My long time army buddy and close friend who also happens to be my business partner in the upcoming packaging plant had a nasty accident over the weekend. I phoned him on Friday which is fairly standard as we catch up and share things that happened during the week. There was no reply so I figured we will catch up over the weekend which never materialised.
Tonight I received a call expecting to say he will be up this week which is also normal meeting up on the first week of a new month. Unfortunately he was phoning me from his Intensive Care Unit having been thrown from his horse. He is a little bit down as I think he is more shocked what has happened.
When he was telling me the story I tried not to laugh, but sadly I could not help my self which is bad of me. It was funny though and why I thought I should share this tragic tale because it is worth sharing.
Let me paint a proper picture first so you can get a good idea and try and have some sympathy because we should not be laughing. My friend is a good 7ft tall or close to it as he is much taller than me being 6ft5. His horse is a big horse and one he has been preparing to ride for some time. Last month he mentioned his horse and just presumed he was already riding him. He and his family live in a farming community roughly 2 hours from civilization.
When he mentioned he was bucked off or thrown off his horse and the words ICU I guessed correctly the ambulance came to him in the field and not him going to hospital on the backseat of a car. He had an operation yesterday on his hip which has now 6 steel screws holding it together. Ok I had not laughed yet as this is not funny and is rather shocking.
After the operation the nurse offered him pain killers and he had a choice of two with one being stronger than the other. He was complaining about pain and that what he had been given was not doing the job. She informed him the lesser drug was paracetamol or commonly known here as Panado which is a headache tablet. That is when I cracked up laughing and he started laughing as well. This is a proper WTF moment and asked for the stronger medication immediately which kicked in after 15 minutes and helped booster his spirits.
He was then told he was awaiting physio as he was expected to get up and move around as soon as possible. One can only imagine if he was still on the headache tablets how fun that would have been. Most moveable joints like knees and hips the recovery time happens almost immediately with physio.
The ICU where he is currently is not quiet like most places and commented it is like a party atmosphere with the nurses talking loudly to each other. I can just picture a 7ft man in a bed not quite fitting, uncomfortable and loud noises. The upside is he is moving to a ward today and hopefully will be on the mend soon enough.
His wife has to muster up the courage to drive the two hour country lanes there and back and will give her a ring tomorrow to see if she is coping. A 4 hour round trip is definitely not ideal and wonder how many visits he will receive during his hospital stay. She would be better off booking into a hotel every other day and maybe I will suggest that.
He mentioned that his horse will have to be retrained and he still intends to ride him which is kind of nuts. My friend seems to have had so much bad luck of late and I hope his fortunes change. Ooh I almost forgot the biggest licker of all and that his medical aid forms had not been submitted and was an oversight so he is already in for $12K and is expected to be discharged with nothing less than a $20K bill.
