Continuation….
The crowd started to thicken but I couldn’t see well because my glasses flew along with my fall. Good thing they didn’t break and nobody stepped on them. The guards radioed and we were assisted to the clinic right away.
The mall clinic nurses (two of them, pretty ones I noticed) were already alerted and informed of what happened before we got there. One of them checked my BP and it was 190 over 140 (That’s high – probably due to the shock and pain I was put through). I’ve no hypertension history. They gave me a pain killer and started cold compress on the injured leg.
We all thought, including me, that it was really nothing that my leg just got sprained or twisted. There was no sign of trauma, no swelling, discoloration, not even a bruise. It just hurt when moved. Nevertheless the nurses recommended an x-ray.
We had lunch and lots of food before we went to get an x-ray. One of the nurses suggested they eat without me and just leave me in the clinic, bring my food there but no way! Not going to miss lunch with family, NOT at Gerry’s grill! We were all hopeful it’s nothing. By this time, the pain killer was working so my leg hurt very little so I thought everything was just ok.
They referred us to the ‘medical city’ inside the mall and I had my x-ray there. I’m touched by my brothers’ support and show of love and concern. What a blessed girl being closely assisted by two good looking fellows (my brothers). While the rest of the family waited outside, the 3 of us went for the x-ray. The transfer from the chair to the x-ray bed was excruciating. MY baby brother supported my back as I leaned on him, sitting on the x-ray table while my other brother supported my injured leg on the film plate. I guess one set wasn’t enough so they had us do it again after a few minutes.
The shocking revelation
How surprised we were to see a 5 inches diagonal line crossing the tibia of my right leg. It’s called a hair line fracture or an oblique, closed fracture. It showed very clearly on the x-ray film, you won’t need a doctor to interpret the result, you can see it yourself. The nurses said I would probably need a cast for it.
I didn’t want a cast. I only wanted a splint and a stronger pain killer. I’ve been through worse than this and thinking this pain would be nothing compared to the pain I had to endure during my first therapies when I first got paralyzed. I just wanted to go home and was certain in a few days this leg will be alright BUT my brother convinced me to have it cast. He said the line fracture crossed the bone so if I don’t have it cast and I accidentally leaned on it or one more fall, the bone could break in two. He also said it’ll take longer to heal if not cast AND I might not be able to go with them to the trip if it becomes too painful to move it. No way, I’m letting this trip pass, I’ve let so many chances in my life pass and regret each one so NO, I’m braving this one…and with that I succumbed to having my leg cast.
They took me to the clinic one more time before we left for the National Orthopedic Hospital. They gave me another pain killer and took my BP. And it's gone down to 150 over 100. Still a bit high for my normal BP but understandable under the circumstances.
To be continued…
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