curiousa2z
Be patient till the last.
so i was just finishing up after 3 hours in my little old lady's garden, watering transplants, putting away tools, etc. I hear this weird thunk sound and turn around - she's fallen down on her concrete patio! So I charge over to help her up...that's when I see the blood dripping down her arm. OK, she's 95 in a few more weeks and is built like a little bird- think elderly Audrey Hepburn. So she looks down at her arm and sees the blood and says, " oh dear". Then she lifts up a flap of skin that is -not a word of a lie - at least 5 inches long. I see white underneath.
What follows is my internal dialogue in italics, and what I actually say...
FUCK. OMG. IS THAT BONE? FUCK. SHIT. I'M GONNA PASS OUT!OMG!.
"Oh, Vi, that looks pretty nasty. We should have someone look at that."
I can see her skin is thin and like parchment - and indeed it's all ripped like paper.
Jesus Christ! Where the hell could he put the stitches?
"What's David's (her son) number? I'll call him and he can take you up to the doctor's."
She looks at me and says, "I'll think about it". Then she starts toward the house and goes in. I scramble after her, but I need to get my work boots off and I'm a bit delayed. By the time I get into the house she's in the bathroom, running her arm under the tap! Blood is POURING into the sink.
WTF is she doing? if ther were any dirt particles they were long washed out by all that goddamn gushing blood!!
"Oh. OK,Vi, we need to apply direct pressure to that, do you have a face cloth or a towel you dont mind getting blood on?"
Jesus she doesnt have that much blood in her to lose! She's gonna go into shock! Fuck!I HAVE TO MAKE HER STOP! OMG!
"Vi, we have to put pressure on that to divert the blood flow. There. Are you pressing as hard as you can? Can I call David for you? You are going to have to have stitches. The stitches will help it heal more quickly.
Can I call someone?"
Finally she says she will call her DIL to take her up and I have to leave. But I am very unhappy about leaving her alone. I had made a rudimentary bandage with a tensor and a big bandage she had in a drawer, but it was ridiculous to leave it like that. So I called an hour later and was going to go back up if I didnt like how she sounded. She told me she was going up to the hospital and called later to let me know that she had cracked a rib and the doctor put in she "didnt know how many" stitches.
Would she have left it alone if I hadn't nagged her? I know that generation's tough, but sheesh!! Scared the shit out of me.
What follows is my internal dialogue in italics, and what I actually say...
FUCK. OMG. IS THAT BONE? FUCK. SHIT. I'M GONNA PASS OUT!OMG!.
"Oh, Vi, that looks pretty nasty. We should have someone look at that."
I can see her skin is thin and like parchment - and indeed it's all ripped like paper.
Jesus Christ! Where the hell could he put the stitches?
"What's David's (her son) number? I'll call him and he can take you up to the doctor's."
She looks at me and says, "I'll think about it". Then she starts toward the house and goes in. I scramble after her, but I need to get my work boots off and I'm a bit delayed. By the time I get into the house she's in the bathroom, running her arm under the tap! Blood is POURING into the sink.
WTF is she doing? if ther were any dirt particles they were long washed out by all that goddamn gushing blood!!
"Oh. OK,Vi, we need to apply direct pressure to that, do you have a face cloth or a towel you dont mind getting blood on?"
Jesus she doesnt have that much blood in her to lose! She's gonna go into shock! Fuck!I HAVE TO MAKE HER STOP! OMG!
"Vi, we have to put pressure on that to divert the blood flow. There. Are you pressing as hard as you can? Can I call David for you? You are going to have to have stitches. The stitches will help it heal more quickly.
Can I call someone?"
Finally she says she will call her DIL to take her up and I have to leave. But I am very unhappy about leaving her alone. I had made a rudimentary bandage with a tensor and a big bandage she had in a drawer, but it was ridiculous to leave it like that. So I called an hour later and was going to go back up if I didnt like how she sounded. She told me she was going up to the hospital and called later to let me know that she had cracked a rib and the doctor put in she "didnt know how many" stitches.
Would she have left it alone if I hadn't nagged her? I know that generation's tough, but sheesh!! Scared the shit out of me.
