out. That was embarrassing. I got to ride on a gurney, which was both embarrassing & fun. Likewise with the ambulance.
At the hospital, I was kept waiting sufficiently long enough that the new compress did its job & the tiny hole scabbed over. I was also feeling much better, having been rehydrated, and given a drink with electrolytes from Urgent Care. The doctor there said that tying off my varicose vein was unnecessary. He gave me a local anesthetic (which hurt like hell) and gave the vein several stitches so I wouldn't bleed like crazy next time the scab gave way. It was pretty neat watching him stitch me up.
In the meantime Kynn, was flustered & kept in the dark. While in the hospital waiting room, he was calling several folks for a ride home for us. When I was released, I was feeling chipper & a little abashed by all the trouble I caused Kynn, and was all for just taking a bus. Too late-- Wolf was already on his way. As were Suzanna & Chelsea, a cute couple in our D&D group.
So many thanks to the nice folks at Urgent Care, the fire dept, Nicole & Jerome in the ambulance, some of the folks at NorthWest hospital, and especially Kynn & Wolf & Suzanna & Chelsea for their help! I'm sorry for the trouble, guys. 9_6
It's still kinda embarrassing, especially considering how many folks ogled my misshapen stubbly leg, and how I disrupted several people's day. But, what'cha gonna do? I still say it's more a comedy than anything else, particularly the end with all the Chinese Fire Drills going on with rides & such.
Thanx again for rushing to the rescue. Yes, next time ask to speak to me (but I'm trying to avoid a next time, all things considered).
But seriously, glad you have good people looking after you. No more improper bleeding plz.
They have this spar white front door sitting in the garage and I noticed red all over the damn thing.. I just kind of went.. "wtf" and kept staring. As Jake and I lifted another chair up to his dad in the attic I see this very fine stream of red squirt out from under his pit as he reached up. Finely splattering on the door. I kinda freaked because he wasn't noticing it. The stitches gave way and the physical work of lifting fairly heavy stuff.. 50lbs - 60lbs got his heart beating fast enough so every time he reached up was like pulling the trigger on a squirt gun. x3
Glad yer okay, and seems like you've a really good group of friends out there! Happy squirting! >:3