Tuesday, October 9, 2007

A Sunday in Roscoe, A Monday in the ER

Its been so hectic lately that I decided Sunday was as good a time as any to invite myself to my sister’s place and see my little nephew. It was a very rushed visit that involved doing a lot of driving all in one day, but it was so worth it. Little Logan is cuter than ever and his new thing is grinning hugely to show off his 3 fancy teeth. When we first got there, Logan was all smiles, but after a while he got sleepy and napped for several hours. My sister felt bad that we had come to see him and he was so interested in napping, but I think it worked out pretty well. We had some time to visit with Logan, and then while he was sleeping we had time to catch up with Michelle and Mark. Logan did wake up with just enough time for a brief outing to a park by the river, which was lovely. As always, it was very hard to leave them, but at least Auntie M didn’t cry as much this time as when she left Logan to go back to the jungle last April.

It was back to the daily grind on Monday. Kind of a wretched day, actually. I gave a presentation in journal club about the dog predation event I witnessed that lead to the deaths of Scooby and his mother. I wasn’t thinking that this kind of presentation was that big of a deal, but some of the higher-ups in the department (who, mind you, do not study the behavior of wild primates) cut me down, basically saying that this was shoddy science because it was an anecdote and therefore intrinsically meaningless and a waste of everybody’s time. I never would have thought that a simple journal club presentation like this would land me up in my office crying for a an hour afterwards, but you just can’t predict everything.

So I came home still in somewhat of a grim mood, and even though I just felt like pouting, I forced myself to get off my rear end and go running. It was about 6:40pm when I got back from that; Rob still wasn’t home from his Monday night bike ride. I checked my phone to see if he’d left a message while I was running, but there was nothing. When I got out of the shower, my phone was ringing. It was Rob’s mom, who prefaced the conversation with, “Everything’s going to be okay, but…” She said Rob was in the ER and had been trying to get ahold of me (did I take a really long shower or something??), then she let me go and in a couple seconds Rob called back. His voice sounded like his mouth was stuffed gauze or marshmallows and he said, “A car kind of bumped me, and I fell into a ditch.” Kind of bumped me, what a Rob thing to say. I was still dripping from the shower; I threw on the first pair of pants and shirt I saw and rushed to the hospital.

When I got there, I was expecting to see blood and twisted limbs, so I was much relieved when I saw Rob calmly lying in a bed—not too much blood to be seen—giving a report to a police officer. Rob had been out in the country on his way home from the ride when he got to an intersection where he did not have a stop sign, but the lane perpendicular to him did. As he approached the intersection, a car was also approaching perpendicular to him, and it stopped at the stop sign. Assuming that the car had seen him and was stopping—as it was supposed to—to let him pass through, Rob proceeded through the intersection. Well, apparently the driver hadn’t seen him approaching, because as Rob got into the intersection, the driver started to go. At first Rob slammed on his brakes, but realizing he wouldn’t be able to stop soon enough, he then tried to goose it and serve to avoid getting hit. He managed to get his body out of the line of fire, but the car struck his rear wheel and he lost control of the bike. He skidded, then flipped over the handlebars and landed shoulder-first in what he described as “a very deep ditch” on the side of the road.

The driver called the ambulance for him right away. As Rob was lying there in excruciating pain, he heard a guy’s voice say to him, “Rob are you okay?” and it turned out it was our former neighbor—the guy who lives next door to our old house. At the time Rob was maybe about 2 miles away from our old neighborhood, and this guy had been out for a run in the country. I guess he stayed around until the ambulance got there and he took Rob’s bike and helmet home with him so that we can get it later. Of all the things!

Shortly after I got to the ER, they took Rob away for X-rays, and in the midst of this, Barb and Bruce arrived. When they heard their baby had been in a crash, they drove all the way over here just to be there for him! They are the parents of the year.

Eventually someone who said he was a doctor told us that Rob’s X-rays showed no breaks, which is good news. He may have injured some of the tendons in his rotator cuff (shoulder), so if that doesn’t get better by the end of the week, he should go to his doctor. I was really relieved. At first I was remembering that hospital we’d had to go to in Moyogalpa and thinking how much better care he was receiving here in the US, but then I stepped back a minute and thought maybe not. They didn’t even clean up the “road rash” he’d gotten on his face from the fall off the bike, and they didn’t give him ice or anything for his extensive bruising and possibly torn rotator cuff tendons. But I don’t want to complain, I am mainly just so relieved and so happy that he is okay. It could have been so much worse. When I first heard the news that Rob had been hit by a car, my mind jumped to all sorts of terrifying conclusions, so at the moment I can’t think of anything else but how thankful I am that he is okay.

When he woke up this morning, he said he felt “B-ok” (instead of “A-ok”). He went ahead and went to work, but I suppose this will keep him off the bike for a few days at least. I’ve got loads to do, so I’d better get going. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for reading!

6 comments:

foxymomma said...

ALL I CAN SAY< is THANK GOD , WE HAD CHATTED BEFORE I READ THIS OR I WOUlD HAVE BEEN HYSTERICAL........... So glad it all worked out OK, so I will PRAY for no further INJURIES showing up., but I can imagine the PAIN , TRAUMA and everything else, his body endured,,,,, It makes me all weak and wobbly JUST thinking about it--- I KNOW it won't DO ME ANY GOOD to TELLYOU BOTH to STAY off the ROADS on your BIKES< sooooo, I will just have to SPEND more time praying , obviously!!!!! but could I just ask, that MAYBE ,you both refrain from RIDING AFTER DARK???? or RUNNIN EITHER???? ok, I will say no more, thanks so much to Barb and Bruce, for being at the ER with you,, HEY, PARENTS are ALLOWED to go BESERK when something happens to one of their OFFSPRING... it's our RIGHT!!!!!!! You take care of Robby, and nurse him back to health,, what a trooper, for goin off towork today,, Tell him to take it easy for a while,,,, and let his body heal!!!! Hugs and Prayers to you both, luv , us

Anonymous said...

O H ... M Y ... G O O D N E S S ! !
O H ... M Y ... G O O D N E S S ! !
O H ... M Y ... G O O D N E S S ! !
So glad Robbie is recovering by being able to go to work!! The Roscoe pix are awesome!! AND I DO NOT LIKE YOUR SCHOOL PEOPLE!!!! Maybe I need to come down and have a meeting with them!! Take good care of Robbie!!
hugs, auntie

amypfan said...

PHEW. This really is the kind of post that necessitates responding in all caps. I am SO GLAD that Rob is okay. I can only imagine what kind of a nervous wreck I would have been if such a thing had happened to us. I am very displeased with the "higher-ups" in your department for not appreciating the trauma of the dogs vs. Scooby. Yes, it is an anecdote, but I feel that is a legitimate instruction/explanation technique. Grr. Anyway, Michelle and Logan look great!!

Jodi said...

Hey -- glad Rob's OK!

I really thought that your presentation on Monday went fine. Honestly. Yes, they said it was an anecdote (meaning a description of one event you witnessed in the field, rather than a report of results from a much larger study), and that you need to research mortality rates in other howler groups in order to determine whether or not the difference in the # of deaths you witnessed between your 2 groups is statistically significant. But nobody said that your poster was shoddy science or a waste of time!!

I'm sorry you were so upset afterwards, but I thought it was interesting and that you did a good job!

Anonymous said...

Just read your blog, SO GLAD ROB IS GOING TO BE O.K.! I cannot imagine how you felt when you got the call!!!! I feel so bad for you with your project at school, you work so hard on something, and then they put you down for it, so sorry. Love the picture of you, Michelle and Logan. Can't believe how he has grown. One last few words< BE CAREFUL ON YOUR BIKES, you never know who is out there.

Pat

Anonymous said...

.......I cannot believe Rob went back to work the next day. AND...furthermore, I can't believe he is riding his bicycle to work again already. All I can say is, you must be an awesome nurse.
......That baby is adorable. He's grown so much.
......Lastly, about those awful people that were mean to you...don't be sad, now that you know what "they" want in your presentation, you'll be able to knock it out of the ballpark next time.
......MomScho