My Life Changed
I broke my left femur on Friday, August 12, 2016. It was just a normal day. A week away from Charlie heading off to college. We wanted to spend time together and debated what to do. Fate chose Skate City. A place we had not been to for a while…. For many years, we’d spend Friday nights there. She’d get to hang with her friends, and I’d just skate, mostly minding my own business. I could skate but age tamed me. It was a challenge to move to roller blades but I did it. They were cooler than skates so yeah, I quickly picked them up. Charlie was a natural on skates. Her dance made that skill easy.
About an hour into it, I was skating backwards. Holding onto Charlie cause that’s something I needed to work on. Wasn’t going fast, wasn’t being silly… just awkwardly skating backwards. I was turning to go forward and caught a wheel edge. Down I went. Just sat down really hard. Like way hard. Did not try to catch myself at all. But then I felt it. Yeah, pain but not too bad. So I laid down and there was Charlie kneeling down beside me. “Get up” she said. Give me a second. Yeah, can’t move. “want me to call Mom?” No, just give me a second. By that time another skater was there. He was probably in his late 30’s, asking the same questions. Keeping other skaters at bay he made sure no one ran over me. Please don’t leave me I asked him. He wasn’t going anywhere.
I quickly realized that I absolutely couldn’t move. Looked down and my left upper leg was looking weird. I couldn’t move it. The pain was there to. Yeah, get someone, I can’t move. The Skate City guy comes over, asks me if I can move off the floor. NOPE, you need to call someone. He told me the ambulance was on the way and that he couldn’t move me. Should be here pretty quick, about 5 min. Have no idea how long it took, but there I was on the floor, music, skaters… the world did not stop. I again asked that guy that initially stopped to not leave me. He wasn’t going anywhere thankfully. Charlie was still there and yeah time to call Liz. Managed to snake out my phone from my pocket, my keys, my wallet and handed them off to her. Music still going, and a few skaters stopped and asked if I was ok. Fine, I just can’t move.
The music stops, the lights come on. And there were 6 or 7 paramedics over me. The usual questions ensue. “What happened? Can you move? How’s the pain? Did you hit your head? Are you allergic to anything?“ Nick is the only guy I remember. As quickly as they got there, they were taking my blood pressure, and cutting my pant leg off. Asking all the questions again…. And again. There I was sprawled out on the skate floor creating such a commotion. By this time all the kiddo’s were outside the wall. The Skate City guy shewed them away from there as well. Asked more questions from the paramedics. Then they stuck an IV in me. Think that hurt more. They wanted to give me some pain meds because they probably knew. As soon as they tried to move me, it was going to hurt.
More questions, the same damn questions. Still the pain was there, minor pain. Nothing broke through the skin, but dang my leg looked funny. Talked more with Nick… “Looks more dislocated from my hip than broken” I offered. He wouldn’t say if he agreed or not. By this time, they somehow managed to get the skate off my left foot. I remember telling them to just cut that off too cause you’re not moving my leg… but before I knew it, it was off. That wasn’t so bad. I’m sure by now I was a bit loopy from whatever IV they gave me. I remember things, was sober I think, but I did feel a bit weird. Distinctly remember telling Charlie not to forget my shoes and asked if her mom was on the way. Have no remembrance of her answers.
Then there’s Nick again. “Okay we’re going to pick you up now.” Oh hell no you’re not. “Don’t worry, we have all these people and we’ve done this before.” Everyone did know what they were doing. They had this clamshell backboard he explained. “Don’t even need to roll you over. Those two will hold your leg, I got the good leg. And everyone else will lift. We’ve done this before, we’ll take good care of you.”
Not 10 seconds after the backboard was clamped down, they picked me up. My heart stopped a bit cause I sorta kinda felt like it was separating below me. It wasn’t. They -had- done this before. I then remember being outside just about to be shoved into the ambulance. “Don’t let me tip over. Where’s Charlie? Is Liz here yet?” Nick tells me something about the ambulance crew. Something to assure me they were top notch. Not just any crew he said, but apparently I had the best. Another conversation with Charlie before they closed the door. She was great. I have no true idea what a mess I was that night, but relied on her. She drove her car following in the ambulance. My ride stuck at Skate city. But she had my phone, my keys, and I think my shoes so it was all good. SLAM, the door closes. Just me, Nick, and that other guy.
Had no idea where we were going, didn’t even matter much. In the ambulance, they cut my other pant leg off. My pain was getting a bit worse. They couldn’t give me more drugs, I’d have to wait till we got to the hospital. No sirens, no lights, just a quite ride to the hospital. More questions… the same damn questions! Leg still looked funny and was still worried they would drop me at the end of this ride. But they didn’t. I don’t even remember really getting to the hospital… I was just there. The wheeled me next to a bed and I then questioned my whole life. This is going to hurt, just leave me on the ambulance gurney. You must have more, I need to stay on this one. Don’t move me.
