What Happens in Las Vegas Can Follow You Home

 I forgot to write about Vegas! We went March 7-10 with our friends, Lori and Earl. We stayed at the Plaza Hotel and Casino on Fremont Street. We had a good time walking around and seeing the sites. All was well and good until our last day. We had a couple hours until we had to leave for the airport, and Lori and I wanted to hit up the gift shop. 'Hit up' was an understatement.

On the way into the store, I tripped on a raised part of the floor (yes, it was marked). I fell face first into the keychain display on the front of the till. I ripped open my forehead and my jaw. Two of the prongs struck either corner of my eye, inside and outside. I cringe to think what would have happened if I hit 1/2" to the left or right. I could have injured or lost my eye! Although I absolutely despise these scars, I'm thankful it didn't happen.

I had fantastic service from the paramedics on the way to the hospital. Their treatment was above and beyond. When we arrived at the hospital, I was triaged quite quickly. They wanted to do a CT and x-rays of my shoulder and knee. I was put in an OB room a couple of rows from the front desk - more on that later. When the doctor arrived to stitch me, I asked if they had a plastics doctor on staff? She said they didn't. I asked her if she could please use a find thread. Instead she grabbed some macrame cord (or so it seemed) and stitch my wound with 4 largely space stitches. She put steri-strips on my jaw. She looked under the bandages I had put on my hand and just stuck them back down. No cleaning or changing dressings. I went for the x-rays. They took 2 films of my knee and 4 of my shoulder. Then it was back to the baby monitor room to wait for the CT scan, get a check by the doc and out the door we go. Well, they lost me. They thought I had left. I was crying at the door to my room when, finally, the admitting nurse walked past. She asked if I was TP and explained they couldn't find me. I told her that I can take out my own IV and them I'm leaving. She took me to the triage area and we found my original nurse. I repeated I can do the IV, and that we had to leave because we had a plane to catch (I didn't realize we had missed it already). The CT was forgotten, I got the IV out, collected my paperwork and out the door we went. I was astounded that the states' fantastic personal healthcare is a dud. They could've run tests galore and run up our bill, but nope. There's nothing wrong with the shoulder or knee, she's stitched up, and out the door.

Kiershyn booked us a flight home on the 11th, so we had to find a room for the night. Well, what a fuck around. That day, there was a huge convention for the weekend, some teen thing, Nascar and March madness. Finding a room was almost impossible. We had a great taxi driver who knew the city and drove us all over. Finally we found a room at the Golden Nugget. We learned the rooms are regularly around $125. However, the insanity that hit the city meant we had to pay $570 USD!!! The room was a dumpy little thing, but it was clean and I was exhausted. We fell into bed and had a restless night.

I don't remember much from just before the accident until about 5 days later. I keep having missing parts of things I remember, and I have to check with Darrin to see what's what. My mind is already going, so these concussions (I've had 4 in 5 years) certainly aren't helping.

We caught our flight, I slept the entire trip. I should have gone to the ED at the U of A hospital to get my stitches fixed by plastics, but I just wanted to get home so I said screw it. When we arrived home, I took some ibuprofen and went to bed.

The next day, the 12th, I started having horrible muscle spasm pain all along my right side - that's the side that hit the display - and I was losing it. I called Kiershyn, who called Drey, and told him I had to go to the hospital. Drey took me in and Kiershyn arrived a little later; Drey went home. I paced and sat and stood and was in so much pain. My blood pressure, while still in the normal range, was not normal for me - it was much higher than usual. Amazing how pain affects so many things. The pain was bad enough that I was doing my labour breathing. That is VERY bad for me. After being triaged, the doctor made her way in about 3 hours later, which is really not bad considering what the city hospitals (and Fort Saskatchewan) are like. She prescribed Valium, full x-rays of my right side, and a CT of both my face and my head. Thankfully, the procedures happened after the drugs had kicked in and I was able to move and lay down for them.

Eventually the doctor returned and said I had a concussion, a partially dislocated shoulder including tears in my sub... something. I would need to wear a sling (that didn't last very long), do some exercises and check in with an NP in a couple of weeks. I received incredible service, awesome nurses, and only 8 hours from start to finish! Amazing.

So, the States dropped the ball, but our system picked it up and ran with it. I hope to never have a serious injury away from home again.