So, this is the bad part – the thing that I was very worried about actually happened. My dad got injured while we were traveling.

So we’d decided on a dinner restaurant, but I really wanted to walk by the (close by) laundry place to see if we drop off laundry there and get it done before we left, and also to a nearby drugstore. Now, we were staying at the Biltmore and it’s surprisingly hilly around there, so I didn’t want to make Dad walk much, but mostly he’d been navigating fine. So we head out and it’s pretty dark out and the streets are kind of dim, and we crossed the street, me ahead. I was hustling maybe a little too fast and Dad hustled to keep up, and when he stepped up on the sidewalk, which had kind of fancy tiles on it, he slipped and fell. (He has thought long and hard on it, and still doesn’t know exactly what made that happen.) So I heard this “Aaaugh” *thud* behind me and there’s my ninety-year-old dad on the ground, moaning. And hurt, and cannot get up. Oh god.

So I called 911 and had a bit of trouble telling them exactly where I was (um, I’m across from the block with the Biltmore, and there’s a Starbucks, but we’re across from it.), but they sent paramedics right away. (meanwhile, everyone who passed offered help, but I told them help was on the way). And quite quickly, a fire truck (!!!) came swooping down the hill and I waved them over.

Paramedics popped out and were totally great with Dad, asking him questions about what happened and helping him up to his feet, and quickly establishing that, whatever was hurt, it was probably his shoulder. They got the relevant biographical data from me, and then summoned an ambulance to take him to the ER.

(one humorous note in the middle of this OMGWTF situation – at some point, a self-driving delivery robot zoomed past us and everyone stopped to look at it go by)

Ambulance showed up, they got Dad on a gurney and allowed me to ride along with. Luckily, they took us to Good Samaritan, which was quite close. I waited in the ER waiting room while they dealt with Dad, and was eventually summoned back to where they’d put him. Dad was in quite a lot of pain, and could not get in a comfortable position.

An x-ray (which they did on the spot, with a portable machine, which was cool) showed that he’d dislocated his shoulder. This was potentially good news, because basically, they just had to do a ‘reduction’, which is just popping it back. But there was also possibly a fracture of the shoulder socket, not sure what to do about that. So the ER doc attempted to relocate the shoulder, but was only partially successful. He did some range-of-motion things with Dad’s arm, but there was some Dad just couldn’t do, and he was still in pain. The theory at that point was that the socket was broken enough that the shoulder could be put back, but wouldn’t stay in place. Unfortunately, the hospital was currently experiencing a denial-of-service attack (!!!) and all their computers were down (!!!) and if they released Dad, they may not be able to give him the proper meds (!!!). (and Eric is freaking out, going oh fuck what are we going to do about this, and what happens if they release him and he’s still in pain and I have to get him home via some long air travel?)

However, the ER doc managed to summon the orthopedic surgeon on call to come and take a look, and the guy, once looking at the X ray, was like, ‘oh, no, I can fix this’. (side note: all of these doctors were young. Like 12 years old)

Orthopedic surgeon asked the ER doc to ‘get him his towel’, and then did this thing where he wrapped this long white cloth around Dad’s arm and around his own waist, and then by pulling it and moving in certain positions (both him and Dad) did various manipulations. It became clear quickly that in order to do this properly, they had to give Dad some quick short-term sedation, which they did. And after some really impressive stuff, which I could barely watch (I was standing outside the room, looking through the window), they actually managed to reseat the arm in the shoulder socket, and it was there to stay. Undetermined (and still is) whether Dad actually had any sort of break in the shoulder.

So… when Dad came out of the sedative, he wasn’t in anywhere as much pain any more and could move his arm through the full range of motion. That is, until they put his arm in a complicated sling-thing and told him to keep the shoulder immobilized for about six weeks, or probably longer since he was old. And to see his own orthopedist as soon as possible.

“Can he travel? Can he fly? We’re on a road trip with another week and a half left…” was my question. Doctors were like, oh sure, he’s fine now, just keep that arm immobilized. They gave him a scrip for some hard painkillers, but said that actually, Tylenol should do the job just fine. (!!!) And they gave him an XXL sweatshirt that they had around so he’d have something to wear over his sling (which was right next to the body, nothing underneath it), we did the paperwork and they sent us on our way.

Dad was feeling much better, but of course we were both exhausted and hadn’t had dinner. It was after midnight at this point. Uber back to the hotel, he took some Tylenol, and we went to bed. Although not to sleep, me at least, fretting and wondering if we could keep doing this trip at all, and whether tomorrow would be about cancelling all our upcoming bookings and getting American to fly us home from LA as soon as possible.