My Crash landing in London

Thus is the life of a superhero. I was fighting evil, as I always do, and had just rescued a baby from certain death (not true, but everyone loves babies, and a mere mention makes the story better). It was too dark to see into the shadows, and evil was around every corner (not true, it was about ten in the morning). Then my oldest adversaries slammed me face-first into the castle wall (it was the sidewalk at the subway entrance, not a castle). My oldest adversaries are hunger (hunger was not a factor), gravity, and momentum. I tripped on something in the darkness (cloudy sky, plenty of light for anyone, or I fell over my own feet). Anyway, I crashed hard into the cobblestone pavement. The cobblestone part is true. The crash landing shattered my elbow (distal head of the humerus… “upper arm bone”) into several pieces (painfully true).

Multiple people in Ireland told me that I’d better have a great story to go along with my injury. No one wants to hear that I tripped and fell, causing my injury. So, there is my story about how I was injured, a Superhero fighting evil. My hands were outstretched (like Superheroes often do while flying), in this case to protect my face. My knees and right elbow took most of the impact, and my elbow was shattered. Usually, I bounce when falling, not this time. I remember the sound; it sounded like a dull thud.

Crowded corner

The corner was crowded. In addition to the normal people storming the castle (subway), there were survey takers and perhaps some social influencers (protestors). I was moving fast enough to avoid being caught by them, but I still ended up delayed. After I fell, they grouped around me, all encouraging me to get up. I was gathering people faster than a fight in grade school. I was the center of attention, and I didn’t like it one bit.

While lying on the ground, someone even grabbed my shoulders to help me up, and I immediately thought of my wallet. Were my helpers actually thieves trying to take advantage of my injury? Maybe they knew that my only superpower was a plastic card in my wallet. I also thought that if I stood up, it would hurt more. But I might not be able to stand up for long and end up on the cobblestones again with even more injuries.

During the fall, my hat fell off (old ballcap), and my sunglasses went flying; I think the sunglasses were in my pocket. Somehow, Tami retrieved my scattered items. I had my wallet zipped in my front pocket, my phone on a lanyard around my neck, and it was stuffed into a different pocket. Somehow, I managed to control my credit card, which was in my hand and ready to pay for the subway. I gave this to Tami while I was still on the ground.

Rolling with the fall

Really, it was all one motion, hitting with a thud and rolling away from my injured elbow. In this split second, I did everything right.

After hitting the ground, I somehow rolled away from my broken elbow and grabbed it with my left hand. I’m not sure how I got my right arm across my body during (or after) the fall. Somehow, I knew that this was the position of safety guarding my arm against further injury. The pain was immediate.

Rather than getting up, I wanted to lie there, at least for a while. (I didn’t know I was bleeding until well after hitting the ground). I was bleeding from my elbow (compound fracture with part of the bone breaking through the skin). Even slightly moving my right arm, I could feel multiple parts moving. The bones were not in the right place and felt like they were grinding against each other.

An angel appeared

This part is 100% true; my angel’s name was Angela, and she was a nurse. Angela was there within five seconds of my fall. Tami and my friends were protecting me from getting stepped on by all the people, and Angela understood the injury and told me not to move. Since I was lying on my side, unable to hold my head up, Angela put her purse under my head. Really, I didn’t know what it was or where it came from, but it was way better than having my head on the cobblestones.

I tried to roll over to my back (this may have been before Angela put her purse under my head), but I distinctly heard someone say the words “blood gushing.” Until then, I didn’t know that the shattered bone(s) had broken through the skin.

I heard Angela calling for an ambulance, and she seemed agitated that they were delayed. I’m not sure when the police arrived, but it was well before the ambulance. It seemed like Angela called for an ambulance several times, but perhaps it was only one extended call.

Ambulances in London

Ambulances in London are very popular. I didn’t learn why until later. Ambulances in London (perhaps all of England) are free, and it seems that they are summoned immediately, even for people who don’t need one. So for me, lying at the subway entrance bleeding, I couldn’t get one. Both Angela and a security guard were calling, but none were available.

The police arrive

Before I received any medical help, I had four police officers assist me in protecting me from the onlookers, and they were very helpful in arranging an ambulance. It appears that the ambulance dispatchers listen to the police more than to Angela or the subway security guards. After a while, the sun came out, and I asked one of the police officers if he might stand over me to keep the sun off my head. The police officers also told me several times that I was a great patient. I was lying there holding my broken elbow and trying not to move. I suppose this was enough effort to put me in the ‘great patient’ category, but it makes me wonder what it takes to be in the ‘bad patient’ category.

Medical help

I don’t know how my first medical help arrived, but I think he was in a Prius or maybe even a smaller car. He arrived well before the ambulance. He had a uniform, and it was apparent (at least to me) that he spent a lot of time in the gymnasium. Overall, he was very fit and obviously strong. He checked me for other injuries and was very attentive. We talked more than I was able to with Angela or the police. He told me that the ambulance wouldn’t be too long, and he was the first person in my life to offer me morphine. I was quite stunned, morphine. Was it that bad? Did it look like I needed morphine? I declined the morphine. Not long after he arrived, the ambulance was there.

My ambulance

It had been lying on the cobblestones for a very long time before the ambulance arrived. Unlike my previous medical helper, they had a gurney and a vehicle large enough to transport it. Somewhere along the way, someone stabilized my elbow in a box splint. I was able to help the medical team by getting onto the gurney. They didn’t spend any time with me on the corner, and we were off to the hospital emergency room.

Tami was in the back of the ambulance with me for the ride. Right after we got in the ambulance, they put a tube in my mouth and told me to breathe very deeply. I thought it was oxygen, but I quickly concluded (by the taste) that it wasn’t just oxygen. Oxygen doesn’t have a taste; it just seems dry. But this tube had a sweet taste. They told me that it was nitrous oxide. My pain reliever was laughing gas. Initially, I wasn’t doing it right. They wanted me to breathe in and quickly breathe out forcefully.

Emergency Room

Care in the emergency room was great, but the pain was back, and I wasn’t getting laughing gas for this pain. Instead, they gave me something to sip. Perhaps this was morphine. I also remember the word codine. In the emergency room, they made me as comfortable as possible, except for the X-ray and CT scan visit. They wanted a clear picture of what they were doing, and the technician would not allow my pain to get in the way of a great picture. Sometime after the X-ray, I got to see Dr. Abdula, who helped straighten out the mess in my elbow by pulling on my arm before he put me in my first cast. This was more painful than the X-ray by a wide margin.

The biggest surprise

The biggest surprise was the total lack of paperwork. Not once during our stay were we asked for any sort of ID or insurance. Tami asked to visit the billing department to provide proof of insurance, but they don’t have it. So far, no one has contacted us with anything about my four-day stay in the hospital, including two surgeries — period. I feel like their attitude is “Don’t call us, we will call you”.

Mobility is a big issue.

Don’t break your elbow. It is tough to recover from this injury. It was six weeks before I could use my right hand to operate my computer mouse. Even holding something in my right hand was difficult. The doctors seem happy with my recovery, and unlike the last eight weeks, I can actually touch my nose with my hand, getting just enough range of motion at my elbow to do something other than stretching exercises. So far, they don’t want me to lift anything heavier than a coffee cup, which is fine since I can’t eat or drink with my right hand anyway.

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