Dave, A few years ago I broke my ankle the day before Thanksgiving while visiting in-laws in KY. My wife's family hadn't been together for Thanksgiving for quite a while. I just had to be the center of attention.
The break was a tripod break (all three bones) and my foot moved five inches up the back of the leg. I was taken by ambulance to the local hospital where my mother in law begged me not to go because they might kill me. I received no pain medicine for over two hours. They were trying to find on the on-call surgeon who didn't answer his page. They finally decided to give me morphine. I had a feeling I should protest the morphine so I did. They decided to give me half a dose and as soon as they did my chest went tight, I had trouble breathing, and my heart began to flutter. It wasn't an allergic reaction just a very sensitive reaction. One nurse said to the other, "Good thing we didn't give him a full dose or we would have stopped his heart." To which I replied, "I can still hear you." I ended up at another hospital in KY for the surgery which went great. However, while having follow up care here in Baltimore I had a large, open fracture blister. When visiting the orthopedic doctor he had his assistant dress the blister. The assistant opened the gauze pad, dropped it on the floor, picked it up, and stuck it on my wound!!!!!! I was calm but suggested maybe we should put a bandage on that had not been on the floor. When I told the doc about it he said, "Well, we don't maintain a sterile environment in the office." No kidding! I did say it may not have been a serious thing but the appearance of it was worth considering. At shock trauma those people wash and sanitize their hands all the time and then put gloves on. Medical Horror Stories...got to love them. Dave T. ************** Get the Moviefone Toolbar. Showtimes, theaters, movie news & more!(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212774565x1200812037/aol?redir=http://toolbar.aol.com/moviefone/download.html?ncid=emlcntusdown00000001)
