Oopsy Daisy

Yesterday, I went with my husband to the orthopedic center in the city. He is having trouble with his knee, with fluid on the kneecap that is as big as my fist.

The first thing they wanted were x-rays of both of his knees. We sat in a waiting area with other folks, the only two people with masks on, of course.

After they called my husband back for his x-rays, I scurried over to the restrooms. Upon my return, my seats that had been furthest away from other people were taken, so I sat in a chair in the hallway that was directly in front of the entrance to the x-ray area, where my husband would see me.

I pulled up Lord of the Rings on my cellphone and began reading. I became engrossed in the book and was at the part where Faramir is telling Frodo about Boromir's death when suddenly I heard a little cry. "Oh."

Then something hit my left knee and the side of my leg. I heard a lot of exclamations all around me. I looked down to find a large woman lay in the floor at my feet, with the aid who had been delivering her from x-ray bending over her. I sat, rubbing my knee, while the woman said, "See, this is what happens, it just locks up on me and I hit the floor."

The aid asked the woman if she was ok. The woman said, "Thank goodness I didn't land on my broken arm," and then went on to explain she'd broken her left shoulder once before. She was on her right side in the floor.

I saw the nurse who had been doing the intake for x-rays pick up a phone. "Urgent Code" something she said, then quickly hurried over. She touched me on the shoulder. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"She hit my leg when she fell, I want to stand up in a minute and see how it feels," I said. The woman was still at my feet and now there were people in scrubs everywhere, appearing seemingly from every corner of the building, responding, I supposed, to the Urgent Code call.

About this time my husband came out of x-ray. I saw him and caught his eye. He gaped at the sight before him, which must have looked crazy - me sitting there in a chair, a woman at my feet, at least a dozen other people around us. I waved him on to wherever he needed to go. The look on his face said, "What the hell?" better than any words could have done.

Someone appeared with a wheelchair, and somebody else had a sheet. The staff rolled the woman over until the sheet was under her butt, and then they hoisted her up and into the chair.

Once she was up and being hauled off to wherever they were taking her, I stood and tested out my leg. The x-ray nurse asked me if I was ok. I said I thought I was, but I wanted to make a report of the incident. She came back with a pencil and paper and asked me to write down my name and birthday. I did, along with a sentence about what happened. I didn't think that was much of a report.

"If it's bothering you after your husband has his appointment, we will see you," she said. "Just let us know."

I went to the waiting area where my husband sat and told him what happened. I wasn't in real pain, but I could tell something had hit me. I was limping a little.

That was the end of my excitement. I went back with my husband to see the doctor, where we were told that the fluid on his kneecap could only be left alone to heal itself and that could take up to 9 months. After that, my husband probably needs a knee replacement.

The doctor was getting ready to leave when I asked if we could see his x-rays. Yep, he will need a knee replacement eventually. I could see where it was bone on bone. He says it doesn't hurt. I don't see how it couldn't.

As we left, I stopped at the check-in area and asked again about making an incident report about the woman falling on me, since I didn't really feel like writing my name on a scratch pad was going to cut it if I woke up and found my knee was swelling or something. I was assured it would be entered into my chart.

However, there is nothing in my chart except what I put in there this morning, a little paragraph about what happened in the area where I can make notes in the chart.

Fortunately, I see to be ok. But wasn't that a weird thing?

And shouldn't there have been a better way to report an incident at the facility?