Page 42 - Oasis in the Sky

the vicinity. I was forced to keep talking because Tim threatened to kick me if I
didn’t. The sound of my voice assured him that I was still conscious, so I
grudginly complied to avoid more pain. I was desperately thirsty, but was only
allowed a small swallow of water every ten minutes or so for fear of internal
hemorrhaging. In about an hour, Eddy and the ranger, Harold, arrived and upon
his analysis of the situation, we waited for paramedics to arrive. In the meantime,
people began setting up the ropes and equipment that would be needed to get me
off the mountain.
When the paramedics finally arrived, Tim filled them in on my condition,
and they complimented him on the quality of his information. Once they con-
firmed his observations, I was agonizingly lifted onto some sort of cradled
stretcher and miraculously evacuated off the mountain. All during this time, the
pain in my shoulder was constant and hellacious, but with each movement of my
back, the pain blasting through my lower back and hip was beyond endurance—
I felt as if I would black out with every jostle and bounce, and at the bottom of
the mountain, I was reduced to a sobbing wretch, gasping for breaths between
sobs and clenched teeth.
Never before had I felt so feeble and powerless, so frail and fragile. Fortu-
nately for me, only two paramedics witnessed my ultimate breakdown during
the thirty minute ride into Llano. They held my hand, gently slid their hands be-
neath my lower spine to support it and reduce my pain. As I began to gain some
control, they affirmed to me how strong I really had to be inside to endure all
this as well as I had. “You should be dead,” one of them said.
Dr. Frederick, the emergency room doctor, was the epitome of cool. His
calm voice instilled in me the confidence to hang on, stay calm, and control my
fear, whatever my condition. He checked me over as best he could, considering
the fact that I was strapped onto a straight board on a stretcher. He told me he
would need about a hundred x-rays, and he ordered a nominal pain shot to help
me hold it together and deal with the pain.
Ramona, the x-ray technician, was indescribable. She had left her little twin
girls’ birthday party to come to the hospital to take my x-rays. I believe her em-
pathy was so great that she really felt every agonizing jostle and flinch. The
worst part of the x-ray ordeal was getting the x-ray of the seventh vertebrae.
After two previous attempts, a paramedic and hospital staffer, wearing lead vests,
pulled on my arms to pull my shoulders down and out of the way of the x-ray.
The resulting scream from me alerted the entire hospital, but the result was worth
it—no paralyzing spinal injury was evident in the x-ray, and I could be taken off
the stretcher board. Dr. Frederick ordered the Demerol shot that considerably
eased my pain. At no time did the pain go away, but with the help of the injec-
tions, I could relax and deal with it. My numerous and seemingly constant
battles with pain have taught me that I can survive pain, I can work with it and

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Oasis in the Sky
Oasis in the Sky