Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Trip to the ER: part 1

Whew... It had already been a long week. By Friday afternoon we were all pretty beat and ready for a quiet weekend. Mom and Dad were in town finishing some errands, Jake was out on his bike ride, Eli hanging out in his room, my sisters and I just chillin'... nothing much.

I was getting dinner started when Jake comes staggering in the kitchen, "What day is it?" I turned to look at him... I think my jaw hit the floor and my eyes became the size of dinner plates. "What happened?" was all that I could manage trying to take in the sight of my brother in a very bloody state (I could use a more descriptive word... but I'll try to keep this rated PG). His knees were thrashed, his gloves had been shredded, and his face had a serious case of road rash. "What day is it?" he kept asking Okay. Umm... after a few moments of starting to clean up the wounds, my sisters and I realized that this was more serious than our first impressions. Just getting him to sit still was a challenge - he kept trying to see what day it was. I started asking him what day of the week it was. He didn't know. What month? Still drew a blank. Okay, how 'bout year? "2012." :blink blink:... What happened? He couldn't recall anything that happened that afternoon. He hit his head harder than suspected. We tried calling Mom and Dad but to no avail... we called oh, about a dozen times in 2 minutes with texts thrown in for good measure. Inhale. Exhale. Think. Delegate. Umm... You - stay with Eli and hold down the home front and try to get a hold of parental units and Oma. You - come with me, Jake might need more help than what we can offer. We get Jake situated in my car and start down the driveway, lo and behold... the empty tank light was on. Oh snap. At least everything is downhill from our house. ;)

I would have flown down the mountain, but the curvy road proved painful for Jake. All the way there, I asked him basic questions that he would know the answer to. Everything that he could remember was very slow in the coming with major points missing... At least he remembered having 'evil geese.' I whooshed into the parking spot closest to the door that wasn't for handicap. Although, in retrospect and considering the situation, it might have been fine...I rushed in to the front desk to get him signed in while Jess helped him hobble up. "Was he wearing a helmet?" "When did it happen?" "Does he remember what happened?" So many questions. When they found out that he was having memory issues, they said he needed to go to the ER for a CT scan. I think my car can get there... it's already sucking fumes though... And in walks Oma. I think I heard a fanfare when those doors opened. After they checked his vitals, we loaded up in Oma's car and headed around the mountain to the nearest ER. We still hadn't gotten a hold of Mom and Dad...

...to be continued...

1 comment: