I like Bob

After spending yet another day with chest pain, and bailing out on work early because of it, my boss insisted I go see the doctor. Since the rib/chest/stomach pain had only been increasing since Tuesday I relented and called my family doc, who promptly told me to go to the ER. I have insurance with Group Health, so called their closest hospital to see what I needed to do/where I needed to go so as to have the cheapest and easiest way to get checked out. After an hour of waiting for a phone call that never came, I called them back again and was told to go to the Urgent Care Group Health Center in Capitol Hill.


Andrew had originally planned that morning of coming over to pick up a bike part after I got home. When he heard I was going to the ER he refused to let me take the bus and insisted he drive me there, wait for me, and drive me back. There are times I feel truly blessed by the friends I have.


So we went to the ER and after the whole signing in, going through the "on a scale of 1 to 10 how much pain are you in" business, I was stuck in a room, waited around forever, and eventually saw a doctor who after a fair amount of poking and prodding, proclaimed my road rash not infected said I had just sprained my ribcage - which I was thrilled about.


Since the massive amounts of Advil I had been taking were doing little to dull the pain, they gave me a Vicodin. I've not taken a heavy duty pain killer before and let me just say its....... very effective and has a very interesting response in my body. I ended up chattering Andrew's ear off on the ride home mainly due to the fact my internal monologue was nonexistent. There were lots of statements like - "What a cute puppy!" and "I like cheese." :) It makes the pain a faint bass line underneath this wonderfully intricate, distracting melody. From feeling the effects of it wearing off this evening I can definitely say it makes this whole thing MUCH easier to deal with, and helps A LOT.


But back to the hospital - after being given the Vicodin, an attendant named Bob came in to clean out my road rash and apply a silver-thingy paste to it and wrap it up. By the time Bob was cleaning out my wound the Vicodin kicked in and I was aware that the cleaning procedures he did, squirting this saline solution in the wound and blotting/wiping off the excess stuff, was really kinda painful, but then I got all distracted by the really pretty clouds in the bright blue sky. I actually had a great conversation with him and he was a great attendant.


After spending a 7 month mark dinner together with Paul, I'm feeling so much better. Food, significantly less pain, and not dreading the workday pain totally makes me a happier person!

And on a total bonus note, being on the bike isn't going to diminish my body's ability to heal. So after I get the wheel fixed for the Kona it's going to be lots of easy longish rides for me. Andrew's racing this weekend at a real race (I'm going as a cheerleader). Hopefully I'll have some great pictures from it.

Totally awesome favorite picture ever I took last weekend.

I had to share.