Possum Philosophy: From weekend plans to the ER

By ROBERT CAHILL/Columnist

Last Saturday dawned a rather pleasant fall day. Not too cool; not too warm. A good day to be outdoors. I had some tentative plans, several area festivals, farmers’ markets, and historic sites were having events that weekend. I simply had not made up my mind which one to attend. I figured if the weather held and I played my cards right, I could maybe hit one (or even two) that day, then if I were lucky, hit another couple on Sunday afternoon.
I guess I should have remembered, if my luck were skunk-oil, I’d have to mix onions and garlic with it to get enough to smell. To start with, there was an annual Apple Festival over in Erwin, Tenn. Its OK, lots of arts and crafts and plenty of country music. But it’s a long drive and a big crowd, both of which are minuses as far as attractions go for me. Terry and her mom really enjoy it though. So guess where we planned to head.
Well, it took those two most of the morning to get going. It was almost noon when we were ready to leave. Now as all you folks that live out in the country know, Saturday is trash day. After Friday’s shopping and such, you have to take the garbage to the nearest convenience station. So I was loading the trunk of the car, figuring I’d stop along the way. Since I had been bugged by a raging sinus infection/allergies for several days, I asked Terry if she would drive. She started around the back of the car to get in the driver’s seat and that, as they say, is when the you-know-what hit the proverbial fan.
Our old dog Brandy has developed bad habits. She likes to crawl up under the rear of Terry’s car and nap. It’s out of the breeze but still in the warm sun. However, she is smart enough to know that when folks start boarding the car, she better haul her fuzzy butt out of there. Just as Terry rounded the corner, Brandy abandoned ship. As we had tied her outside to do her business before we went off, she was still attached to the chain which wrapped right around Terry’s ankles and jerked her feet out from under her. She hit the ground hard.
Anyone who has ever broken or heard someone else break a bone will tell you, it sounds like a stick of dry wood snapping. Once you hear it, you never forget the sound. I heard it and knew immediately what it was, especially as it was followed immediately with a scream of pain. This came from my darling wife, a tough-as-nails nurse, a person who I have seen take some terrible shots, some rough procedures and even some bad news without a whimper. She was bawling in pain, which made me sick to my stomach. I jumped to help but quickly realized there was nothing I could do. Her elbow, which I suggested was dislocated (but knew it was much worse than that) prohibited me getting her under her arms to lift her up and the place and way she fell stopped her from getting up on her own,
After a few minutes of arguing I called 911, and they immediately dispatched Green Springs Fire and Rescue (our nearest and good folks to boot). It seemed to take forever and Terry cried in pain almost constantly. Finally, a couple of their members who had heard the call arrived in their own vehicles. They started gathering information and such when one received a radio call saying the ambulance would arrive shortly. It seems the dispatcher had to send another unit from a little farther away. The Green Springs ambulance had gotten to the main intersection on state Route 75 and then blown its engine.
However, another unit from Abingdon Ambulance Service came. The two crews worked together. They are to be commended on their training and their handling of a bad situation. Eventually, we were off to Johnston Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Room. Naturally, for some unknown reason (actually it was one of what will be the last few pretty weekends on South Holston Lake), traffic was heavy both ways. 
We finally arrived at the ER about 1:15 pm. The crew took her in immediately and she was seen by Dr. David Simmons (originally from the Mount Airy, N.C,. area). He was exceptionally competent and professional while demonstrating a great calming and sympathetic bedside manner. It kind of hurt my feelings that he was a good 30 years or so younger than I am. After a quick exam, he agreed it was a bad break and a very painful one as well. He gave Terry a large shot of, I believe, morphine for the pain. It did almost nothing (and this is a woman who suffers pain without complaint normally). After what should have been sufficient time for this to work, he tried to straighten her arm enough to get a good exam of it. No way.
Dr. Simmons came back with an even stronger dose of painkiller. It began to help some but still not enough for her to straighten her arm. He sent her for x-rays and called for an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Stephanie Alford. The radiology work seemed to be the hold up most of the evening. They insisted Terry straighten her arm, which she simply was unable to do. They were not what I would call user friendly. However once they got a shot or two, they saw why she was in such pain. The two bones in her lower arm were broken away from the elbow, the elbow itself was dislocated, and the major upper arm bone had a fracture and part of the socket that actually allows the elbow to operate as it does was chipped off and shattered. Both Simmons and Alford agreed it was no wonder she was in such pain.
Alford said she had to straighten the arm to get a good CT scan and it needed to be kept straight until repaired. She gave Terry another large shot of pain meds, before applying a soft cast and wrapping Terry’s arm tightly to avoid further damage. Then Terry went for a CT scan coming back with huge tears in her eyes saying how painful it had been.
Meanwhile, Alford said she did not feel comfortable with attempting the repairs herself, and instead, referred Terry to an Upper Extremities Orthopedic Specialist Surgeon at the Johnson City Medical Center. She explained that he would have a full staff of assistants and surgical residents working with him as well, and it would simply provide a better outcome.
Finally, around 9:30 p.m., Terry was staggering slightly from all the pain meds; still in a good bit of pain and way past ready to leave. Dr. Alford said the radiology folks would have all the x-rays and CT scans on CD so we could take it with us once she was able to get Terry an appointment with the specialists. They finally handed me a CD, I rounded up Terry and started for the door when the radiology folks said they wanted another shot. Neither Terry nor I were very happy, but we wanted the best outcome for her surgery so she went along. About 30 minutes or so later they brought her back and said we’d have another CD in just a few minutes. Approximately 30 minutes later, the new ER doc (shifts had changed) asked what we were waiting for, I told him and he went off, and came back saying they couldn’t get the CD to burn. Terry flatly refused to go through that again but was assured they had the information, they were just having trouble getting it to the disk. I made a trip back to the ER on Monday and was given not one but two disks.
After two days of extreme pain, Terry and I went to see the specialist in Johnson City. It took until Tuesday, Oct. 6, to get an appointment. We were lucky. As it was an emergency, they worked her in as quickly as possible. Normal cases have a two- to four-month waiting period just to be examined by these folks.
As most of you do not remember, two years ago I managed to get Terry to marry me. Now the traditional second anniversary gift is supposed to be cotton, modern lists call for china. I guess I am what one might call ultra-modern; my anniversary gift to my wife was (drum roll please…) TAH-DAH, I paid her (what I considered pretty steep) co-pay for her visit with the specialist. I do think she liked that better than any old cotton or china. She goes for surgery on Monday, Oct. 12. It is a serious matter with no guaranteed good outcome. I just hope this guy is as good as his reputation. I don’t think Terry can stand much more of this pain.

A freelance journalist, Robert “Rocky” Cahill writes regularly for the News & Messenger. His Possum Philosophy column appears in each Saturday edition.