On December 30th, 2025, I had an accident. I slipped on some black ice while walking, and down I went. I heard a crunch. I saw stars. I felt immediate, excruciating pain. I had left my phone in my car. Noone saw me fall. My left arm was injured, and I was lying on my left side where I fell. I knew I needed to get up. Somehow, I managed to get myself into a sitting position and then to a standing position. 

    I was on my way to see my mom and take her to urgent care when this happened. Needless to say, Mom didn't get to urgent care that day. I got inside her house and had her call an ambulance for me. I had her help me take off my winter coat, hoping that removing some weight from my arm would decrease the pain and pressure I was feeling. Then we waited.

    A police officer arrived first. She went back outside after assessing the situation inside, and she threw some sand down where I fell. EMS arrived. Things get a little foggy here. Somehow, they got me into the ambulance. One of the EMTs was a young woman whose family I know. She did a great job putting in an I.V. and getting some pain meds on board for me.  

    We arrived at the hospital, where I was put in a room and proceeded to sit and wait for 4 hours before anything was done for me other than vital signs. Things finally got moving when my husband arrived and said something. I had a traumatic injury, and noone saw me for over 4 hours. I was extremely nauseous from the pain. Any movement at all increased that pain.

    My roommate was there with a flare-up of a chronic condition. She was brought into the room after I had been there for a couple of hours. A doctor came in to see her while I was still unseen. When the doctor was leaving, he asked her if she had any questions. She didn't, but I did. I called over to him, "I have a question. I've been waiting for hours with a traumatic injury; I have had no meds here and no X-rays. Is anyone ever going to see me?"

    He authorized my nurse to administer an oral medication. I refused it since I was nauseous. Oral medication is not a smart choice for traumatic injuries. 

    X-rays were finally done around 4 1/2-5 hours into this ordeal. They wanted me to get off the stretcher to take the films. I refused as the pain with any movement took my breath away. They sat the stretcher up higher and took the films. Every manipulation was torturous. This ER digitally sends all its X-rays to Boston to be read. Cue more waiting.

    A doctor finally saw me over an hour after I had the X-rays. She was pleasant, but all she did was breeze in, tell me she was ordering pain meds, and that my left humeral head was fractured in three places, and I would need surgery. She took no patient history. She did no physical exam. She was pleasant enough, but not a very good doctor. The only good thing she did was order Dilaudid, which immediately helped with the pain. Opiate medications make me vomit. Already nauseous from the pain, the Dilaudid pushed that nausea to the breaking point. At least they got something in front of me before I lost my lunch.

    

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