Work Mishap

Monday started out good. I got two people to train on a certain function and found out that my Census job would last into 2010. Yay! I love the thought of long term work at this job.

Monday afternoon ended rather badly. A filing cabinet fell over onto me and bruised my right forearm and left knee. In many ways I was blessed when it happened. Two folk were with me, saw it happening and jumped under it to stop its fall. Then the HR manager jumped in as well to get it since all the 4 drawers were trying to fall down and were absolutely full of files. It took 3 or 4 people to stop that cabinet from hitting the ground, one of them was me since it landed on me first. It took 3 strong men to get it back upright from its over 45 degrees tilt towards being face down on the ground. And in the process they shoved it too far back so it took off that black rubber wall base trip that lines many offices. But get it upright they did, Thank God!

Then came the process of checking me out. My right wrist and forearm were dinged by the corner of a drawer and also scraped. That is ugly looking but not very bad. The knee which stopped a heavy drawer though is rather badly bruised and somewhat swollen. Every one was asking me if I was okay, including the HR manager. I said I thought so but wasn't sure. I was very shook up. HR Mgr asked me if I wanted to go to the doctor and I said I didn't know but wanted to fill out an incident report. He got me some paperwork to start on and called Dallas for advice. They said send me to my doctor or the ER. My Doc would have taken several days so the ER at the nearby VA hospital it was.

They asked me if I could drive. My leg could have handled it but when the Office Supervisor cracked a joke to make me laugh I lost control of my emotions and laughed and cried at the same time right on his shoulder. Ouch! I felt totally unprofessional but really grateful for his grabbing me and hugging me cause I needed that comfort. Then he made me laugh again and I had the same reaction so I got hugged twice. Based on that lack of emotional control I asked if someone could drive me in my car and another person followed in theirs to drive that employee back since it wasn't the end of the work day. What a great bunch of people!

When I got to Audey Murphy VA Hospital we used valet parking and they handed me my backpack. One of the gentlemen wanted me in a wheel chair but I said I could walk in. So I did and they headed back to work. This was about 3:30. That's a mere 40 minutes after the accident. I was "triaged" by the nurses and set at a fairly high priority based on my knee and possibly my blood pressure which had shot up due to stress, adrenolyn and anxiety. Even then I sat in the VA waiting area for 3 hours before being seen and sent home.

When I did get seen the doctor didn't have me unrobe, he just prodded my knee some through my slacks and asked where it hurt. He offered to x-ray my patella. I asked if I'd be able to walk if the knee cap was broken and he didn't offer again. He did say that if I wanted to come back and get it x-rayed later I could. His prescription was Motrin or Aleeve twice a day at a higher than usual dose. He also gave me an ace bandage for support and a return to work chit after asking me if I did lots of climbing. And that was it. I went to the front, got my car key, located my car, and drove myself home.

A good hot soak in the bath that night plus 2 Aleeve helped me relax. I took a pillow to bed to support the knee with and hit the sack about 8:30. When I woke up that morning I felt much better. I took myself to work and also the Aleeve and a cane just incase I felt the need of knee support later in the day. Everyone at work was asking me how I was and I'm really grateful for all the concern shown. One person told me that in the middle of the accident I cried out, "Don't worry about me, get the cabinet!" Everyone laughed and said that was dedication. I blushed, cause I didn't even remember saying that but it sounds just like me so I'm pretty sure I did. Heck, we had 4 drawers falling out with all their files, why wouldn't I have been concerned?

Today I'm going to work again. I'm doing better than yesterday when I felt a little tired and wanted to basically take things easy. Last night on the way home I stopped by Walgreens and bought an elastic knee brace and am wearing that today so I think I'm doing the right things. When I opened my door last night there was a Fedex envelope that had been slid under my door which has paperwork to fill out for my claim. I get mileage to the hospital, the hours I left work and maybe the extra time I spent in the waiting room. I'll get help filling that out at work today. On my way home tonight I want to get some lotion with arnica in it because that will accelerate the healing of the ugly bruise on my knee. Now I'm getting ready for work. Have a good day everyone!