brain-sex, ambulances, and x-rays

i had my post all worked out. i know how much everyone loves the personality tests and whatnot, and just the other night my hubby and i watched this show on bbc about brain-sex, actually i think it might have even been called brain-sex. it was about a test that had a lot of varriables to determine what sort of brain activity, in the line of thinking and feeling, that men and women both have in common and where they differ. it was an awesome documentary and the test can be found here.

it turns out that i'm not that empathetic.

and then last night ant's friend called me at 1 am to tell me that he was in the emergency room at st. vincent's hospital. don't freak out, mom, he's ok. but let me tell you, it was super scary. apparantly, for no real reason a guy from the other team wrecked him into the boards. he hit the ice pretty hard with his head, and he hurt his leg pretty badly. they put him in the ambulance, and when i found him he was in a neckbrace all bundled up in blankets and a little bit smelly (hockey-pational hazard). the x-rays were all negative and they let us go home a couple of hours later, but for those hours i don't think i've ever been so worried about someone in my entire life. i'm not supposed to run, and i ran all the way there, and because i was resting at home, i didn't have my brace on and forgot it when i was dressing, so i was running and then getting all gimpy with aches and then running again, and when i came around the corner in the e.r. and saw him laying there, i felt like someone punched me in the stomach.

there were a lot of people there and all of them had someone at their bedside, keeping them company or just watching them sleep. one man, from what i could gather, was waiting for an organ transplant. his wife or maybe his sister sat holding his hand the whole time. every time i glanced over she would smile at me. ant kept updating me on what his monitor was reading. i said, if there's a television screen on anywhere, he'll watch it.

i was monitoring someone else. a drunk guy, very clean cut with no visible damage, was staggering around and being led back to his bed repeatedly. he couldn't sit still, and eventually dissappeard around a corner again. when ant was getting his x-ray they put me in a chair outside the x-ray room door, and the drunk man and his wife were sitting in front of a bed talking. his young son was sleeping there. his wife was visibly pregnant, a small japanese woman, she must have been 8 months in. after saying he was sorry, he got up and staggered to the bathroom. his doctor approached his wife with discharge papers. they said that the ambulance found him passed out at the corner of bleeker and jones. someone had tried to wake him and had called 911 when he didn't respond. the pregnant woman giggled and asked after his coat and brief case. apparantly the man had come in with nothing. when he returned they all spoke japanese, even the doctor. the man signed all the papers, swaying a bit, and when they made their move to leave, he reached down to pick up his sleeping son. his wife urgently said firm but softly, "no, no, no, no, no."

after the x-ray we went back to the e.r. bed area. the man and his wife or sister were still there. she was still holding his hand. he hadn't moved a bit. eventually they were joined by a woman with a raspy voice who was talking a lot on the telephone. she said she was worried. she said that the doctors at mount sinai were waiting. she said they were taking him upstairs. when the orderly came to move the man, she hung up the phone. the man's wife or sister stood at his side. the orderly woke the man. he said something that no one understood and then fell back to sleep. the raspy voiced woman started to make another call. the wife or sister told her to stop, that they'd be going up soon. the raspy voiced woman asked the orderly if they'd all be going up the same way or if there was a special elevator for the man. the orderly said no there was no other way, they'd all be going up together.

right after that, the doctor came to say that we could leave. he gave ant a prescription for a pain killer, and told him to rest. his knee is pretty swollen today. what a pair we are. i laughed when i told him that we were supposed to do our follow up fitness testing on wednesday, that we are going to get in shape if it kills us, and that it seems likely that it will.