He placed his hand on a railing in the truck and as it was pulling off, said he heard a pop. He looked down at his left hand when he felt some pressure on the inside of his palm. The top of the hand was ok. He turned the same hand palm up and realized that his wedding band had snapped and the broken and stretched band was pressing into his finger. No blood. His lieutenant asked him what happened and my husband showed him the busted ring. That's when my husband learned about the nine finger club and the many fireman who hadn't been as fortunate to keep all ten of their digits. Disaster averted. Whew! A couple weeks later we went to a tattoo shop and he had a black band tattooed on his ring finger. I like all 10 of my husband's fingers.
The second incident happened the eve of my birthday. A friend of mine took me out to a posh little Thai restaurant downtown and we had a great time. Being only five minutes away from my husband's firehouse, I was going to call him and see if we could come visit him. Before I could dial his number, my phone rang and it was his voice on the other end.
Husband- "I just wanna let you know, I'm OK."
Fiery Wife- "OK....... What happened?"
Husband- "A ladder fell on my head. We had a basement fire and I was outside when a strong gust of wind took a 30ft ladder and blew it off the building. I was wearing my helmet."
FW- "A ladder?!? Are you going to the hospital?"
Husband- "Yeah, a ladder....."
I couldn't help but giggle a little. He seemed to be in good spirits so I truly wasn't afraid.
Husband-"I'm on my way there. They're making me go."
I'm thinking, of course they're making him go.... This is the man who got in a car accident three years ago; and dazed and bloodied, refused ambulance services and preached a sermon eight hours later, lucid as a lightbulb. I forced him to go to the ER after he preached (That was our agreement. I never agreed with the ambulance refusal.)So, back to the the whole ladder situation.....
FW- "Is your head split open?"
H- "No. But it dazed me."
FW- "Do you think you have a concussion"
H- "No. But I have to go."
FW- "Are they taking you to the downtown hospital?"
H- "Yeah, but you don't have to come."
FW- "Uhhhhhhh, we're coming."
H- "No seriously don't come. I'll call you and let you know what's going on."
5 minutes later Friend and I were at the hospital. There's no way that I wasn't going to show up. The security guard at the E.R. entrance told us the wrong room and I totally walked into room 37 and was met by a very confused and sick older woman. Not my husband. As I apologetically backed out of 37 and walked into room 30 (the correct room) I saw my husband, sitting on the hospital gurney looking cute as can be; a hospital gown on his torso with his fire pants (I don't know what they're called...) and boots still on.
Husband, Friend, and I laughed and cracked jokes and met the attending E.R. physician who was also a believer. We waited too long and texted and cracked even more jokes. We met some of the other firemen who also fell victim to this vicious ladder. I was happy to see my husband on his 24-on. I was happy the degree of his injury was a sore back the next day. I thought he may come home, but he's new and excited about his career, so we drove him back to his station and he finished out the rest of his shift. I was happy to see him the next morning tired but in tact. I was grateful.
No comments:
Post a Comment