Note: {}'s mean I have replaced the name. This is so y'all wont get confused and such like if I started using my little sisters name instead of saying 'little sister' like I always do, people might get confused.
"Ok well I had been laying in bed listening to someone moan (groan?) for about 30 minutes. I didn't think much of it thinking maybe that's just what someone did when they were sleeping.I tried to ignore it till I heard the voice saying it hurt really bad and crying. Another voice answered asking what was wrong. Then I became alert to the situation. I knew that you were in pain and that {little sister} was talking to you from her bunk. For several minutes you seemed to be in so much pain you couldn't articulate the pain you were in and where it hurt or how it hurt. I jumped off the bed immediately and stood with Rach as your Mom came to talk to you. She shook you and you just started crying more. Finally you seemed to be able to explain that your back was in pain and Rach and I grabbed each other waiting for the inevitable, "I'm gonna have to take her to the emergency room" from your Mom. After she said this we clung to each other and started praying earnestly that it wasn't too serious and that you would be able to come back to the retreat. Rach and I ran downstairs to get our rock hard icepack to see if maybe the cold would numb you. But that obviously failed. I decided I wanted to be with you at the ER so I grabbed my own clothes and put them on over my pajamas. Your Mom and I were all ready and we trooped downstairs to wake {AVG} and inform him of the situation. It was weird. We were standing in the doorway of the guys dorm and Rach and I watched as several black figures sat straight up when your Mom entered the room but she was talking too quietly to hear so they all slumped back down in their sleeping bags, probably figuring they would hear about it in the morning. I was no use downstairs so I went back up to our dorm and over to you to hold your hand and talk to you and see if I could calm you down. Rach and I had a discussion about moving the bunks but when {AVG} came upstairs he said it didn't matter and somehow got you off the bed without too much trouble. But it was clear to everyone that the movement was an unpleasant experience for you. We headed downstairs preparing to put you in my Tahoe but found that Loren was already in his with the heat on and was trying to locate a hospital on his gps system. Your Mom told me that I had to stay behind because there wasn't enough seats in the car. I tried arguing with her saying I could squat down in the back and hold you so you wouldn't slide around but she was very stern in saying I had to stay. So sadly I kissed you on the forehead goodbye and watched shaking with concern as you and your Mom and Loren all drove away. After that was a blur. I remember crying and {AVG} grabbing me and telling me that it was going to be ok. I knew it was but I was still so shaken up and not to mention I knew it was it was like to be in that kind of pain and it rattled me to see someone else experience it too. I went back up to our dorm and talked to the girl for a few minutes about how I couldn't go and {little sister} and I headed downstairs to read our Bibles and pray. {Youth Pastor} eventually told me that since I had a migraine it would be best for me to go back to bed. So reluctantly I took some drugs and passed out on my bunk upstairs. I woke up to the alarm and {little sister} and I were discussing you still be at the ER as I readied myself for the day. You can't imagine how happy I was that you returned when I was in the shower. I thought you would be gone for much longer than that. Usually emergency rooms are much slower. :) And that's the end of my tale."Alright, now from another friend who was downstairs at the time.......
Note: This one was done over chat.
Me: puts on reporters hatNow, Mr. K, please tell me the story in your own words.Spare no details. Eric: well, puts on concerned citizen hat looks fidgety, has lazy eyeme: lolEric: it was, oh I would say, well gosh, about 4 in the morninme: mhmmEric: and I heard the door burst open, now a this time, I was already partially awake on account of having already heard what i thought was a scream, but I wasn't entirely awake yetso then i heard the door burst open see, and I sat bolt up right, I nearly clocked my block on the bunk above me,I heard a female voice, which was rather strange, seeing as we were in the men's bunk houseme: then what happened?Eric: well, then I heard a Mrs. {Mom}, did you get that, Mrs. {Mom},tell a Mr. {Youth Pastor}, repeat, {Youth Pastor}that she needed to take her daughter, one {Russki}, to the emergency room,then I heard a pained moan,some people moved about in the bunk house, and then a few minutes later, I heard a thunk on the wall, like a sack of potatoes (no offense),and then another pained moan, and a whimper, followed by two more, at that point, I was trying to figure out who it was that, I had missed Mrs. {Mom} telling Mr. {Youth Pastor} who it was who she was taking,I determined from the whimper that it was either {Russki} or {little sister}, it sounded more like {Russki}, and that scared me because I knew that she had to be in a lot of pain to whimper like that,at this point, I thought to go see what was going on, but didn't want to make a crowd, then I heard a car drive away, and some rustling as a Mr. {AVG} , two words, came back into the bunk house, after that, I didn't get much sleep,then at about 6:20, or maybe a little after, when several of us were up, Mr. {Youth Pastor} got a text message, that's a new-fanlge way that kids can type morse code out between each other, but its like sending just the letters,and the message said that {Russki} had just pulled a muscle, or maybe it was a phone call, on second thought, I think that it was a phone call, because once the possy got back, we found out that it wasn't a pulled muscle, but actually a muscle spasm, so then {Russki} slept for much of the morning because some of her medications made her very tired, and she was up very earlyso that's pretty much my take of how {Russki}'s trip to the ER went,me: thank you very much, my good sirEric: you are most welcome young lady
And here's my little sister's take on the story. Warning, this thing is hilarious.
On the first night of the retreat, I was laying in my ridiculously comfortable bed and trying to get to sleep. For hours. It occurred to me that at home I usually listen to sermons, so I found one of our church's podcasts and started listening to a sermon about worship. Then I turned on Brian Reagan. Bad choice. He is a very funny man and I was cracking up, but since by then it was very late/early, I was covering my mouth and shaking instead of making noise. Russki had the bunk next to mine and put out her hand, which deeply confused me. Apparently she thought I was sobbing. Nope. When I finished listening to Brian Reagan, I switched it to Jack's Mannequin and finally got some sleep.Some. A little teeny bit. Because two hours later, I was awakened by the most obnoxious screaming noise. As I said Russki had the bunk right next to me so there was no avoiding this. I heard that and realized oh, she's in pain. i told her to take her fricken drugs (Even though she was sobbing she resisted). She was in so much pain that she couldn't be quiet. This was very annoying to me because while I didn't like her being in pain, I was exhausted and really wanted her to shut the hell up. Because it wasn't even a constant noise or a baby type cry, it was "uWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH aah, ahh, uAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH". I was totally awake. I started talking to everyone, I was definitely the most awake (other than Russki, but she really wasn't in a position to speak what with all the UWAAAAAAAAAAAHH and stuff), and possibly the least phased by it. My mother would probably like to claim that title but since she was more "my baby is in pain!" than "SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", I was the one doing the talking. I told my mom she should probably wake up {Youth Pastor} and ask him about a hospital, and suggested AVG to carry Sara downstairs. Now I don't think they couldn't have gotten by without me or anything, that's just how it was. At one point Rach and Resa came back upstairs and were talking about moving the beds, I was trying to explain to them that AVG is tall enough that it wouldn't be a problem, plus they were screwed into the wall. I honestly think they were looking for something to fixate on as a distraction, so they heartily ignored my thought. When AVG came in he said the same I had. Since help was already here, they let it go and I believe Rach watched while Resa threw on some clothes because she really wanted to go with Russki. I'm enough used to Ruskki and her hospital visits that I knew I would just sit in the waiting room and get no sleep. I asked if there was anything I could do and she shook her head so I was content staying in the cabin and sleeping. I guess I should say that I prayed for her since she started crying though I have to admit a fair amount of it was "Please make her SHUT UP". Look I love my sister but I'm mean when I'm tired.After Loren and my mom drove off with Russki (Resa couldn't come because there weren't enough seats), I realized that there was pretty much no chance I'd get back to sleep. I took my journal, my bible, and Ruskki's iPod that she kindly left with me (or so I thought, she really left it so it wouldn't get lost. awww.), and went downstairs. {Youth Pastor} was in there and I had no idea who he was because he wears glasses and I always forget that. Resa joined me downstairs and {Youth Pastor} told her that since she'd been having migraines, she should really head back upstairs and at least try to sleep. I listened to some music and lined up chairs until AVG came in the room and made me feel sheepish, whereupon I went back to our room and watched videos on Russki's iPod until she came back, at oh 7 or something. When everyone else was drying their hair and Resa was in the shower. I ended up getting maybe 2 or 3 more hours of sleep, total. It was rather sucky. Turned out that Russki had a muscle spasm and that the ice pack ironically made it worse, and that she would have to not lift anything over 10 pounds for a week. All in all, it was pretty uneventful but staying up all night gets old fast. Somehow over breakfast that morning I did a sudoku in 20 minutes, and got it perfect. But that's a story for another day. :)
Alright, there you have the interviews. Now it's time for my take on the story!
I'm going to go back a little and lay some grounds for what happened. Why? Because it seems like a nice thing to do and I am quite bored at the moment. Every fall my church has a youth retreat that goes to the mountains. The whole goal of it is to reconnect with God by getting away from school, family, and other stresses and focusing on God. It's an awesome trip, I always look forward to it and I always enjoy myself while I'm there.
Now, my shoulder and back area had been bothering me for about a day. Nothing major, just a little twinge of pain here and there when I carried stuff or laughed really hard. Needless to say, I didn't think anything of it and when I went on the retreat I carried in luggage and such like I normally do. Later I would find out that carrying heavy stuff was a very bad idea, but I was blind to this and did it anyways.
That night started off bad. By the time I got settled into bed I was already in pain, but, thinking that I had only bruised myself or pulled something, I paid it no mind and shifted positions. Well, as the night went on the pain got worse, it was slow but steady and I couldn't stay asleep for long. And at about 3:45am it got to be really bad, so bad I decided against my original plan (wait until morning and then ask someone to maybe give me a massage) and tried to ask for help. The problem was the pain was so intense that for 15 minutes or so I couldn't speak, so I decided to start moving and instead of biting my tongue, actually crying out. At first all I could do was moan, so I decided to move more until finally I managed to scream.
The results were faster than I thought they'd be and soon my little sister was asking what was wrong and then I managed to scream out that it "hurt bad." After that I think she questioned where, but I can't say for sure. All I know is that I couldn't make a sound for a little while, I tried, but the pain was just too intense. She might have repeated herself, I don't know, but then I managed to say it was in my back and started crying harder and harder. Then my Mom, who thought I was sleeping, starting shaking me to wake me up. Holy cow did that hurt! I kept screaming, trying to get her to stop, but I couldn't say anything and she thought I was having a bad dream, so she just shook harder until finally I managed to scream out that I was awake.
After that everything's a blur, I know Resa was there, holding my hand and talking to me and I heard talk about me being carried. After that the clearest thing I remember was that someone brought me an ice pack and that it did no good at all. If anything, it made it worse, so the screaming got louder and louder and then, next thing I know, AVG is there asking if I can hold onto him. I nodded and he lifted me, sleeping bag and all, out of the bed and headed down the stairs. At the bottom I guess he missed a step or something, because he hopped a little and I hit the wall. Needless to say, this hurt quite a bit and I moaned rather loudly. I would have screamed, but I knew the boys were sleeping down there and the last thing I wanted to do was wake all of them up.
After that we headed towards the car and AVG kept yelling for people to open the doors and then I was laying in the car, listening as Resa asked to come with me. She wasn't allowed, so she kissed me on the head and we were off.
The drive was interesting. I was overcome with this peace as I watched out the window as the world whisked by. If people hadn't been praying for me, if I hadn't have had that peace, I don't know what I would have done. So thank you everyone who prayed, it did not go unnoticed. Our driver, Loren, was a fast one; I had to brace myself against the door when we turned sharply and every bump in the road hurt like a.....you know. But, soon enough, we were at the hospital.
There was a shuffle with how they were going to get me out of the car since I couldn't really walk and finally they brought out a wheel chair and I walked out of the car and sat in it. What can I say, when people start thinking I'm weak I've gotta prove them wrong. It's the way I roll. Anywho, back to the story. After my moment of rebellion I was wheeled into the hospital where we sat and waited for a few minutes.
Then we were brought to a hospital room, I was checked out by an awesome turban wearing doctor and told that I'd messed up a muscle in my back/shoulder and that I needed to take it easy and lift as little as possible for the next week. Then we headed back and I was back with the group in time for breakfast. I was high as a kite due to pain killers, but I was there, goshdarnit!
And there you have it, three different takes on my ER adventure! =D
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