nothing that exciting. get your coffee, if you have nothing better to do than read this account. snippets of memory.
tl;dr: i tripped and fell on a sidewalk
recently visited chicago with my better half. he wanted to take pictures of boats at sunset, playing with the lenses he brought with him. he wanted to see beautiful bokeh of twinkling lights.
we were staying in a hotel in the loop, near union station. the walk towards the riverwalk and navy pier was about a mile away, maybe a twenty minute walk.
i didn’t feel like shooting, so was tagging along. my back was tired from carrying a camera around the previous days, at the science and industry museum, architectural tour via boat, and earlier in the day, the field museum.
i’d wanted to get out earlier, and have dinner first, then thought better of it, that we might miss sunset, so were going to the river first and pick up dinner on the way back.
we hadn’t quite reached the iconic chicago theatre sign, it’s neon lights already on. chatting about nothing.
then, i felt my shoe catch, an uneven sidewalk crack, and in spite of another step to try and avoid a fall, it was inevitable. i don’t think i quite windmilled my arms. i just remember a steel grate coming towards my face.
yup, a header into a serated sidewalk grate over an air vent. better half describes it as an industrial-strength cheese grater.
better half says i passed out for a few seconds. he and the three people behind us on the street got me turned over and sat me up. says i was a blood fountain. when i came around, i remembered i had saved some extra napkins from breakfast, so was able to apply pressure to my head, while better half and the other people tried to think best what to do. i wanted to just walk back to hotel, but after he showed me a picture of my head, i knew i needed to see a doctor.
then the question was ambulance or uber. i’m still just sitting on the ground meantime. probably in shock. better half called for an uber to the nearest hospital. better half has used uber maybe once, long ago.
better half and the older guy in the group of three got me up off the ground. no way i was getting up otherwise. my knees are scraped…i can feel it…but don’t seem broken.
he spots the black suv uber xl across the one-way street. they gimp me over there, profusely thanking the people for helping and waiting with us.
the car gets rolling while we buckle up. off we go. better half is asking if the driver can hurry and get us to the hospital.
when i hear the driver ask if we’d changed the destination, followed by “is your name mike?,” i already knew he got us in the wrong car.
driver refused taking us to the hospital, that his customers were waiting and that he would be fired. we’d only gone a couple of blocks, so a couple of turns later, we were back where we started. our uber was waiting for us, since better half had called to explain.
that driver was good. skipped the high traffic route and opted for lower-level streets and tunnels to the other side of the river. made it to the emergency room door in under ten minutes.
let me take a breath, and sip this strawberry-banana smoothie my better half brought me…
where was i? we arrived about seven p.m. usual city hospital on a saturday evening—busy. triage. people with sneezes, broken bones that have been temporarily set, homeless people looking for something, random aches, and here’s me with a butchered head. temp and blood pressure taken, and sent to find a seat.
they called me back for a second triage session two hours later. also to determine if better half had something to do with the injuries. he had no scrapes or other “evidence” so took me at my word. sent back to waiting room.
had better half call my mother. said she cried. was my sister’s birthday, so he talked to her later. i let my kids know first via text. i didn’t feel like talking.
hour four, there was a fight outside the er door, all security guards outside to break it up.
they came for me at hour five, put me in a wheelchair, as my knees were really stiff by then, and put us in a room. it’s a hive of activity behind the scenes.
a nurse came by to take some notes. another nurse rolled me out for a ct scan, since i landed on my head. only minimal scrapes on one hand, so i stopped my fall mostly with my forehead. i got uncontrollable shivers…adrenaline coming down, i suppose.
an hour later, they came for xrays of my knees.
soon after, the doctor came by to shoot up the cuts so it could be cleaned out and to decide which way to repair it. no concussion or broken bones. could have been so much worse. i have thought of an assortment of different endings, but better half doesn’t want to flounder in those thoughts.
about that time, five gunshot victims were heading in, so they had to move me out to the hallway, my forehead numbed and ready. waiting. dude was rolled into my previous location. he’d been shot by the girlfriend. she rolled in down the hall, screaming. he’d shot her in the foot. he wanted his phone to call her. then to call his mom and dad. then his people. denied. denied. denied. both were ultimately “relaxed” so work could be done.
i could only see the girl’s room. her screaming lasted ten minutes before they put her out. didn’t sound like it felt good. better half said the guy had a quick chat with the cops before he started telling a nurse about flowers growing out of his hand and quieting down.
nurse came by after a couple of hours and most of the craziness had died down. gave me some jello to eat. i got a tetanus shot in the hallway. i had to have more lidocaine shots in my head as too much time had passed. got the cuts cleaned of dirt and hair and dried blood.
two doctors consulted and decided crazy glue for skin would be best in this case. going to have a lovely scar.
finally released at sixish in the morning. over eleven hours. no dinner. still dark.
better half called an uber. security had blocked the driveway to the door, so we limped down to the sidewalk. watched the map say he was nine minutes away. then twelve. then nine. then eight. then three. and wouldn’t you know it, he pulled up to the opposite side of the driveway. gimped over there.
remember i mentioned the chicago marathon? yup, every which way this guy tried to go was blocked. after ten minutes of u-turns, we ended the ride, opting to walk.
had to climb up some stairs to street level. we were close to navy pier, and got our bearings. surrounded by people heading towrds the starting line, coming back in search of coffee or friends. and there we were, me stiff-zombie walking, a big bandage covering my forehead and dried blood in my hair, and my big, long haired better half…my hero.
i pointed out, that here we are crossing a bridge over the river, at sunrise. look at the lights on the boats. the twinkling in the water. the warming light. there. there was the shot he was looking for yesterday, i giggled. he still had the cameras with him. there was an empty viewing space in front of us.
he didn’t take the shot. he was tired and stressed, and wasn’t interested anymore. just wanted to get me back safely. it would have been perfect. oh well.
took about an hour to get to the hotel. i can’t remember if we got lunch before or after we crashed in bed for several hours of sleep.
the past couple of days, the swelling has moved south, giving me black eyes. when we’ve finally headed out for meals, better half has been getting big stink-eye from people. they only half believe the story, and i am not being beaten.
we ultimately decided to continue with our planned and paid for return home on the train. i wouldn’t have been able to stand bending my knees for that long on a plane, and better half can’t fit a plane seat, being so tall. thought about driving, and stopping as needed, sleeping in real beds each night. he thought there were too many stretches of nothing, had there been an emergency.
figured we could get off a train at a major stop for help or to get to an airport if needed.
i have to work monday, and my eyes are already opening up again, so i guess i will work, back into the frying pan…
so i have a permanent souvenir of our short-lived vacation.
