Isn't Life Funny?

After about a month of not being able to move, I am finally starting to get better! Kevin and I went to San Francisco over Easter weekend to work on his new sailboat, and while we were there I managed to throw my back out.

I was washing pots and pans for Kevin and putting them away, and my back started feeling sore. I sat down for a few minutes, and after a bit, I decided I should get out of the boat. I managed to get to the car, but when I tried getting into the car, my lower back started spasming. I was able to get into the car, but was very uncomfortable, so I decided to get out and lay in the grass. It was a nice day, so I figured I would just lay in the sun and talk on the phone with my parents for a while. After about half an hour of laying down, I felt pretty normal. I decided that I would try and get into the rental car so that Kevin and I could get on the road to Oakland to make our flight back to San Diego. When I attempted to get into the car, my back started spasming again, and I just dropped to the ground. I had to lay on my stomach on the pavement to make my back stop hurting. I tried several times to get up off of the ground, but was unable. It was at this point that Kevin decided to call an ambulance.

I have no idea how long I was laying in the parking lot before the ambulance came and got me. They offered to help me into the car, but I knew there was no way I could do it. I had to lay completely flat. So, they helped me onto a stretcher and I got to take my very first ambulance ride.

So, I always thought that the nurses at hospitals were nice, but I now have a completely different outlook on hospitals now. When I got to the hospital, the nurses were so mean! They threatened to cut off all my clothes because I couldn't move fast enough for them when I was undressing. When I had to use the restroom, they gave me a bedpan, but yanked up on my body so hard that my back started spasming all over again and wouldn't stop for nearly 3 minutes. Then, they gave me pills that are supposed to take 1-2 hours to kick in, and discharged me 10 minutes later. When I still wasn't able to get out of the bed (because the freaking pills weren't helping me yet), they told me I still had to leave, and then reluctantly rolled my bed into the hallway. At some point, Kevin decided that I needed a shot to help out with the pain, so the nurse came and gave me a shot of Demerol in my arm. Boy oh boy did that hurt. I couldn't lean on my arm for 3 whole days!

So, once I got the shot of Demerol, the nurse was kind enough to let me sleep for all of about 10 minutes. Then she woke me up so abruptly that I got sick to my stomach. At this point, she told me that I really had to get out of the hospital, gave me a bucket in case I were to get sick, then helped me into a wheelchair. I managed to get into the wheelchair alright, but every time I moved, I felt very sick to my stomach. Kevin was the one pushing me in the wheelchair, so he was the one that got yelled at. I had to get thru a waiting room, and I was very upset because everyone was looking at me as Kevin wheeled me to the exit. I think I ended up on the floor by the exit a couple of times (because I was so sick to my stomach that I had to lay down immediately).

When the taxi came, I was somehow able to get to the front passenger seat, though I nearly collapsed on the way. The taxi driver was probably one of the nicest people ever. He drove very carefully to keep me from getting hurt more on the way to the hotel, and tried to give advice on how to take care of my back when I got home. When we got to the hotel, I was unable to walk more than a couple of feet, and since didn't have a wheelchair, the taxi driver decided that it would be a good idea to get a luggage roller to put me on. It turned out that it was a great idea. The taxi driver helped me onto the luggage roller, where I was able to lie down, and one of the bellhops rolled me to my room while Kevin got us checked in. Everyone at the hotel was so nice! While Kevin and I were there for the night, they managed to get a wheelchair brought to the hotel and had it ready for me in the morning when we checked out.

I guess the demoral I was given at the hospital pretty much knocked me out. I don't remember much about that night. Kevin ordered food, which I was only able to eat one bite of. I guess he at some point when and got our rental car from the marina. He told me later that he walked/ran from the hotel to the marina (I think they might have been about 3/4 of a mile apart).

The trip home was just about as bad as the rest of this experience. Kevin had to drive the rental car from South San Francisco to Oakland, even though he really wasn't supposed to be driving it. Enterprise was really nice though, and decided that they could pretend like they didn't notice that it wasn't me that drove the car into the lot. They were also really nice about the fact that we didn't return our rental car on time. They didn't screw us with any huge fees, or any fees at all actually. They just charged us the standard cost for a day of renting the car. They even gave me a back pillow to take home and had one of their drives drop Kevin and me right at the Southwest terminal.

The airport experience was somewhat stressful, I have to say. Southwest had a 45 minute line for curbside checkin, and when I tried to get a wheelchair (since I could hardly walk), I was sent all over the place to find one. I finally broke down when one woman told me to go back to a place I had already been turned away from and told her that I absolutely could not walk any further, that I was in a tremendous amount of pain, and that I need a wheelchair right away. I guess that worked, becasue she managed to get me into the wheelchair waiting area, get our bags checked, and get me through security in about 45 minutes. I was so happy when I was finally able to get to my gate. I was having a lot of trouble sitting though, and had to lay on the floor to straighten my back out. I guess that was a bad idea because some airport employee came and took my wheelchair from me! I had to walk all of the way up to the counter and wait for them to find me another chair! I was SO mad!

I have never been as happy as I was to get home that day. Kevin was completely wonderful through the entire experience. I don't know what I would have done if I had been in that situation without him. I was really helpless, and needed every bit of support that he offered. I am really lucky to have someone like him in my life.