What a Day

Janelle grabbed her coffee from the barista and ran out of the coffee shop. Usually, her order would be waiting on the drink stand, ordered and paid in the app. Today, of all days, her phone wasn’t charged. Janelle thought about skipping the coffee shop but quickly remembered the taste of coffee grinds usually found in the office community pot.

Janelle let out a deep sigh and an exasperated yell as the bus sped right pass her. The time spent waiting in line at the coffee shop quickly pushed her from barely arriving to the office on time to more than 7 minutes late.

The office was 3 stops by bus and approximately 13 blocks on foot. It was casual Friday; so, she was wearing her sneakers.  Though the sneakers were more fashion than athletic they should perform much better than the high heels Janelle usually wore. She took off headed towards the office. Immediately she was caught by the don’t walk sign from all directions. The red hand stood frozen just long enough to allow her to catch her breath and build the strength to breakout in a swift sprint. Janelle ran through the crowded sidewalks, traffic filled streets and the blinking count downs of the pedestrian signals. Green means go, Janelle thought out loud as she rushed to cross the street.

“Damn!” Janelle screamed as she felt her ankle turn sideways and in the opposite direction her foot was traveling. “Down goes Frasier” were the next audible thoughts to escape Janelle’s lips. The bang from the pavement was harder than she thought it should be. She immediately realized she had not only fallen to the ground in rush hour traffic. She had fallen to the ground in rush hour traffic and taken out a cyclist in the process. The cyclist reached out his arm to assist Janelle to her feet. Standing was the easy part. Standing with both feet touching the ground proved a lot more difficult. A sharp pain passed through Janelle’s left foot and up her leg. The cyclist dragged Janelle to a nearby bus stop bench.

The pain was excruciating. Janelle had broken her left ankle years ago and it never completely healed. Hence the sprint to work instead of a full run. Janelle cried and cursed out loud unable to control the pain. A man jumped from a SUV proclaiming he was doctor and there to help.  The doctor elevated Janelle’s leg while asking questions to diagnose her injury. He quickly realized the injury was a sprain and not a break. The doctor recommended Janelle ride with him to the hospital for an Xray and treatment. The pain left her no choice but to accept the doctor’s generosity. The cyclist and doctor assisted Janelle into the backseat of the doctor’s SUV. Janelle tried to relax as the SUV headed to the hospital.

Janelle closed her eyes trying to imagine the pain was not real. She began deep breathing and counting backwards from one hundred. Finally, she was in a place where she was in control of the pain. The pain was not in control of her. Janelle kept her eyes closed as she reached thirty-nine. Thirty-seven came with a bang. Janelle opened her eyes as she propelled forward and banged her head on the front passenger seat. The doctor yelled and cursed with the impact. Janelle quickly realized that the SUV had been hit by an ambulance at the emergency entrance of the hospital.

EMTs swarmed the car pulling Janelle and the doctor from the wreck. The ankle pain was nonexistent compared to the headache that made it impossible to return to the countdown.  The doctor was shaken but not injured. He refused the assistance being offered by the doctors that had now made their way to the wreck. Janelle was on a stretcher and headed down the halls of the emergency room as she waived to thank the doctor for his kindness. Once her arm was in the air a pain shot through her body. Janelle let out a scream catching the attention of nearby doctors. A doctor quickly questioned Janelle about her medical allergies. She requested immediate sedation and an X-ray. Janelle quickly gave in to the anesthesia. She slept for what felt like hours. She tried sitting up for a full stretch but was quickly pulled back to the hospital bed. Janelle looked around and found she was strapped to a stretcher in an elevator. Before she had the opportunity to object, she recognized the doctor from the car ride. He assured Janelle she was ok and reminded her she was at the hospital. He explained she had been sedated, X-rayed and treated for her injuries. He went on to explain that she was being taken to an observation room as she was not in need of surgery.

Janelle tried to lay relaxed. She hated elevators. Elevators always seemed to stop or get stuck with Janelle inside. She began her countdown from one hundred. At eighty-five the elevator dinged, and the doors opened. Janelle was relieved. As the patient escort began pushing the stretcher through the elevator doors an alarm sounded and the car dropped but stopped immediately. The elevator car was about 5 inches away from lining up directly with the floor. The patient escort pulled up on the front of the stretcher attempting to raise it enough to meet the floor. A stretcher with a patient attached proved heavier than expected by the patient escort. The doctor immediately assisted by giving the stretcher a much-needed push.  

Throughout the commotion Janelle continued her countdown. She was at seven as the stretcher entered the observation room. At one Janelle opened her eyes to find the lady doctor that ordered her sedation what felt like hours ago. The doctor asked about Janelle’s pain level and explained the treatment that had been provided. While giving her explanation she pointed out that Janelle’s jeans and sneakers had both been cut to access her injuries quickly. The jeans and sneakers were both designer and from the more expensive side of Janelle’s closet. Her day had to be almost over.

The clock on the wall ticked loudly displaying two o’clock. The lady doctor explained Janelle would be in observation for an hour and then discharged. Being discharged hadn’t crossed Janelle’s mind. Suddenly she remembered her phone was dead. She was headed to work when this debacle began.  Oh no. Janelle had not thought about her job. Just then, all the meetings and clients scheduled for today flooded her mind. This was a bigger mess than just an ankle injury. Janelle asked an unusual favor of the nurse aide that came in to check her vitals. Luckily the aide allowed Janelle to borrow his cell phone charger.

After two minutes of electric current the phone came alive. Email, text messages and voicemail notifications quickly flooded the cell phone’s home screen. The dings from the notifications were so plentiful they almost played a jingle.  She waited until the last notification appeared before making her first call. The office topped the list of important calls. Janelle reached her supervisor and explained the day’s debacle. The supervisor assured Janelle the office had recovered in her absence, and all was well.

Next, Janelle reached out to her sister. She needed to arrange a ride home. Her sister agreed to pick her up in about an hour. Janelle explained the day had been adventurous and asked her sister to please come as soon as possible.

Janelle decided to text and not call her ex-boyfriend. She noticed he had texted several times asking Janelle to meet for dinner. Had it been any other day than today Janelle would have gladly accepted. Janelle just wanted to go home and focus on healing. Her ex made everything about him, and she just didn’t have the energy. In that moment the doctor that brought Janelle to the hospital from the accident stuck his head in the room. He asked if it was ok to enter and pretended to check on Janelle.

The doctor pretended to read the chart attached to the front of Janelle’s bed. He questioned her level of pain and plans at discharge.  Janelle knew the chart was empty because the nurse’s aid had already provided her with discharge documents. The hospital staff politely accommodated her request to wait in the room for her sister to get there. Eventually the doctor got around to slipping Janelle his number. Janelle laughed informing the doctor, whom she had realized was very handsome, she knew the chart was empty.  The doctor and Janelle laughed and made plans to talk more on the weekend. In what seemed like the beginning of a great conversation Janelle’s sister entered the room. She rushed Janelle to grab her things as she didn’t want to miss happy hour. Janelle obliged and gave a wink to the doctor. The doctor assisted Janelle to the car. As he closed the car door both Janelle and the doctor said in unison “What a Day”.