I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I definitely have some. So this weekend I was carrying my 11 month old through my mother's house when I tripped over her dog only able to use one arm to catch myself. I shattered my wrist, so after surgery I'm now casted up and without use of my right hand. Which means that updating my stories won't be happening too quickly. Not only am I drugged up, but I've only got one hand to type. I can't be too upset about it since my little girl is not hurt at all. Possibly if my husband is well enough trained, I can get him to type it out for me… we'll see. Anyways I wanted to go ahead and give y'all what I had so that you know what happened. A bit gross, but I think it's awesome.
"It hurts so bad," I cried to the EMT hovering above me. Wasn't it his job to make the pain go away?
"I'm sorry ma'am, but we can't give you any medicine right now without causing some risk to the baby."
"Nathan… what happened?" I asked as I did my best to see him. I hated being strapped down. Not only is it uncomfortable, but it's extremely annoying.
"You're gonna be okay. Just squeeze my hand when it hurts."
"It hasn't stopped hurting since it happened," I gritted back. Actually, it's hurt more than it had before. My leg hurt like hell and I just wanted to know why. So once again I asked him, "What happened?"
"You just stepped on a stingray. You missed the red flag that warns you for the riptide. It swept you out a bit, but you're okay now."
"Why does it hurt so bad?" I asked, but Nathan didn't respond. "Nathan?" He still didn't respond, so I turned my eyes to the EMT. "What's wrong?"
He looked regretfully towards Nathan before answering. "He's right ma'am, you stepped on some sort of ray. I can only assume that in your struggle to reach the surface you incidentally pushed the barb further into and eventually through the top of your foot. The barb is serrated along the edges so we can't pull it out. For us to do so could lacerate tendons, ligaments, or any other soft tissue. Generally, one would undergo surgery to remove it, but in your case…"
A damn stingray? I thought to myself. After doing the lameass "stingray shuffle" my whole life, one of those bitches takes me down? At least it's in the shark family. I'll definitely embellish that part when I have to tell this horror story. After all the years of watching Animal Planet how was I not prepared for this? I had seen a special on rays… I remember the River Monsters episode… the fresh water ray aka the giant death ray had poison in its barb… does that mean…
"What about the flesh-eating venom?" I asked. Nathan's face immediately went from upset to completely freaked out. It made me feel bad, saying it aloud, but I wanted to know.
The EMT laughed at me, "There is poison in the barb, but it's by no means flesh-eating venom. We're going to treat it with heat and it should help, but of course that won't take away your pain. Once we get to the hospital they should take an X-ray to see what region is affected…"
"Can they do that?" Nathan interrupted. "I mean, will it hurt the baby? She's still in the first trimester."
"It'll be fine. They place a lead cover over her stomach which will protect the baby from most radiation. They'll know more after the X-ray."
"Five minutes out," the driver shouted back at us.
"Clay's already there," Nathan informed me. "I texted him to let him know you were the call. It'll make it a lot easier since he already knows your history." Of course Nathan would worry about something so simple. Or maybe he just worried about it because he knew I would be worrying about it. Probably the latter. He really was perfect for me.
"I just want the pain to go away."
"Usually the pain would only last around 24-48 hours," the EMT told me, giving me a little bit of hope… before shooting it right back down. "Unfortunately with the abnormal extent of your injury, it will probably be a bit longer."
"What do you mean abnormal?" I asked frantically. Why couldn't things just be normal?
"It's just extremely rare for it to penetrate so deep. In my twenty years, I haven't seen a case like it."
"Thanks for the reassurance," Nathan huffed. He was already annoyed that the EMT had told me everything (not as if I wouldn't find out eventually) but telling me that it was his worst in twenty years, that pushed him over the top. I was surprised he hadn't knocked him out. I could tell Nathan wanted to help me, but he was truly helpless. "You think this is bad Hales? Just imagine what it'll be like when you have our baby."
Wow. My boyfriend, ladies and gentlemen. He knows just what to say to make everything worse. I squeezed his hand harder, "You think your hand hurts now? Just imagine me breaking it in childbirth."
The doors suddenly opened and over all other noise I heard Brooke's voice loud and clear, "Oh my God!"
To be continued as soon as possible
