Our Weekend With Lance - Part 7

Part 7
Sunday - October 15, 2006

Now the nurse comes over and gives Jimmy some good stuff to kill the pain.

Nurse: Wow, his whole demeanor changed the second you got here. He was so tense and nervous, now he's relaxed. He wouldn't let us give him anything for the pain until you got here.
Pammy: Really, Oh ... poor baby. I can tell he's in a lot of pain, but he won't say anything. When he has a killer headache, he won't even take an Advil.
Nurse: Well ... he'll feel better now.

A few minutes later a nursing assistant comes over and starts to clean off his leg and elbow and wrap him up. Every once in a while he grimaces, and she apologizes and I know she feels bad because she knows it hurts to get all those little stones and dirt out of road rash.

Connie and I are sitting in uncomfortable vinyl chairs beside Jimmy lying on his litter. Jimmy is starting to get goofy, looks over at us with a silly look on his face and says ...

Jimmy: I'm on a board.
Pammy: You're board? (I didn't hear him right -- that's what happens when you turn 50!)
Jimmy: No ... I'm on a board. Why did they leave a board there?
Pammy: I guess so it's easier to move you back and forth from liter to litter.
Jimmy: Oh. Can you take it away?
Pammy: I don't think so; I think they want you to stay on it.
Jimmy: Oh. Hi Connie! (Jimmy just noticing Connie is with me)
Connie: [laughing] Hi Jimmy. How are you feeling now?
Jimmy: Oh ... much better.
Connie: [laughing] That's good.
Pammy: Hey Connie, tell Jimmy about your med mix-up this morning and why you feel so good.

Only Connie ... She is a regular Grandma Mazur (reference to a humorous character in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich) ... Connie calls me on the cell phone about 1 hour out of Austin early that morning ...

Connie: Pammy, You won't believe what I did.
Pammy: Oh God ... What ???

With Connie it's really scary cuz you never know what she's about to tell you, but you know it'll be a doozy.

Connie: Remember I had that dental work done recently?
Pammy: Uh,huh.
Connie: Well the doctor gave me some Valium for the pain. Since I didn't use all of it because of the pain, I kept them for emergency use.
Pammy: Connie, are you having an emergency?
Connie: NO! ... I thought I was taking my allergy medicine, but I think I took one of those Valium. That really pisses me off ... they were my emergency Valium. You know every high school teacher needs emergency Valium So I have to pull over and get some coffee so I won't fall asleep.
Pammy: Okay ... call me when you get to Austin City Limits and I'll meet you in the lobby.

ROTFLMAO ... That Connie ... She cracks me up every time ...

Okay ... So we're sitting there listening to Connie tell us a story about some of her students ... and 5 minutes later -- no kidding -- it was that fast -- Dr. P pops his head around the curtain.

Dr. P: Okay. Dr. Albrecht said he would take you.
Pammy: Okay.
Jimmy: [Just rolling his eyes around]
Dr. P: [to me] We're calling for an ambulance to transfer your husband to Austin Surgical Hospital.
Pammy: Okay. How long will that be?
Dr. P: I'm not sure; I'll let you know as soon as we find out.

Poor Connie ... she came down to Austin to have fun at the Livestrong party and she ends up carting me around sitting in a hospital for who knows how long ... Is that a friend, or what?

Literally 5 minutes later ... Again, Dr. Passmann pops his head around the curtain. He's like a freakin ground hog with all his popping.

Dr. P: Okay, the ambulance is here. They're going to come in and transfer your husband?
Pammy: Now, wow ... that was fast.

After working at a hospital for 15 years, I can speak from experience ... this does not happen ... you don't wait only 5 minutes to get an ambulance transfer. You can end up waiting for hours and hours ... not 5 minutes. This is amazing!!!

Okay ... So the EMTs come in and disconnect Jimmy and place all the fluid and drug bags on top of him transfer him (on the board) from the hospital litter to the ambulance litter ... and off they go. That's why they had him on the board!

Connie and I hot foot it to her Mustang, hop into the car and take off after the ambulance. Connie is a great driver ... She'd be my driver if she was in the Bush or Nextel series!

Zooming down the road ... 1 mile ... we go past Riverbend Park and I see all the Livestrong balloons and banners and the party taking place ... that was where we were suppose to be ... Partying & having fun!

SIGH ... What a day! It certainly wasn't supposed to end like this.