Crazy as it may seem, I’ve had to spend a lot of time in the Emergency Room. Not for me, but for people I live with or are visiting me. To be fair, I’ve been to the ER a couple of times, once for stitches and once because my doctor thought I had heart trouble (I didn’t. It was indigestion.)
It started when I was 8 months pregnant with FirstBorn. Hubby got very sick, and I took him in. They kept asking me if I needed to be seen. I felt fine. Poor Hubby had to keep asking them to pay attention to him.
The worst experience was taking Hubby into the ER after a very bad bicycle wreck. His helmet was decimated. If he hadn’t been wearing a helmet, I’m sure he would have killed or left mentally damaged. Instead, he cut up the bottom part of his face very badly and had road rash all over. As bad as it was, I was thankful it wasn’t worse.
I took FirstBorn to the ER once when she fell on ice and busted open a large cut on her head. I should have taken her in another time when she was very small. She lipped on ice again and cut her chin badly. The cut should have been stitched up, but she screamed hysterically when I said I’d take her to the hospital. Rather than terrorize the child, I let it go. The cut healed fine, but left a scar.
Our son has visited the ER the most. Not for sickness, but for injuries. He’s had stitches in his face and his knees. It started when he was four, and he fell off a weight machine at his grandma’s house and cut his face. It got worst as he got older. He broke a toe on our rock fireplace while chasing the dog. Exactly a year later, he broke another toe on the rock fireplace doing something else. His PE teacher didn’t believe me when I requested that he let him sit out of class.
We visited the ER when Sonny was on a bicycle racing team. He missed the awards ceremony at one race where he received a metal because he was in the ER getting stitched up. He cut his face badly while working on his truck one time. Once again, I was there to haul him in.
I’ve taken my dad to the ER three times. He told me I’d missed my calling in life. I should have been an ambulance driver. Maybe he was right.