Yesterday in the Cottage Hospital Emergency Room
lies:
Room A: A man who was surfing off Jalama Beach and somehow got involved in a fight between two elephant seals, one of which bit his shoulder.
Room B: A man who was riding his bicycle when a bee flew into his mouth, lodged in the back of his throat, and stung him, leading to swelling and fears of airway complication.
Room C: A man who had bought flowers for his wife and was pruning the stems when he accidentally cut a dime-sized piece of skin and flesh from the top of his knuckle.
Which room was I in?
I was in Room B!
But I agree with the consensus that Room A’s story was way cooler than mine. I couldn’t hear all the details, but it seemed like there were a male and a female elephant seal swimming in his vicinity, and maybe the male interpreted the surfer as a rival? Except I think he said it was actually the female that got him, after getting caught up in his leash, or something like that.
The ER staff were really into his story; their charting area was just outside my room, so I got to hear them debrief about it. It wasn’t a very bad bite; more of a scrape than a puncture.
Room C man with the knuckle avulsion (side note: medical jargon is so geekishly cool to eavesdrop on) apparently had some sort of medical training himself, so they were really talking shop when the doctor interacted with him. He’d plopped his former knuckle flesh into a ziploc with ice to bring along to the hospital, which the doctor very much approved of.
My bee sting was pretty boring, though having had a history of bee venom allergy, and having let my epipen expire many years ago without replacing it, I was kind of anxious when I started having difficulty swallowing and my swollen tongue was making me sound weird. It was Linda who insisted we go to the ER, which was a good call, I think, even though it turned out not to have been needed, since I kept breathing fine throughout and never showed signs of anaphylaxis. But I was in the right place if anything nasty had happened, and it would have been kind of ridiculous to have asphyxiated because I was too laid back to bother driving into town and hanging out for a few hours with people who can do a tracheotomy at need.
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