Saturday

Saturday's high temperature was: 72

An absolutely gorgeous day

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Jackie lives directly across from me.  She sits in her chair and stitches all day.  Every hour, she makes herself get up.  She stood up and looked out her door and saw Pearl coming down the steps and fall, on the cement driveway.

Jackie ran over here yelling, "Judy!!  Pearl just fell."

I grabbed my phone and took off.

Pearl was laying on her back, blood pouring out of the back of her head.  I dialed 911.

Jackie ran into the house and got a towel to hold up against Pearl's head, to stop the bleeding.  Pearl was shocky, shivering and it was sprinkling.  I opened up Merle's truck and got his two jackets out and laid them over her.  Merle was away at the time--up the road at the small hospital ER with a kidney stone!

The EMT's got there pretty quickly, but that was about all they did right.  A guy jumped out of the ambulance and a woman opened up the back and brought out the gurney.

The guy asked Pearl how she fell.  <Who gives a flying flip--take care of her!>

He DID NOT check to see if she had any broken bones--hip--whatever.  He bound some gauze around her head and told Jackie to go in the house to get a wet cloth to wash the blood off Pearl's hand.  <Who cares about the blood on her hand!  Get her to the ER!>

Then--he grabs Pearl under the arms and tells her, "Stand up and walk over to sit on the gurney."

"She can't stand up." I said.  "She has severe arthritis in her knees, she has Neuropathy in her feet and has had two back surgeries.  <plus she weighs 200 pounds>  Can't we put a blanket under her and lift her onto the gurney?"

Meanwhile, the female EMT is standing there.  Oh sure, she has her blue latex gloves on, but other than that...

So, he yanks Pearl up--she screams in pain.  He lowers her onto her knees and then yanks her up and drags her a bit--scraping skin off both her knees.  He tries to get her onto the gurney and they have not locked the wheels so the gurney starts to roll away.  The female EMT just stands there.

I sort of push her aside and hold the gurney steady.  Pearl is screaming, "Help me!  Help me!"

Just then Merle gets home.  He helps the guy get Pearl onto the gurney, with me holding it still.

Pearl is shaking, I look down and see a sheet and quickly cover her.  It is still sprinkling.  The guy is so determined that she get the blood washed off her hands.  <Geez>

They finally get her in the truck and off they go to the little hospital just up the road.

The nightmare continues in the ER.  They look at her head and determine that she doesn't need stitches.  BUT--they do not clean the abrasion.  They take her for a CAT scan, but they don't put anything on her scraped up and bleeding knees!  

  

She came home 4 hours later.  No follow-up.  Should we keep an eye on her for nausea, dizziness, headache?  Could the knock on the head lead to a hematoma--swelling in the brain?  Guess not.

Now--this is the same hospital and ambulance that used to come here when Fred was in bad shape and they were great.  A scant three years later and this is how they operate?  I know that Merle and Pearl won't say anything or complain, but I am calling Monday and found out what the heck is going on.

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I hurt so bad from walking and flower shopping for 3 hours yesterday that I could hardly move, but.....this is what I did for 5 hours Saturday afternoon.  I kept to my color scheme of Hot Pink, Purple or Dark Blue and Chartreuse.

Click on the pix to see them larger.

That blue pot and trellis, on the right, holds the Purple Hyacinth Bean seeds.

View from the street

 View from up on the porch

View walking up to the porch 

View from my recliner :-) 

The first year I have done a tiered planter.

It is an experiment.

I am not sure that moss on the bottom layer will thrive,

I maybe should have put just polished rocks in there 

This may be a complete fail.  Guess we shall see.

All I know, it all looks so much better on my 

newly painted white and grey porch

then it ever would on just the regular stained one.

This is the most I have done in 4 years!!!  I also planted Zinnia seeds in the raised garden out by my shed AND I have some Lily of the Valley to put in my garden under the Lilacs bushes.

I think another half a Percocet is in order at bedtime tonight and then.......Pammie and church tomorrow and afterwards--lunch with Karen too!!!