On Tuesday night, I was at a Co-op meeting when I saw a call coming in from Amanda on my cell phone. She knew I was in a meeting. Knowing she knew that, I knew she wouldn’t call unless it was something important so before I even answered the phone I was slightly alarmed when I saw her number come up. For those IRL friends who don’t already know this or who don’t know me well enough yet to know this – My kids trump everything. I carry my cell phone at all times so any of them can get ahold of me no matter where I am or what I’m doing. That’s just the way it is with about the only exception being when I’m on stage playing for a church service (^.^). Awhile back some gals on my internet loop said they wouldn’t want to be so tied to a cell phone. I like knowing that my kids can get ahold of me when they need to!! When my kids were younger and mostly with me, I didn’t consder a cell phone a “necessity” but it has definitely become one that last few years.

When I answered and quietly said “Hi Honey” she cried “Mom, please come get me quick. I fell off my bike and I’m hurt.” I motioned a frantic emergency type wave at my friend, Lisa, who is on the Co-op Admin team with me this year and left. Amanda told me where she was at and how to get there while I rushed out the door and down to the car. I hung up briefly to call dh and tell him that she had been hurt and then called her back to talk to her while I was enroute. She was riding alone tonight because her bike riding friend, Stacie, who some of you might remember from a blog entry a few posts back was at the same Co-op meeting I was at. Since I knew Amanda wasn’t hurt badly enough that she couldn’t talk, she hadn’t hit her head, etc., I knew she was going to be fine. But, I was still worried about hurrying to get to her because she was alone down by the river. Wouldn’t you know I got LOST trying to find the road to go on to get where she was at. I had to hang up AGAIN to call dh for directions! When I finally found her, there were four other bikers riding the trail who stopped to help me get her loaded into the car including putting her bike, gloves, water bottles, etc., in the back for me.

I took one look at her and knew that she needed to go to the ER. She was quite worried about that because we rarely ever go to the ER. We sometimes go see our ER DR friend, but we don’t usually just automatically GO to the ER. Seeing the road rash on her leg and the huge gouges in her elbow, I knew there was no way I was going to get her cleaned up. Her wrists weren’t cut at all because she was wearing biking gloves, but I was worried about whether or not there was a break. Anyway. She was worried about how bad her elbow was when I said we were going to the ER. She was REALLY worried about getting stitches. She had thought to try to clean off the area (even though she couldn’t see it) by slowly pouring water over the area while she waited for me to come. All she could see was blood running down her arm so she knew she must have a pretty bad cut. Here is what it looked like before it was cleaned out. At first the Dr didn’t think she would need stitches, but I had seen it before the blood started to clot and dry over the area so I knew it was pretty deep. (Don’t look beyond this first picture if you’re squeemish.

Before the cleaned it they took her for X-rays of who knows what all parts (LOL). I forgot to ask her. She suffered an injured right shoulder, elbow, and hip as well as injuries to both of her wrists and road rash on her leg (first picture up above). THANKFULLY, she did not hit her head. She does wear a helmet, but still we’re thankful she didn’t bump her head. Here is what the area looked like after the first cleaning. OUCH! There are some areas that couldn’t be stitched because CHUNKS of skin were missing! It was already starting to bruise.

She had quite a room full of friends that showed up! I called both of her roommates so they wouldn’t worry about why she wasn’t back home yet. Stacie came right after the Co-op meeting and stayed until about 10:30 or so. She’s a nurse and a great biking friend to Amanda! It was great to have her there to keep us company.

One of Tim’s cousins works at the hopsital and happened to be in the ER that night. She also came and checked on us several times and ended up taking Stacie home after her shift ended. Both of Amanda’s roommates stayed until she was all stitched up.

It was about 12:45 or 1:00 a.m. by the time I finally got her back to her condo. She was on some pretty heavy pain medications and wasn’t getting around very well so I went ahead and stayed the night with her. We slept maybe a 1/2 hour before I needed to wake her up for the next dose of pain killers. Then she slept a couple of hours before waking up and wanting to shower and wash her hair. She couldn’t squeeze the shampoo bottles or manage the blow dryer or curling iron. Poor thing. After she was all settled in on the couch I headed back home.

Later that day Grandma went in to take her some lunch and brought the hammock in from their deck so she could lounge a bit more comfortably in the living room. Her roommates have been a real blessing to her helping her get ready the last two mornings, bringing her a milkshake, driving her to work, fixing her hair, and putting on her makeup!

Melissa (mother of our “other girls” whom you’ve seen on our blog) also visited the day after her accident and brought cookies!