Mag,

  A little tip to get seen very quickly in the ER - wear a mask and say you
have environmental allergies and a heart condition. Works like a charm :)

  I dislocated an elbow in 1984 and from the time I got from the ER intake to
x-ray was 5 minutes. I had called first from my apartment, explaining I was
since-birth disabled. The guys who came from next door to help me were flapping
their gums, totally freaked out. There I was with my elbow all askew telling
them to get a grip.

  Then of course the reduction was fun. A doc whom I knew from my university
days was on duty, as was an ortho chap whom I didn't much care for. They kept
me over-night. Silly twits called my father (they had no business doing that at
all) and had originally said they were going to release me and he hit the
overhead saying I lived alone and to do that would be insanity. A colleague of
my father's collected me the following morning and drove me to my parent's
house an hour away. After the younger colleague helped me up the huge step into
the kitchen, Dad finally cracked. He had a great laugh. They parked me in a
chair in the livingroom and were chatting it up about what to do with me. It
was decided to admit me to their hospital ... for a month. Mom was already
there recovering from a hip break (later to be replaced). Dad called and asked
if she wanted a roommate - too funny. During that month-long stay, I got sick
twice and demanded an early release. Dad's long-term colleague, father of the
younger doc was my own doctor and he was at a loss as to what to do with me. I
demanded to be released saying one more minute in that place would surely kill
me. He let me go after one test - I had to stand on my crutches and pull my
weight off the floor - if the elbow/arm held, I could leave. Talk about pain
and trauma. I had physio for 9 months on that elbow to regain range of motion.
The black cat, cause of the fall, relished all the personal attention he got
during my hospital stay. A friend moved into my place and took the furbrat to
work with him each day, a brief case in one hand, and a cat carrier in the
other. I should write a story about that one :)

Cheers!

Carla


Magenta Raine wrote:

> Rayna, I will, don't worry, but I refuse to sit in the emergency room for 8
> hours, breathing in contagious germs, unless I'm bleeding to death, or am
> sure I've broken something. I'll call my primary physician Monday morning.
>
> mag