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Weekend from Heck... Kind of
Dec. 6th, 2010 10:24 amThis weekend defined the Minnesotan phrase, “Could be worse,” for me. Because, although a lot of crazy stuff happened, things worked out pretty well in the end.
Okay, so we had a birthday party on Saturday. Actually, we had two, but Mason had accepted an invitation to Ava’s first and, after much discussion and some gnashing of teeth, we decided fair was fair. Rather than try to zip across town and attend both of them for half the time, we would commit to the first one. I’m glad we made this decision, painful though it was.
Right near the end of Ava’s party, when we would have been on route to Donte’s, Shawn called. She’d fallen down the stairs. She didn’t want me to worry, but she’d twisted her ankle pretty badly and… uh, oh, it was swelling up a little.
As soon as I heard that last part, I wanted to come home right away, but Shawn insisted we see the party through to the end. So we stayed another half hour or so, and then made a quick grocery stop. Once I saw her foot, however, I told her we needed to go to the emergency room. The nurse line had told her that she could probably wait and go into Urgent Care on Sunday to get an x-ray, but that they didn’t have anyone on staff that was qualified to set bones if need be until Monday. I said, “Forget about that, you’ve got insurance. We’re going to United’s Emergency Room.”
I knew it was a snowy Saturday, and that we might have to wait for hours, so I brought along snacks, books, etc. Mason and I dropped Shawn off at the entrance and parked in the Red Ramp. By the time we got to the waiting room, she was already going through admissions. We hardly sat down to enjoy TV and books, when they called her back. Mason and I settled back in, but after only another fifteen minutes or less a guy from “guest services” told us we could join her in the room.
Mason, btw, took all this pretty well. We sold it to him as a grand adventure, and he mostly bought into that idea. The waiting in the hospital room got boring though. While we waited for a doctor to get to us, we heard at least four ambulances come in. But, we had Harry Potter (which Mason is re-reading) and the games on my phone. Mama had REBECCA, which she’s rereading, and I stared at the wall, when I wasn’t playing block breaker on my phone. We were in one of those rooms that’s actually divided by a curtain, so I spent some of my time listening to the other family’s problems (a dislocated shoulder, perhaps?) I also took many mental notes of the room in case I ever need to write about an Emergency Room visit in an Ana book or other.
Even so, we were only there for two hours before the doctor came in and pronounced Shawn severely sprained, but not broken. Hooray! Then it took another half hour or so to get a nurse team in to fit Shawn with an “air” boot and give instructions on how to care for her foot.
Finally, we were discharged. While the nice guest services guy wheeled Mama out to the front entrance again, Mason and I went to fetch the car.
And discovered a flat tire. And, not just a little flat, but like scrape the bottom if you try to move flat.
Seriously.
So I took Mason back to Mama and called a taxi for them. Luckily, I’d taken out a bunch of cash earlier that day, and was able to give all of it and my house keys to Shawn. The taxi arrived in about ten minutes, just as I’d finished putting in a call to AAA.
Yes, I know, I fail as a butch lesbian because I didn’t change the tire myself. But, what’s the point of having AAA, if not for late night calls to hospital parking lots? Besides, the guy was great. He showed up within a half hour (I was told I might have to wait two), and we chatted about my age (long story) and politics (turns out he was a rabid Hilary supporter.)
I was on my way home before long, riding on the spare.
On that short drive back, I reflected on the day. It definitely could have been categorized as a crap-ass day, BUT I kept thinking about how much worse it could have been. Shawn could have broken her foot. We could have waited to go in on Sunday and discovered the flat in the morning and possibly missed any appointment Shawn might have made for Urgent Care. AAA could have taken much longer. My spare could have been flat, or worse, we could have gotten stranded on the way to the hospital somewhere on the road.
I decided, in fact, that we had really GOOD luck on a really BAD day.
Oh, and just to add to the hilarity of the crazy that was Saturday for us, we hadn’t eaten before we left for the emergency room at 4 pm. Mason and I had snacked at Ava’s party, I’d brought snacks, but we were all still pretty hungry by the time we all got home at 9 pm. I tried to order a pizza from our favorite shop, Eden Pizza, but they told us we’d have to wait another hour and a half for delivery because they were swamped. I almost just said, “fine,” but decided to call Davanni’s instead. They had hot pizza out to us in less than an hour. Way less. It was yet another moment of, “could be worse.”
Sunday was “Ima’s Day.” I legally adopted Mason on December 5, lo, those many years ago now. Shawn and I considered sharing Mother’s Day, but, I’m selfish and wanted my very own day of breakfast in bed, etc. But, because of Shawn’s bum ankle, we didn’t do much. I did get a nice present and a beautiful homemade card from Mason. I also got to go sledding, which I love to do with Mason. We went out to the country club on Marshall/Otis, and Mason zipped down the hill in the little orange saucer.
But, otherwise, I spent much of the day grumbling about having to fetch and carry for everyone on my special day. :-) But, seriously, I ended up really enjoying it. Mama and I played competitive Scrabble on the computer and I got to read and laze as well.
Again, in the end, I decided it was a pretty good day, considering. How about you? I hope you all stayed out of the Emergency Room! Today, alas, I'm sitting at a BORDER'S coffee shop waiting for Discount Tire to tell me they've finished with my car. So many people had problems over the weekend, though, that they said I might have to wait a couple of hours. Luckily, Border's is friendly, warm, has free wifi, and within walking distance of the tire place. I'd complain, but they're obligated to fix my tire free for life. So, even though it might be a long wait, it's not going to cost me anything other than hassle and time.
Okay, so we had a birthday party on Saturday. Actually, we had two, but Mason had accepted an invitation to Ava’s first and, after much discussion and some gnashing of teeth, we decided fair was fair. Rather than try to zip across town and attend both of them for half the time, we would commit to the first one. I’m glad we made this decision, painful though it was.
Right near the end of Ava’s party, when we would have been on route to Donte’s, Shawn called. She’d fallen down the stairs. She didn’t want me to worry, but she’d twisted her ankle pretty badly and… uh, oh, it was swelling up a little.
As soon as I heard that last part, I wanted to come home right away, but Shawn insisted we see the party through to the end. So we stayed another half hour or so, and then made a quick grocery stop. Once I saw her foot, however, I told her we needed to go to the emergency room. The nurse line had told her that she could probably wait and go into Urgent Care on Sunday to get an x-ray, but that they didn’t have anyone on staff that was qualified to set bones if need be until Monday. I said, “Forget about that, you’ve got insurance. We’re going to United’s Emergency Room.”
I knew it was a snowy Saturday, and that we might have to wait for hours, so I brought along snacks, books, etc. Mason and I dropped Shawn off at the entrance and parked in the Red Ramp. By the time we got to the waiting room, she was already going through admissions. We hardly sat down to enjoy TV and books, when they called her back. Mason and I settled back in, but after only another fifteen minutes or less a guy from “guest services” told us we could join her in the room.
Mason, btw, took all this pretty well. We sold it to him as a grand adventure, and he mostly bought into that idea. The waiting in the hospital room got boring though. While we waited for a doctor to get to us, we heard at least four ambulances come in. But, we had Harry Potter (which Mason is re-reading) and the games on my phone. Mama had REBECCA, which she’s rereading, and I stared at the wall, when I wasn’t playing block breaker on my phone. We were in one of those rooms that’s actually divided by a curtain, so I spent some of my time listening to the other family’s problems (a dislocated shoulder, perhaps?) I also took many mental notes of the room in case I ever need to write about an Emergency Room visit in an Ana book or other.
Even so, we were only there for two hours before the doctor came in and pronounced Shawn severely sprained, but not broken. Hooray! Then it took another half hour or so to get a nurse team in to fit Shawn with an “air” boot and give instructions on how to care for her foot.
Finally, we were discharged. While the nice guest services guy wheeled Mama out to the front entrance again, Mason and I went to fetch the car.
And discovered a flat tire. And, not just a little flat, but like scrape the bottom if you try to move flat.
Seriously.
So I took Mason back to Mama and called a taxi for them. Luckily, I’d taken out a bunch of cash earlier that day, and was able to give all of it and my house keys to Shawn. The taxi arrived in about ten minutes, just as I’d finished putting in a call to AAA.
Yes, I know, I fail as a butch lesbian because I didn’t change the tire myself. But, what’s the point of having AAA, if not for late night calls to hospital parking lots? Besides, the guy was great. He showed up within a half hour (I was told I might have to wait two), and we chatted about my age (long story) and politics (turns out he was a rabid Hilary supporter.)
I was on my way home before long, riding on the spare.
On that short drive back, I reflected on the day. It definitely could have been categorized as a crap-ass day, BUT I kept thinking about how much worse it could have been. Shawn could have broken her foot. We could have waited to go in on Sunday and discovered the flat in the morning and possibly missed any appointment Shawn might have made for Urgent Care. AAA could have taken much longer. My spare could have been flat, or worse, we could have gotten stranded on the way to the hospital somewhere on the road.
I decided, in fact, that we had really GOOD luck on a really BAD day.
Oh, and just to add to the hilarity of the crazy that was Saturday for us, we hadn’t eaten before we left for the emergency room at 4 pm. Mason and I had snacked at Ava’s party, I’d brought snacks, but we were all still pretty hungry by the time we all got home at 9 pm. I tried to order a pizza from our favorite shop, Eden Pizza, but they told us we’d have to wait another hour and a half for delivery because they were swamped. I almost just said, “fine,” but decided to call Davanni’s instead. They had hot pizza out to us in less than an hour. Way less. It was yet another moment of, “could be worse.”
Sunday was “Ima’s Day.” I legally adopted Mason on December 5, lo, those many years ago now. Shawn and I considered sharing Mother’s Day, but, I’m selfish and wanted my very own day of breakfast in bed, etc. But, because of Shawn’s bum ankle, we didn’t do much. I did get a nice present and a beautiful homemade card from Mason. I also got to go sledding, which I love to do with Mason. We went out to the country club on Marshall/Otis, and Mason zipped down the hill in the little orange saucer.
But, otherwise, I spent much of the day grumbling about having to fetch and carry for everyone on my special day. :-) But, seriously, I ended up really enjoying it. Mama and I played competitive Scrabble on the computer and I got to read and laze as well.
Again, in the end, I decided it was a pretty good day, considering. How about you? I hope you all stayed out of the Emergency Room! Today, alas, I'm sitting at a BORDER'S coffee shop waiting for Discount Tire to tell me they've finished with my car. So many people had problems over the weekend, though, that they said I might have to wait a couple of hours. Luckily, Border's is friendly, warm, has free wifi, and within walking distance of the tire place. I'd complain, but they're obligated to fix my tire free for life. So, even though it might be a long wait, it's not going to cost me anything other than hassle and time.