Dennis and the ER

Yesterday on his way home from work Dennis was in a car accident :( He had texted me a couple of times but I missed them so then he called wanting to know if the hospital he was headed to was in-network :(

So, here's what I've heard happened:

It was snowing all day yesterday and some of the road there wasn't any of it sticking but there were patches that were pretty slushy. There was an accident the van was slowing down for ahead of them and I guess the guy behind them didn't notice or couldn't slow down in time, but the van was still doing probably between 40-50 when the guy hit them from behind. Dennis said the truck was a big dodge truck (I don't know what kind) but it's bumper was taller than there's. And it was pulling something, a 5-wheel trailor or a camper or something. But it gave them a really good push so they started to slow down and pull over when he hit them again! Dennis thinks that since he was pulling something even though his momentum was transferred to them, the trailer's momentum then transferred to the truck which caused him to hit them the second time :( Dennis said the floor of the back row was all pushed up and the back end was completely wrecked so the van wasn't drivable anymore. The two front seats were practically demolished so then Dennis had a hard time trying to crawl over them to get out, and that was only after he had to search for his glasses!

Luckily, there were only 3 of them travelling in the van yesterday so no one was near the back when they were hit, they were all pretty close to the front. One guy, his wife had been in an accident a few weeks before so he was pretty shook up about it and he accepted a ride to the hospital in the ambulance. His wife, who works at L-3 but normally works from home, had gone into work that day so she was driving her car ahead of them, and gave Dennis and the other lady in the van a ride to the hospital where they took the first guy.

The hospital was an out-of-network hospital and I'd called my Dad to ask him if I should open a claim through our insurance company to make them away (which he said yes, so they'd know what was going on and be able to handle stuff for us) but that not to worry that it was out of network because, first the guy who hit them's insurance would cover stuff, and then if that wasn't enough, UTA's insurance would cover stuff since the van is a UTA Rideshare Van, and then if needed our insurance would be able to help cover stuff. That eased some of my worrying since we already know we're gonna have a huge medical bill before the end of the year!

So, now here's my long rant about the hospital they took him to! This is what Dennis told me late last night after he got home! They got to the hospital around 5:30. The guy who rode in the ambulance had already been taken back to see people. It wasn't long before they took the lady back. And then Dennis waited and waited. The wife to the one guy a little over an hour later was working on rides for everyone and was trying to figure out where everyone was and she couldn't find Dennis so she started asking people where he was and they told her they didn't have a Dennis Y! So, she went and found him in the waiting room. When he's under a lot of stress, he can't get light headed and want to pass out so she went back and told someone he'd been waiting a long time and was light headed and getting close to passing out so they got him back pretty quickly after that. But he never got an ID bracelet! So I don't know if they someone didn't get him in the computer or if he just slipped through the ER cracks or what but GRRRRRR. Oh, while he was waiting he'd told me that he was starting to get pretty stiff.

Well, then they put a neck brace on him and he ended up getting 10 or 12 x-rays. He hadn't got taken back at the ER until close to 7:30 I think he said, and then he wasn't released until like 9:30. The others had all been prescribed pain meds, they told him to take Ibuprofen. Then they gave him a list of symptoms to watch out for and to come back (to the ER) if any of them showed up. Um, after that experience, no thanks we'll go to a doctor or our own ER.

I told him last night he couldn't go to work today because he needed time to recoup. Although, I think he can recoup easier at work since he wouldn't have 2 girls crawling all over him, lol. So, he slept in since he'd got home so late but felt like he needed to go to work today. He didn't want to take any of his Paid Time Off, I told him he was in a car accident, take sick leave! lol. But he said he really felt like he needed to go in so he's gone into work for atleast a while today. Although the poor guy looks like he's in a lot of pain. He said he's not, he's just stiff. And I asked him if that was only as long as he didn't move!?! Seriously his back and neck are so stiff that even sitting on the bed he had his back perfectly straight and his head perfectly straight and didn't want to bend or move either at all and looked like he was in pain and terribly uncomfortable! We don't have any ibuprofen, only tylenol, I hope he atleast took some of that before he left and some for later! But I don't know if he did :( My poor hubby.