Happy Burn Alive Tuesday!
Monday was super eventful. I wasn't able to post because my son's infection wasn't improving.
The day started as a normal Monday and I received a Zoom invitation from my lead requesting that I share my screen and phone calls with a new representative. He was scheduled to observe me working all day.
Monday is typically a busy day and I wasn't mentally prepared to screen share, but I did. The representative was a nice guy who lives forty-five minutes away.
I realized early in the morning that my son wasn't improving much on the antibiotics that he could feel, so I decided we needed to go back to the emergency room for round two.
I logged out of work at 11:00 am on my "lunch break" which is usually 10:45 am (better known as brunch) after messaging my supervisor to apologize for bailing out on the trainee and to let her know why I needed to leave early. Apart from occasional migraines, I don't leave work early or call off of work without good cause.
We arrived at the emergency room at 1:30 pm. Two ambulances showed up at the same time. We were triaged and set in the overflow waiting room. Time crawled and we waited.
People began leaving before being seen at the three-and-a-half-hour, four-hour waiting mark. We waited. At 5:30 a room was available. A lot of human suffering came in and exited the hospital emergency room yesterday. One woman grew extremely heated with the nurse who called my son. She felt they shouldn't prioritize ambulances over people waiting. The nurse handled the confrontation well. This isn't a part of the job I've witnessed before, but I can imagine how frequently it occurs. I was grateful I didn't have to go during the pandemic.
Periodically, I prayed for people I witnessed waiting for hours to be seen, only to leave, like the elderly couple who sat next to me. They came to get her husband who is in a wheelchair seen for something he's been trying to cope with. His wife asked me if they could just sign out. I said yes. The intake worker advised that his insurance would be billed for triage only. Many tried to sleep while sitting.
The doctor pulled a large amount of blood from my son. She set him up with another IV, and treated him for the hives that something given to him Saturday triggered. The bloodwork came back normal. The infection markers were receding. The inflammation causing the pain, not so much.
Pain pills do nothing for tooth pain, so the hydrocodone he was prescribed Saturday worthless. He received another IV dose of antibiotics before discharge. I was exhausted and famished. Snacks from the vending machines fell short of the real food my body craved. He was released after 9:30 pm with two new scripts.
I stopped, at his request, at McDonald's. It was the first food he'd eaten all day. I choked down a regular hamburger. I can't tell you the last time I consumed a hamburger. I frequently joke that McDonald's doesn't qualify as real food.
Ten minutes from home the final act occurred. Leaping from the shadows of the suburbs was a white-tailed deer. It took out my driver's side headlamp and a portion of my Buick's grill. The visual of the deer connecting with the car, the glass exploding and the deer cartwheeling in what felt like slow motion alongside the highway will remain forever in my brain. In this area deer and deer accidents are common. I've honestly lost track. I speculate this accident was the nineteenth or twentieth deer accident I've been involved in.
Neither my son or I suffered injury, and, frankly, I didn't even stop to check the damage until I arrived home. We were exhausted. Jeff came outside with a flashlight when I called him to come outside to look at the damage. Fortunately (blessed) the damage to the car isn't severe.
Ironically, the car was scheduled for a wheel bearing replacement today. Jeff and I dropped the car off at the garage tonight after dinner. He will be taking the car to get an estimate of the damage from the accident another day. I'm thankful the deer left my car drivable.
That's enough excitement for the week. I'm ready for some boring days. One can hope. 馃檹
Thank you for reading 馃摎. Have you experienced a deer or wildlife animal accident?
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