Thought for Food

Discharge Patient 406104452

First: thank you so much for your well-wishes. Granted, it was weird to blog/twitter from the ER, but I had nothing better to do, I couldn’t talk on the phone, and this is the quickest way for me to let my family and friends know the relevant deets.

I was hit by a Chevy SUV last night at like 7:40 pm at 42nd and 6th Av.  In ER lingo, this is what’s known as an MVC (Motor Vehicle Collision.)  They happen a lot. Health-care professionals, in my limited experience, are always on the side of the pedestrian.  Cops?  Not so much.

The 40 minutes between the accident and triage at Methodist Hospital in Park Slope was an epic tale that I shall tell another day — pending possible litigation.  If I never tell it publicly, you shall certainly find a version of that scene in one of my future novels.  And you probably wouldn’t believe it as fiction.

Anyway, I was knocked hard off my feet, flew up in the air a couple feet, and landed on my right bum.  It is not insubstantial, so I’ve got that going for me.  I banged up my body really hard — everything went clunking: ankles, knees, shoulder, neck, head, and of course my left side where there was impact.  I went into a very real shock.  One stranger was enormously kind and helpful — the rest were not.  My parents had to convince me to go to the ER — I was in such shock I thought I could just walk away, or get in the car with the woman who hit me.

Five minutes after I left the scene, the pain really started to kick in.  The first moments were very out-of-body — I jumped up from the street and got very concerned about finding all my things.  When I was asked what I wanted to do next, I thought I was clear-headed but looking back I was in a dream.  Nightmare, more like it.  When that feeling disappeared, my head started throbbing, my joints aching, and I started to be afraid that something might be really wrong.

To make sure I did not have internal bleeding or something, I got the full battery of tests — blood samples, many X-rays, CT scan of my vital organs and neck, rectal exam, a very thorough session with an ultrasound machine (I saw my heart!), multiple blood samples….

I also got an IV bag full of morphine.  That stuff is very strange at first, very intense, and then quickly loses its effect.  I was immediately wanting another hit — and I was on a drip!  

And I had to drink this nasty yellow stuff that makes your insides glow for the CT scanner.  A whole liter of it.  Bleh. 

I got home about 20 minutes ago.  I felt restless and had gotten so many sweet worried emails and calls so wanted to let you all know what happened.

The Tylenol with Codeine is now kicking in.  I’ve eaten my bowl of oatmeal — the first thing I’ve eaten since a late lunch — and am now going to slip into bed and make myself as comfortable as possible.

I’ll be housebound, probably for a full week.  That’s what my doctor’s excuse says, anyway.  Luckily, I can sit and try to write on my exercise ball, which is the only thing that would not really hurt my ass. 

Cause holy shit does my ass hurt.  The doctor’s term was “road burn” and it’s as fun as it sounds.

On a final note: in the ER, I told Jane, “One of my first thoughts was strangely positive: ‘Now I’ve been hit by a car.’”  In the name of experience, so long as there is no long-term damage, I would pass on very little.

“That’s my little writer!” she said.

That said, missing work for a week is awful.  This pain is triple-awful.

Love!

Nora