Post
by alarix » Tue Jul 19, 2005 10:37 am
[quote="Isotopia"][quote]They simply wont be enlighted to this subject until they slip and fall off an art car at midnight, suffer a compound leg fracture, and lie there screaming into the night for help. [/quote]
Each of which would (or could) constitute an emergency in which case a quick response by EMS, Rangers or REMSA is guaranteed, competent treatement a given and further evaluation AND transportation to a medical hospital(if necessary) is insured.
[/quote]
I simply want to say that in my first (and so far only) time at BM 2 years ago, me and my leather pants leapt onto a moving merry-go-round crafted by some theme camp or another and covered with a green velvety material. The velvet and my leather pants were not well matched and I was promptly flung back off, breaking my foot on the landing. Youch! Not realizing it was broken, I managed to bicycle back to my camp, numb the pain with tequila, and went to sleep, thinking it would be ok in the morning. In the morning, after much hopping about, I accidentally put my full weight on it and in nearly passing out from the extreme pain, decided it was probably broken.
None of my (non-virgin) campmates were around at the time, so I one-legged it to the med area, getting a lift from a Ranger towards the end. Someone came and checked out my foot, and said, "yep it's broken. Have an ace bandage and have a nice day." Of course, that didn't make it possible for me to walk. I was hoping for some kind of splint. I asked about a cast or crutches and was told if I wanted such to get myself to the clinic in Gerlach - that I could hopalong to the bus and hop from the bus to the clinic. No one could tell me how long the one-legged hopping from bus to clinic would be though, so I was not exactly inspired to make the journey (hopping is EXHAUSTING!!!). The Ranger kindly offered to drive me, for which I am eternally grateful.
Now, on the topic of radical self-reliance... I DID bicycle myself back to camp on a broken foot. I did hop myself most of the way to the med tent the next morning (and to the portapotty and back), and around inside the RV to make breakfast.
But when it came to getting myself from BM to Gerlach, I'm afraid pain and exhaustion won out and it was probably pity that prompted the angel Ranger to give me lift. Now, I wish I could say I had got my damn self to the clinic too, but it's just not so. I was afraid of getting to Gerlach, getting off the bus, and being unable to go any farther on my one foot. In hindsight, knowing that the clinic is actually within sight of the bus stop, I COULD have done it. But I had no way of knowing that then. With MORE hindsight, most likely someone on the bus would have helped me hop to the clinic if I had just got on it and asked.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say by way of personal example as a newbie virgin Burner who broke her foot 3 days into the week, and who, by the way, returned from the clinic from crutches and finished out the week is: I think Iso is right. Prepare. Take care of yourself as best you can. Ask for help if you really need it. And if you are so injured that you cannot help yourself at all, it's time to leave the Playa.
:)
p.s. if you were around what was Rational and Evidence and saw a chick sitting in front of an RV in white angel wings, with her feet up on a cooler, handing out beers and water and eating brownies, that was me ;)
The wheel turns.
