First EMS Trip

I am too young to be struggling with back issues. Yet, all signs point this reality in my middle years and eventually my geriatric ages. If I am to navigate my remaining years with the backbone I possess now, I must act vehemently and with a well-executed plan. Knowing what I know and acting within my power.

My back problems has to stop.

There I was 3 weeks after fighting COVID and two weeks not playing softball. I hadn’t really been playing badminton. No cardio, exercise of any kind but walking.

And now I go to badminton, do my usual on-court hitting warmup, and begin a game without stretching. In midst of the second game, I felt a sudden strain in my lumbar back and down I fell. I could not remain standing. Fear had not set in yet, but pain was there. I had never experienced this before, to be in so much pain, it was crippling.

I had felt a sharp pain like a muscle tear in my spine as I fell into a roll, holding my back. I knew right away it was related to my lower back issues. However, I didn’t understand the full extent of the damage done.

As I lay screaming, I think the worse part is we all just assumed I had strain something and it was temporary. And I kept reassuring people (assuming it was the same injury from 5 years ago), that all I had to do was stretch and lay down. But reality was, I could not stand or walk anymore. I hadn’t realized it just yet.

I stretched, I tried to increase mobility. But nothing was getting better. Yet I persisted. My friends and girlfriend ask our friends to give space. I was not okay.

By the time it was almost time to leave the place, I decided to make a headstart to my car, hoping not to cause a scene. But when I tried to get up, the spasms hit and I yelped in pain, losing my ability to stand. It is insane how painful it was to try to walk and stand.

I was broken.

I slowly accepted the fact that EMS had to be called. Not something I typically feel I want or feel I need. But thank goodness for EMS. I’m a non-emergency, but I’m still grateful.

My paramedics were Keith and Megan. Calm, collected, just doing their jobs well. I laid there and tried to explain my situation. It is difficult to summarize what initially is a bewildering series of events leading up to the 911 call.

When they asked me to get up, I knew I had to comply. Even though I was quite afraid of another spasm or mega pain session. Whatever you call it, it luckily did not really come to pass, as I started to twitch and shake, they found me a blanket and rolled me up onto the stretcher in hopes of not causing further nerve damage. I was damaged, but how damaged. It was risky, not knowing if any movements would aggravate a spinal area injury.

Thank you for letting me not get up.

They wheeled me away, it was painless to be stretchered out but I was not doing great. I kept relaying any new progression of symptoms and my history and what led to injury. Keith agreed, weight lifting is key.

All the signs are there. That I need to strengthen to avoid further injury.

They did bring me to closest hospital. There was never going to be discussion on this. However, it is a bit bad luck to be carted and registered at one of the worst hospitals in the area. Yet I’m not criticizing the people, I’m saying the system allowed this hospital to deteriorate to the worst in the area.

As they checked me in, we found out there were no beds. I had to bend into a wheelchair, and for back injuries, that’s the worst… I can’t stand at that point, so sitting was a huge battle against pain.

I was in so much pain that even a slight movement of my lower back would trigger a wave of jolting and crippling pain, paralyzing me and forcing me to grab anything to brace the coming of doom.

As we waited in the hospital hallway, an old man was being helped around with a head trauma, visible by the bloodied wrappings around his head. We learn this man was far ahead of us in line by 7 hours already and had not be triaged or put into a bed.

There was an ongoing and repetitive woman’s scream randomly in another room all throughout the time we were there, And someone moaning in an oddly rhymical pattern down some hallway I never got to look down. It was a really bad place for care.

At one point, there was a code blue, someone flat lined and all the nurses and doctors in the hallways ran to this incident and disappeared. The line never moved in Emergency, never. All the staff looked busy, but no patients were being seen. We needed to get out of there.

That was the moment we knew it was time to bail.

I assured my girlfriend, told her I can do it, I can manage the pain, but we had to act. We can’t die here waiting. Her idea was to call Uber Comfort, hoping it would be better for me. She had be reluctant initially knowing she might force me to go through excruciating pain just to move to another hospital.

Waiting in the cold outside for this Uber to show up, I was grateful to have a wonderful girlfriend who loved and cared for me the way she did.

She’s a keeper.

Uber arrived, an Indian driver of a Cadillac… not sure. SUV? I think. Satpal said I was lucky, that we called him. Cause his SUV had a low entry to the passenger, unlike highlander or other models.

He told me to drink hot milk with turmeric. Haha, love older people and their comforts. He did however give great instruction how to dismount my wheelchair, turn and tuck my bum into the car seat. Those instructions were perfect.

I need my girlfriend to lift me from my chair though, this would happen all night. Every time I needed to get up, I needed 50% of that back work to come from her rather than my back.

It is quite frustrating and quite depressing to know that this is me when I’m 90, but happening when I’m 30. The worst feeling.

It’s too early in my life for this shit.

We drove past my old neighborhood, thoughts of ‘I can’t seem to leave this neighborhood fast enough’ came up again. The month we put the home on sale, the market plummets, it becomes unsellable. The week we were moving out of this neighborhood, I was inside the local bank signing my life away, and outside someone keys me car. They had the balls to stare at me when I came out even as I back out of my parking spot. Only after I left did I realize, that person had keyed my car. !@#$%^******.

But yeah, can’t leave this neighborhood FAST ENOUGH.

I have to say, all my good luck vanished without a trace this year. 2022 is one my worst years, for my money, my health, my relationship, the whole international economy, war in Europe. Thank goodness I was still doing okay to maintain my life.

Back to my current predicament. The Uber driver dropped us at the hospital with a better chance. It was faster, we were triaged within minutes and put in a low-emergency line. But after 2 agonizing, eye-opening hours spent at the poorly funded hospital whose line never moved once and someone died in the room beside us, I could survive at this place. I had the luxury of choice, which many did not. Things were better here. Floor, ceiling, lights were not run down, the TV even had sports on it. I sat curled up in pain, paralyzed and cold in a wheelchair, tired as midnight turned to early pre-dawn. I waited my 4 hours, knowing the end would come.

At one point, I had to be assisted to use the toilet to pee. It was sad. As always there was someone screaming in pain the whole time. This guy had broken his ribs, but was crying in pain for hours on end. Two parents with their separate kids were there. When at least some daughter of his broken rib man was carted off into the care room disgruntled, and the old man equally privileged and disgruntled, the parent sitting behind them breathed in relief and told us she and her child sat for 4 hours with this guy in front of them.

We felt bad for them. She went on to say her child broke his arm and how he had been sitting here quietly without complaint. They had blankets over them and he had no bed for the night. They were still waiting in the unknown for that possibility of surgery the next day (or later in next 24 hours). He told us he loved and missed his pet birds, they comforted him. And that he broke his arm trying to go awkwardly over a slide.

The other parent mentioned her child had broke something too and they were back after only being there months ago. Quite the year, but thankful they were at the right hospital. She told us good thing we got out of that bad hospital and came here.

4 painful hours later, as a nurse finally came to check on us, it actually wasn’t long before we were admitted to beds.

The doctor was quite nice and explanatory to the patient already in one of the beds. The two kids with parents and I were admitted to the other three. Nurses were nice. But when this doctor got to me, boy was he dry.

He checked me for incident report, and told me to stand up, noticed I couldn’t touch toes. And basically said I had nothing broken, so no x-ray would yield anything. He had no idea if I had strain or herniated disc, but if I have a fever or can’t pee or poop, come back immediately. Painkillers here you go, you want a narcotic with that?

-_-”

what…

Are you serious? 6 hours of the rawest suffering and this is what I get.

Sure, I’ll take whatever you give me, you apathetic night-shift professional.

Went home to the dawn. Thankful my brother and girlfriend were both there to ship me and care for me.

What a night.

Lift weights said the EMS paramedics.

Yes, I said, I knewwwwww I had to be. If I had not been moving, certainly wouldn’t have paused sports for this long and caught covid, and had no gym rack set up.

NEVER AGAIN.

f***.

Update 2024: I have been very disciplined for the last 2 years, lifting weights throughout the year, stretching, going to chiropractic and massage sessions that focus on back, shoulder, and neck. And I am healthier and feel the youngest I’ve felt since I was 23. A fast turnaround in two years after a decade without the will and power to change course. I still get a sore back every now and then, but I have the strength to make it through each work week, and have no intention of going back. I am very proud of how far I’ve come, and I believe discipline and motivation are the drivers of controllable success.