An Emergency

This morning was quite an adventure. I am so very glad I was able to have my dear friend Ica with me through such an experience. I spent this morning at the hospital. Why? you might ask... Well I shall tell you (and then you can get mad at me in the comments...)

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were at a public event and something happened? What would you do in the mass chaos of an emergency? I found out today...

8:00 this morning found me discussing today's activities with Ica. Its her last week before she leaves me again for the summer and I am going to miss her. We had some fun stuff planned. :)

8:30 Ica is at my house, we are on our way to see an exciting game at the stadium. We needed to be there early for good seats! And boy what an exciting game it was too! the ball was moving so fast, you could hardly see it! *phew* it makes me tired just remembering it...

Not long into it (I don't recall exact time because I didn't have my phone with me...and I don't wear a watch...) a police officer came up to us and asked us if we had seen anything suspicious. They had received a report that there might be something dangerous at the stadium and that it was supposed to be around where we were...

Next came in the men in funny outfits... completely decked out in their head-to-toe gear, gas masks the whole shebang! I couldn't help but think of the CDA in Disney Pixar's Monster Inc.

They filed us out according to medical needs and put us through a detox trailer. Yes, I had to strip my clothes off, use a scrub brush and rinse off... they gave me a little towel to dry off with... it is a good thing I was wearing my swimsuit under my clothes this morning! *phew*

We were put onto a bus where we were taken to the hospital to be treated for any symptoms we might have. Boy what a fun experience that was! :) I was given one of those scandalous robes, put into a wheelchair and wheeled into the emergency room. It was like an episode of ER... I asked for my mom and they told me they would find her for me, but needed some information and wanted me to tell them what was wrong. I told them that it hurt to take deep breaths... and that my eyes burned a little... but that I really needed my mother...

A nice young intern brought in a warm blanket for me, as I was still shivering and told me to hold the oxygen mask to my face to calm my breathing so they could get me ready for a better examine... Turns out I'm fine... but I did decide that if it was a real emergency and not a drill, I would have died in a wheelchair...

Ok, so it wasn't a real emergency... there wasn't even a game... I tried to make it sound a lot more exciting than it actually was. But it was interestingly fun to play a victim! Although I do kinda wish I could have had a scenario that was unconscious... they got to ride on gurneys
and in the ambulances... next time... for sure...

Ica was 28 weeks pregnant with contractions and nausea... no she is not pregnant for real... but I did decided we need to work on that pregnant walk if she is ever going to need assistance again... no one seemed to believe her...

Me, I was a 28 year old female who has red eyes, and complains that it hurts when she takes a deep breath. She is a little disoriented and no one seems to know who she is or where she's from. She keeps asking for her Mom. Pretty exciting eh? it did get me into the red medical group behind the 16 yr old who was experiencing intense abdominal pain, and the 2 pregnant ladies...

But my eyes were opened today about how important it is to be prepared. The volunteers for this drill were the nursing students (hence why I got involved, as Ica is going to be a nurse...) But I have a better idea of what goes on and what I need to do if an emergency should ever occur. In short (or maybe not so short) it was a great learning experience for me and I hope to participate again.