Looks like we have a new tradition....
I met Jessica in March of 2004. She was kind of shy and though she had been going to Seville Quarter for several years, she had never really wandered over into the bar where I hang out, where my bro-in-all-but-blood George runs Karaoke. She was looking good, hanging out with her friend, and just watching the crowd. I finally talked her into getting up to sing and spent who knows how much time talking to her after that. Well, soon after she became a regular and we talked alot whenever she wandered in. Soon enough, even though I had told her I was just out of a relationship and just out to have fun, we were spending lots of time together.
Then it happened. I was working as the house electrician during Puddle of Mudd's show at the Bayfront Auditorium when I slipped helping during the load out and hurt my foot, or so I thought. When I went to take off my shoe to look at it, I couldn't grab the laces. My right hand couldn't close down on anything wihtout an excruciating amount of pain. I either had broken my other thumb, or if lucky, had just torqued it to far over or even out of joint for a moment. So sitting in a chair, wondering how I'm going to drive my stick shift and get to the ER I quickly ran through my cellphone with my good hand for the number of someone who'd be awake and would be able to haul me over there and hang out without caring about it. So needless to say, I saw her name come up and as I was supposed to meet her after the show anyway, I gave her a call. She came down from Karaoke after giving my appologies to the regulars that many of which have become yet another group of my extended family. (this group includes many friends from my RPG days, my highschool and college days, especially my MUSHing days, and just about every aspect of my life that someone has cared to share with me) With some help, I got loaded up into her car and off we went to the ER. Turns out I didn't break my hand, but it wasn't in good working order for a few weeks. I did however break my toe. Right in the center, but it couldn't be splinted so I just had to live with it until it was healed.
She stayed with me the whole time at the ER, had a few laughs, kept me from getting pissy at the doctors, and then was nice enough to drive me 45min home. When we got to the house, I slapped a pizza in the oven, as it was all I could manage to cook at the time and we ate. Then she put me to bed, kissed me goodnight, and made her way home. I seem to remember as I drifted off to sleep "This one's a keeper!"
So the next day, I realize I had forgotten my workman's comp paperwork in her car. This would be fine if it hadn't been for the fact that I didn't do it intentionally. So I called her up and told her I'd buy her lunch if she'd get the paperwork to me. While we ate and talked, I asked her to go to a movie. I just had an easy feeling around her and didn't really want her to leave yet. So we stood in front of the theatre trying to decide what to watch when we hit on The Punisher. Once again the mind said... "KEEPER!", or Keep her, I'm not really sure, I was busy watching things explode and John Travolta die a firey death! This was our first "date".
Which leads us to why we now seem to have a new tradition.
We just got back from the emergency room. Seems that her body doesn't like the medication they were giving her for her ear infection. So as her throat was closing up on her causing her to have problems breathing I raced at 80mph to the ER down the road wondering about all the different ways I'm probably going to hurt someone by the end of the night if they don't do their jobs.
We get to the ER in Gulf Breeze, which used to be small, but quick. Well, since they built the new ER and went from five rooms to fifteen they just haven't been the same. They may have built new rooms, but they didn't hire any additional staff to work it. We arrived and Jess is barely able to stand. The nurse at the desk takes her check in slip and tells us to sit off to the side. Did I mention that she was having an alergic reaction and was having problems breathing? So I get her seated and keep her calm.
Five minutes pass. No one moves from their seats. An old woman is bleeding profusly from her nose. A hispanic man who works as either a painter or a carpenter sits uncomrotably holding his arm with looks like it's out of joint at the elbow. A young mother sits with her son in her lap holding an icepack to a large welp that even someone that's been hurt as much as I was as an over active kid could respect. And along with these patients waiting to be seen are at least two or three family members. Oh, there was also a couple of biker guys with a couple women down at the far end of the ER, but I never saw them go in, just hang out. I think they had a buddy already in the ER.
Ten minutes pass. The old woman is finally wheeled back into the ER. The hispanic man and his friend are allowed to walk back on their own a few minutes later. Mom still has her son in her lap, keeping him awake. Me, I'm seated next to the woman I love. The woman who has given me a relationship that I never thought I could have. A relationship with someone who feels like a part of me as much as my limbs and gives me love, respect, and forgiveness whenever I do something stupid, like sit up late at night typing on the computer while she's settled fast asleep and able to finally get some rest.
15 minutes pass. The nice nurse who took our slip, who Chrispy knows (but that's another story), calls us up. She doesn't seem bothered by the fact that Jessica almost collapses in front of her desk and can barely walk. She asks questions about the insurance and after a less than exciting two minute questioning and slip-signing we were dismissed to wait some more. I grab Jess a wheelchair because she's too weak to walk back to her seat and ready myself to kill the entire staff. After all, I have my throwing axe in the truck, I'm sure I could kill at least four of them before some security guard shoots me down. That is unless they take care of Jess pretty soon.
20 minutes pass. A not-so-polite nurse calls Jess up to Triage. She acts as if Jess is a bother, especially when she can't answer her questions in more than a wisper. She also seems insulted when I start answering for Jess in a much louder tone so she can hear. Of course, that tone was none to friendly. We get dismissed again.
Gods' know how long passes. Finally Jess is taken into the ER and is seen. The general consensus is "we can't find anything wrong. This after several x-rays and blood tests which took several hours. As this is getting extremely long, I'll cut to the funnest part of the evening. Believing she had an alergic reaction to her medication, they give her several shots to combat it, take down any swelling, and relieve any pain. This is somewhere between hour two and three of our four hour tour. On top of the shots, she's given a bottle of medication to drink, and not warned that it will numb her throat almost completely. She is told however that she has to finish the whole thing before we leave and that she can sip it and take her time.
The first attempt was the worst. As her throat went numb and her control over her muscles became unsure, Jess did like most of us would, she became alarmed. Which in turn increased her breathing, which in turn caused her to have more problems doing so. In tears and hyperventilating it was all I could do to keep her calm. I told her I would get a nurse (as the call button wasn't anywhere in sight) and jumped to the door, not willing to get more than ten feet from her. The first person I saw was a surgeon who seemed insulted when I told him my fiance was having some kind of problem with the medicine and that I needed help. I raced back to Jess and what seemed like an eternity later a nurse finally arrived. She gave Jess oxygen and another medication in her iv and slowly but surely she managed to calm her breathing. This was before they wheeled her out of the ER into radiology to make her STAND in front of a chest xray machine by the way.
Finally we get the 'your doing fine' speech from the Doc and are given some more medications to take home. So several hours and a failed plan to have a nice one year celebration together, we seem to have a new tradition that neither of us likes very much.
Then it happened. I was working as the house electrician during Puddle of Mudd's show at the Bayfront Auditorium when I slipped helping during the load out and hurt my foot, or so I thought. When I went to take off my shoe to look at it, I couldn't grab the laces. My right hand couldn't close down on anything wihtout an excruciating amount of pain. I either had broken my other thumb, or if lucky, had just torqued it to far over or even out of joint for a moment. So sitting in a chair, wondering how I'm going to drive my stick shift and get to the ER I quickly ran through my cellphone with my good hand for the number of someone who'd be awake and would be able to haul me over there and hang out without caring about it. So needless to say, I saw her name come up and as I was supposed to meet her after the show anyway, I gave her a call. She came down from Karaoke after giving my appologies to the regulars that many of which have become yet another group of my extended family. (this group includes many friends from my RPG days, my highschool and college days, especially my MUSHing days, and just about every aspect of my life that someone has cared to share with me) With some help, I got loaded up into her car and off we went to the ER. Turns out I didn't break my hand, but it wasn't in good working order for a few weeks. I did however break my toe. Right in the center, but it couldn't be splinted so I just had to live with it until it was healed.
She stayed with me the whole time at the ER, had a few laughs, kept me from getting pissy at the doctors, and then was nice enough to drive me 45min home. When we got to the house, I slapped a pizza in the oven, as it was all I could manage to cook at the time and we ate. Then she put me to bed, kissed me goodnight, and made her way home. I seem to remember as I drifted off to sleep "This one's a keeper!"
So the next day, I realize I had forgotten my workman's comp paperwork in her car. This would be fine if it hadn't been for the fact that I didn't do it intentionally. So I called her up and told her I'd buy her lunch if she'd get the paperwork to me. While we ate and talked, I asked her to go to a movie. I just had an easy feeling around her and didn't really want her to leave yet. So we stood in front of the theatre trying to decide what to watch when we hit on The Punisher. Once again the mind said... "KEEPER!", or Keep her, I'm not really sure, I was busy watching things explode and John Travolta die a firey death! This was our first "date".
Which leads us to why we now seem to have a new tradition.
We just got back from the emergency room. Seems that her body doesn't like the medication they were giving her for her ear infection. So as her throat was closing up on her causing her to have problems breathing I raced at 80mph to the ER down the road wondering about all the different ways I'm probably going to hurt someone by the end of the night if they don't do their jobs.
We get to the ER in Gulf Breeze, which used to be small, but quick. Well, since they built the new ER and went from five rooms to fifteen they just haven't been the same. They may have built new rooms, but they didn't hire any additional staff to work it. We arrived and Jess is barely able to stand. The nurse at the desk takes her check in slip and tells us to sit off to the side. Did I mention that she was having an alergic reaction and was having problems breathing? So I get her seated and keep her calm.
Five minutes pass. No one moves from their seats. An old woman is bleeding profusly from her nose. A hispanic man who works as either a painter or a carpenter sits uncomrotably holding his arm with looks like it's out of joint at the elbow. A young mother sits with her son in her lap holding an icepack to a large welp that even someone that's been hurt as much as I was as an over active kid could respect. And along with these patients waiting to be seen are at least two or three family members. Oh, there was also a couple of biker guys with a couple women down at the far end of the ER, but I never saw them go in, just hang out. I think they had a buddy already in the ER.
Ten minutes pass. The old woman is finally wheeled back into the ER. The hispanic man and his friend are allowed to walk back on their own a few minutes later. Mom still has her son in her lap, keeping him awake. Me, I'm seated next to the woman I love. The woman who has given me a relationship that I never thought I could have. A relationship with someone who feels like a part of me as much as my limbs and gives me love, respect, and forgiveness whenever I do something stupid, like sit up late at night typing on the computer while she's settled fast asleep and able to finally get some rest.
15 minutes pass. The nice nurse who took our slip, who Chrispy knows (but that's another story), calls us up. She doesn't seem bothered by the fact that Jessica almost collapses in front of her desk and can barely walk. She asks questions about the insurance and after a less than exciting two minute questioning and slip-signing we were dismissed to wait some more. I grab Jess a wheelchair because she's too weak to walk back to her seat and ready myself to kill the entire staff. After all, I have my throwing axe in the truck, I'm sure I could kill at least four of them before some security guard shoots me down. That is unless they take care of Jess pretty soon.
20 minutes pass. A not-so-polite nurse calls Jess up to Triage. She acts as if Jess is a bother, especially when she can't answer her questions in more than a wisper. She also seems insulted when I start answering for Jess in a much louder tone so she can hear. Of course, that tone was none to friendly. We get dismissed again.
Gods' know how long passes. Finally Jess is taken into the ER and is seen. The general consensus is "we can't find anything wrong. This after several x-rays and blood tests which took several hours. As this is getting extremely long, I'll cut to the funnest part of the evening. Believing she had an alergic reaction to her medication, they give her several shots to combat it, take down any swelling, and relieve any pain. This is somewhere between hour two and three of our four hour tour. On top of the shots, she's given a bottle of medication to drink, and not warned that it will numb her throat almost completely. She is told however that she has to finish the whole thing before we leave and that she can sip it and take her time.
The first attempt was the worst. As her throat went numb and her control over her muscles became unsure, Jess did like most of us would, she became alarmed. Which in turn increased her breathing, which in turn caused her to have more problems doing so. In tears and hyperventilating it was all I could do to keep her calm. I told her I would get a nurse (as the call button wasn't anywhere in sight) and jumped to the door, not willing to get more than ten feet from her. The first person I saw was a surgeon who seemed insulted when I told him my fiance was having some kind of problem with the medicine and that I needed help. I raced back to Jess and what seemed like an eternity later a nurse finally arrived. She gave Jess oxygen and another medication in her iv and slowly but surely she managed to calm her breathing. This was before they wheeled her out of the ER into radiology to make her STAND in front of a chest xray machine by the way.
Finally we get the 'your doing fine' speech from the Doc and are given some more medications to take home. So several hours and a failed plan to have a nice one year celebration together, we seem to have a new tradition that neither of us likes very much.