Broken Leg
Ok, this is an old post, I’m just relocating it from a page to the main blog.
Written by Jacob DeRu, a short account on how Bryce broke his leg.
Bryce: “I was playing ultimate Frisbee with a bunch of kids. Well, more actually.” More meaning, more then just a bunch of kids, there were a lot of people there. “ I jumped up to catch the Frisbee, along with another guy, and when we came down he landed on my lower left leg. ummm. And so I fell on the ground, and was in a pain kind of a mixture. A mixture between a twisted ankle and loosing your breath. And I couldn’t talk for a minute or two. I didn’t know what had happened at first, it was like, painful but I didn’t know if it was broken or anything. so then all the people from Frisbee were all standing around, trying to figure out if I had actually broken something or what. So I tried to movie my legg, but it felt like jello so I decided not to move it too much. Then I borrowed, well, someone gave me a cell phone and I called my mom while another lady called 9-11. A cop came and took control of the situation, and an ambulance and a fire truck came. I don’t know why they needed a fire truck but … so they took me to the Skagit valley hospital, in an ambulance. The most painful part when they were putting me into the ambulance was umm, when they took off my shoe on the broken leg. It was easier when I was holding someone’s hand, because then I could have something to squeeze.”
Mrs. Atilano: “I was squeezing Bryce’s hand back, and I found that when I was squeezing, I squeezed it really hard, and I caught myself and was like, I hope I didn’t hurt him!”
Bryce: “It was the longest drive to Mount Vernon I’ve ever had. While I was in an ambulance, the doctor asked me how I would rate my pain, on a scale of 1 to 10. I said I was either 5 or 6. Then I asked him if he had ever heard of Brian Regan, who did a comedy show about the emergency room and had been asked the same question. The doctor did not though. When I got there they took me to the emergency room, they hooked me up to an IV for pain medication and took off my splint that they had put me into earlier. Then eventually they took some x-rays, and they took me to a different room, a more comfortable one. I couldn’t have anything to eat or drink after Thursday midnight in preparation for surgery the next day. So around one o’clock they prepared me for surgery, and I went into surgery at 2:00. They put me out and when I woke up it was about 6:15. in the surgery they put a rod up my main bone to connect the two bones together, and left the small bone because it would heal by itself. Then they hooked me up to another devise and slept the rest of the night, falling asleep, and waking up, and falling asleep, and so on. They also “checked my vitals”… that’s what they call it. You know, it’s where they checked my blood pressure and all that. So I just spent Saturday morning lying in bed, eventually the physical therapist came in and helped me practice with crutches. I did watch Pirates of the Caribbean 3 while I was here, off and on all weekend.”
A note from Jacob: on the power bed that Bryce is resting on, there is a warning sign that reads, “Only operate bed with persons clear of powered bed mechanisms to prevent serious injury” … so how does Bryce sit up?
Jacob: “So what happened to your jeans?”
Bryce: “The nurses and the, yeah, they cut them off with scissors. They had to cut this pant leg” [his left], “so they could put the splint on, and at the emergency room they cut it all off.”
Jacob: “so, how did the people at the hospital treat you?”
Bryce: “Awful! No I‘m just kidding! They treated me really well. The food is ok. Nothing gourmet.”
Jacob: “how did you sleep?”
Bryce: “I would dose off a little later” [after surgery], “waking up an hour later. The longest I had was about 3 hours. Sometimes it’s kind of a “half way” sleep. I usually sleep on my stomach, so sleeping on my back was awkward.”
Jacob: “so when do you think you’ll be let out?”
Bryce: “If all goes well, in an hour or two.”
(It’s about 12:52)
Jacob: “would you go play Frisbee again?”
Bryce: “Yeah, as soon as I’m healed I’ll probably play again, though I’ll probably lay off the jumping near people trying to catch the Frisbee.”
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