the universe
last night, while at work waitressing, eric was putting large glass bowls on a shelf near where i was standing. hes new and stacked them too high, and 3-4 bowls came crashing down about 7 feet. they hit the ceramic tile behind me and left a massive gash in the back of my ankle. things like this have happened before, so i thought i just had a scratch. i turned my head and looked down to see that it was a laceration about 1.5 inches wide, and deep enough that i could see my tender pink tissue pillowing out. blood began to pool, run down my ankle and into my shoe. i didnt want to bend my ankle for fear that the glass had cut my achilles tenden. erin tightly wrapped a towel around my ankle and promptly taped it with moving tape, and thomas drove me to the emergency room, but only after convincing me that workmens comp. would cover the visit, because i dont have health insurance. once we were at the emergency room, they were able to take me in right away. once in the room, i had to deal with an crabby, old nurse and then once the doctor came in, he jammed his finger into my open wound to "check it out" sans anesthetic, i wanted to throw up. i received xrays by a man with a thick russian accent who asked me, "you are pregnant right now, yes?", i replied, "no." then he wanted to chat, so he said, "oh. you've got tattoo, you've got tattoo." and i replied, "yes, i've got tattoo." he thought that was "so cool." all the while, im bleeding everywhere. in the emergency room, on the table, on the floor, on the wheelchair, down the hallways, on the xray table [though the russian man did stick my foot into a PLASTIC BAG so that i would bleed less on the xray table]. for whatever reason, no one bothered to bandage me up while i had to go through all of the shots and xrays before i received stiches. needless to say, i felt light headed and like i was going to throw up the entire time. finally the nurse came to give me a tetnis shot [which i she was administering because i havent had one since '96-she was not pleased about this]. while this was happening heard the doctor who was supposed to be stitching me up talking on the phone saying, "c'mon bob, why did it take you so goddamn long to pick up the phone!?", and i was wondering, "why is it taking you so goddamn long to stitch up my fucking leg and stop me from bleeding everywhere!?", and by this time i had been laying in the room by myself, blood running down my leg and collecting on the ground under me for at least 25 minutes. the doctor came in, remarked that [AND I KID YOU NOT] "oh wow, this is really bleeding, huh?" then he procceded to give me four shots directly in the wound to numb it, which brought me very close to actually throwing up. then he made me flex my foot and poked my wound some more, to make sure the tendon was not cut and finally, i received five small stitches. i will have a gnarly scar, and it will be uncomfortable to walk for the next couple of days and i have to go back to the clinic in a week to get checked out again. i am heavily considering never going back to the emergency room and cutting out the stitches myself.