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On Hurting My Leg (Part I)
Dec. 1st, 2004 | 08:54 pm
WHAT HAPPENED
I was riding my bike down Longwood Avenue, near Temple Israel, and I tried to bike over a curb about an inch high. I've biked over curbs four inches high before, so I really didn't think it was a problem until my wheel slid against the curb and I fell down and all the impact was on my left knee. I was in shock for a little bit, but I have wipeouts all the time, so I didn't think it was anything serious, and so I told everyone who had witnessed the accident that I was fine. When I tried to walk however, it was a different story. My left leg simply could not support my weight, and when I tried to walk on it, I experienced extreme agony. I started crying as I leaned on the ledge as I took out my cell phone. I've never experienced that before: the feeling that you're utterly helpless, that you are not able to walk. It scared me.
THE HOSPITAL
My dad helped me get in the car and we went to Children's Hospital a couple of blocks away. Every bump in the road sent a little shock of pain through the bad leg. When we walked inside, my dad and the valet helped me get in a wheelchair, and I wheeled myself into the emergency room. We (me & Dad) checked in at Triage and waited around a half hour to register, and then we were called up to Radiology to get X-rays. We wait another half-hour, get our 1st set of X-rays. We wait another half-hour and get our 2nd set of X-rays. We wait yet another half-hour and get our 3rd set of X-rays; the radiologists says that the doctors want to be sure that I've broken something. We wait another half-hour and they say that I need a CAT scan as it is still inconclusive. However, they need a doctor in another department to approve the CAT scan. They say it will take 15 minutes. We wait another half-hour (yes, half-hour) and they say that they couldn't get the doctor so we need to go back down to the emergency room. We go down to the ER again and wait another half-hour, where we finally get a hopsital room and are notified that they lost the X-rays. Thankfully, this is temporary, and they find the X-rays 15 minutes later and a doctor who isn't a resident from Harvard examines me and says that it is not broken and we should wait for the swelling to die down so that they can reevaluate. (I should inform you at this point that my left knee is three times the size of my right knee.) So I get a knee immobilizer and crutches and leave the hospital.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW
I am currently in crutches and am supposed to put ice on it a lot (even though I only do it when I am in bed) and I have to keep it elevated with pillows when I go to sleep except my leg falls off the pillows a lot and that kind of hurts.
More later.
I was riding my bike down Longwood Avenue, near Temple Israel, and I tried to bike over a curb about an inch high. I've biked over curbs four inches high before, so I really didn't think it was a problem until my wheel slid against the curb and I fell down and all the impact was on my left knee. I was in shock for a little bit, but I have wipeouts all the time, so I didn't think it was anything serious, and so I told everyone who had witnessed the accident that I was fine. When I tried to walk however, it was a different story. My left leg simply could not support my weight, and when I tried to walk on it, I experienced extreme agony. I started crying as I leaned on the ledge as I took out my cell phone. I've never experienced that before: the feeling that you're utterly helpless, that you are not able to walk. It scared me.
THE HOSPITAL
My dad helped me get in the car and we went to Children's Hospital a couple of blocks away. Every bump in the road sent a little shock of pain through the bad leg. When we walked inside, my dad and the valet helped me get in a wheelchair, and I wheeled myself into the emergency room. We (me & Dad) checked in at Triage and waited around a half hour to register, and then we were called up to Radiology to get X-rays. We wait another half-hour, get our 1st set of X-rays. We wait another half-hour and get our 2nd set of X-rays. We wait yet another half-hour and get our 3rd set of X-rays; the radiologists says that the doctors want to be sure that I've broken something. We wait another half-hour and they say that I need a CAT scan as it is still inconclusive. However, they need a doctor in another department to approve the CAT scan. They say it will take 15 minutes. We wait another half-hour (yes, half-hour) and they say that they couldn't get the doctor so we need to go back down to the emergency room. We go down to the ER again and wait another half-hour, where we finally get a hopsital room and are notified that they lost the X-rays. Thankfully, this is temporary, and they find the X-rays 15 minutes later and a doctor who isn't a resident from Harvard examines me and says that it is not broken and we should wait for the swelling to die down so that they can reevaluate. (I should inform you at this point that my left knee is three times the size of my right knee.) So I get a knee immobilizer and crutches and leave the hospital.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW
I am currently in crutches and am supposed to put ice on it a lot (even though I only do it when I am in bed) and I have to keep it elevated with pillows when I go to sleep except my leg falls off the pillows a lot and that kind of hurts.
More later.