A day in the life of..... Rebecca S.

Sat. June 4, 2005

It started off as a normal saturday, I woke up and watched cartoons and puttered around in my pjs. Around noon my parents picked me up and we went to visit the dog that's at the animal shelter on a bite quarentine(long story, ask if you really want to know). So we head back home and after sitting around for a while we decide to go for a walk. It's about 4 by then. I decide to take the bike(big mistake #1) because it's better exercise and, hey, I need to get used to riding it since I probably will need to ride it to get to work(^_^). I almost couldn't find my helmet but I did so I put it on(good thought #1) and headed down to the park. I waited for my parents to get there because they were walking with the dog. We let him play around in the creek for a while then decide to head further up the path to get him dried off before we head home. My dad wanted to run the dog a little so he was going to get on the bike but I insisted that I need to learn how to do that(big mistake #2). So I start out and the dog almost set me off balance but I told him no and he seemed to straighten up, so I kept going(big mistake #3). We get further ahead of my parents and suddenly the dog pulls out to the end of the leash in a direction different than the way we were going and since my hand is holding the leash and the handle bar the bike goes too. I didn't let go of either(big mistake #4) but I keep going forward instead of with the bike and the dog so my center of gravity is now careening towards the ground. I no longer had time to move my arms in any defensive manuver. I land, *drumroll* on my chin *da-da-da-DA!*. As soon as I stopped skidding forward, which wasn't very long, I emit a sound I had no idea I could make. It was a cross between a whale song and a very upset child. I had my hands under my chin, but not touching, but I assumed the wetness I felt was my tears, I found out later that it was blood.
When my parents come thundering up my dad gets my shirt sleeve untangled from the handle and sits me up to make sure I have no spinal injury. My mom is screaming at him about the blood and making it stop bleeding and to get his shirt off faster. My eyes were shut the entire time because I was still crying in the stereotypical boo-hoo-hoo fashion. My dad shoves his shirt under my chin and tells me to hold it there keeping pressure on it. Apparently the dog is wandering around trying to figure out whats going on and my mom was yelling at him to sit down and stay. She sorta flings the leash at my dad and barks at him to take the dog and the bike back home and bring the car to the park. So he goes off and I calm down enough to try explaining what happened. It was a bit of a whirl at the time but I got up and started tottering down the path anyways. My mom is trying not to hover but she can't help it, her baby is in pain. When we get to the end of the path my dad wasn't there yet so we sat on a big rock to wait for him. He comes flying down the hill in the car and screeching around the traffic circle. When he stops he pops out of the car and I show him the progress of my wound. It was then that my parents both realized I was going to need stitches. So we head to the urgent care.
The people were very nice and the lady up front went in search of a nurse as soon as she saw my chin. I had the shirt balled up under it still. The nurse comes and ushers us back to what else but, trauma 1. When she sees my chin she goes to find a doctor. This is making me feel real nice about it... not. He pokes around(with gloves on of course) and then mutters at the nurse. Probably something about how dirty it is. I just had to land in the little rocks-dirt-sand mess. He then tries to discuss with me about what they are going to do. I was in a little too much pain to want to talk and I guess mom realized that because she tried to field as many questions as she could. When the discussion turned to Valium I realized I was going to have to do this straight. I was not going to be that sedated just because I have an aversion to needles. The radio was on a pretty good station so I asked them to turn it up in lieu of a sedative. He numbed my chin with something in a needle. He kept telling me how good I was doing like I was some sort of little kid. I already felt really small so that just made things all the better.... not. When he was satisfied I was numbed up enough he let the nurse clean it out. My parents said that it took almost an hour just to clean it. Hey if you're gonna go, go all out. I liked the way the saline felt. It was nice and cool. She irrigated and scrubbed and irrigated and scrubbed. When she was done the doctor came back to do the stitches. He put this papery cloth thing over my face that just had a hole for my chin. He kept telling me he was almost done, but he wasn't. When he had like six stitches left the numbness started wearing off so he had to stop and inject more stuff in it. When he finally did get done he took off the paper thing and sat the chair back up. I had my eyes shut almost the whole time because they had a light on me that was really, really bright. That and I didn't really want to see what was going on. He left to finish the paperwork and decide which antibiotic I should get. My mom asked that it be a liquid. She's so smart ^.^
When I stood up I realized just how tired I was. I did get a peek of myself in the mirror though. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Having never really seen stitches I thought the doc did a really good job. He interned with a plastic surgeon. My dad keeps wanting to discuss what he did with me but I'd rather not know. Apparently he used a scalpel for some of it. Yeah I'd rather not know. I had dirt in my mouth the whole time and it was getting really gross. My mom asked if I wanted water and I told her Gatorade sounded better. I had been sweating and crying so I was a bit dehydrated. So my mom and I went out to the car to let my dad pay. He came out and said they don't take debit cards so he and I went to the house to get my mom's purse. My brother was there with his friend. He hadn't seen the not my dad left him so he had no idea what was going on. I showed him my chin and tried to tell him a brief on what happened. He didn't really care after saying Holy Cow. My dad couldn't find his keys so my bro let him into the house. He came back out with my mom's purse and a water bottle full of Gatorade. :) My daddy's so nice :) I had just stayed in the car because I wanted to go in the house and stay for a while if I went in and my parents didn't want me home by myself. So dad and I went back to my mom at the urgent care. That was when we realized that we could have just gone to the atm in the parking lot beside the urgent care :P So we paid the people and went to deposit something and get my perscription. I went in despite still being in my bloody, dirty shirt and pants. They didn't take very long to fill the perscription(I was an incentive to speed them along ^_~). We went home and I was able to get cleaned up and changed. We put my clothes in to soak in cold water and detergent. I didn't want food. But ice cream sounded just fine, so we went to Nut N Sweet. I got a milkshake. We hung out there for a while then headed off towards Starbucks to show my "sister". I got a plain bagel and ate about half by breaking off little pieces. It hurts if I open my mouth too far. When we got home I took my medicine and a tylonal pm. While I waited for that to kick in I laid on the loveseat in my parents room. My mom and I had changed the sheets on my bed. She kept asking me if I'd rather sleep in x or x. I just wanted to sleep in my bed. So when the tylonal kicked in I toddled off to my room and turned on my Celtic Sounds cd. I couldn't fall asleep until I turned mostly on my stomach. I slept soundly.
I have a few little bruises on my arm but the worst one is on my right thigh. It's actually a fushia and purple-black blob. It resembles a pirate face in a way. But oh well. That is the story of my first, and hopefully only, trip to the urgent care.