As I’m heading to the hospital, all I could think about was “Am I actually going through this right now? Is this a dream? Can I go back in time?” But in reality I couldn’t. I was stuck in a world where I had to suffer the pain in an ambulance heading my way to the hospital. We get to the hospital and they end up bringing me a wheelchair for me to sit on as they rush me to the ER so I could get seen immediately. As we’re making our way to the ER, the doctors tell my parents I need to get my blood drawn and that I need to have a needle in my arm to check my heart rate, etc. When I overheard the doctors tell my parents that, I started panicking even more because my biggest fear was needles. My parents started telling me to calm down because I was going to make the pain worse by crying so much and moving around a lot. I was trying my very best to not think about what was happening at the moment and what was going to happen afterwards, but it was hard and stressful already because I always overthink every single thing, especially at this young age.
The doctors came into my room and introduced themselves to me and my parents as they got ready to set up everything in order to get my procedure done. The doctor asked me what happened and I began to tell the doctor everything that happened. He asked if I wanted to show him my leg and I said yes. I took off the towel that was placed on my leg and he looked shocked at what he was seeing. He proceeded to tell my parents that they were going to put the needle in my arm and get started with everything. I’m crying asking God to not let them do this, but they told me that it had to be done or I wasn’t going to feel better, but I’m not listening to single thing they were telling me because I’m was so scared and over stimulated. The doctors and my parents ended up holding me down so they could put the needle in my arm as I was screaming to the top of my lungs. It hurt. After all that happened, I was a little bit more calm and rested so I began to close my eyes and just think. 20 minutes passed by, and the doctor told my parents that they were going to take me to get an x-ray then get my leg clean so they could move me to a room. My parents were okay with this.
The doctor asked me how I was feeling and told me what the process was going to look like and that I had nothing to worry about. We ended up getting my x-ray done first, which took a good 4 minutes, then we headed to the “Shower room”, which was a creepy looking room. It had a metal table in the middle of the room, a shower head next to it, and a couple of supplies with bright, creepy lights. The female doctor told me that I needed to remove my shorts, but for me to keep on my panties because she was only cleaning my leg. As I removed my shorts, I felt insecure about how my leg looked because the skin on my leg was peeling off and my leg had turned purple and green. She told me that the metal table was going to be cold and as soon as I sat down, I quickly side eyed her like “Girl, you weren’t lying”, so she laughed at me and told me that the process was only going to take 7-8 minutes since she was only going to clean the wound with water.
When she turned that water on, I felt like Jesus took my soul out of my body because of how cold it was at first. She asked me if I wanted the water to be a little bit warmer and immediately said yes. I was singing to myself, trying not to think about the pain, but all I could do was cry and say it hurt because of the skin that was stuck on my leg. Once she finished, she gave me a heated blanket so I wasn’t so cold and she took me to my room where my parents were. After all that, they sat me in my bed and told me and my parents that everything wasn’t looking too good and that I was going to have to stay at the hospital for 1-2 more days. My mom and dad looked so heartbroken because of what I was going through, but I told them that I was okay and that everything was going to be okay. All of us ended up going to sleep until the next day when the doctors knocked on the door, walking in with good spirits and attitudes, asking me and my parents if we were okay and how I was feeling. I told them a lot better since I slept off the pain.
After my procedure, the doctors told me that I was able to go home, but before I went home I was going to have to go to the exercise room to workout my leg. As we were heading to the exercise room, I felt uncomfortable leaving my parents because of how close I was with them, but I knew that I was going to be okay because I was in a safe environment. We made it to the exercise room and it was warm and a lot of equipment was available for me to use for my leg. I began to walk and the doctor told me to walk back and forth to see how my pain was on a scale of 1-10; it was an 8. Then the doctor began to tell me to stand on one leg to test my ability to stand it for a long period of time. I couldn’t really stand for that long because of the pain. Lastly, the doctor asked me to move my leg back and forth and for me to rate my pain 1 out of 10; it was a 4. After we finished all of that, we headed back to the room and they finally explained to my parents that I needed to be on bed rest for a couple of weeks and miss school. I also needed to make sure that my leg was properly cleaned and wrapped and for me to put cocoa butter on my leg so it could heal a little faster. If I didn’t, my leg would get worse and it could get infected.
They were kind enough to give me a gift basket for being so strong and kind, which was very sweet and thoughtful of them. Me and my parents packed our things and they discharged me. I was so happy and blessed to leave and go home to rest in my own comfortable bed and see my baby brother.
This is the metal bed that the doctors usually give patients when they need to be cleaned from more serve injuries or accidents. This was like what the doctor placed me on, but instead it was a metal shower bed. And sometimes it can be patted with covers so it isn’t so cold and uncomfortable.
This is my lovely family who was there for me every step of the way and supported me through the whole situation that occurred. They made sure I was good and comfortable throughout the whole process so I wouldn’t feel alone. My beautiful family who I love and adore so much are truly my heart, and I cherish them with everything in me. I’m very grateful to have them in my life. Without them, there is no life.
This is the type of noodles that I was eating (“Ramen Chicken Noodles”) as I was injured. I always ate them out of a blue bowl with my Dora the Explorer cup filled juice.
