ER is More Than A TV Show

I looked really good that day. Even though I was wearing a simple cardigan sweater and skirt, it was an attractive outfit, very flattering on me. Pam had complemented me on my appearance as she hung up my coat. I had worn my  leather knee high black boots and changed into casual shoes at her  place. I loved those boots… little did I know that they would lead to my down fall, literally.

The roads were starting to get slick from the falling snow and I was glad to be finally pulling into my own driveway. I grabbed the bag containing my shoes and headed across the driveway to the side door. I had taken about a half a dozen steps when suddenly I was face down on the snow-covered concrete.

I was just about to start swearing at myself for being such a klutz and ruining my stockings (I had worn stockings with a garter belt instead of pantyhose because I wanted to feel sexy even if all I was doing was visiting my sister) when the pain hit. I won’t repeat what I said, but it wasn’t very ladylike, I assure you.

I immediately realized that my right arm was broken. And as I tried to push myself up with my left arm, more pain set in. I wasn’t sure but I thought that I had broken both arms. Somehow, I got to my feet and got over to the door. Opening it was going to be a challenge, but I found that my left hand could move slightly without causing more pain. I got the door unlocked and got inside. I sat and cried for several minutes while trying to think what to do.

Fortunately, I have Pam on speed dial, so I called my sister for help. She got there in record time, and now I wonder how she did that on those roads. She was happy to see that I still had my coat on.

“Come on, I’m taking you to the emergency room right now,” she commanded. I tried to tell her that I couldn’t go dressed as I was, that she had to help me get changed. But as I screamed in pain as she tried to remove my coat she said, “There is no way that I can undress you by myself in your condition. You are going to have to suck it up and realize that you have to go to the hospital as you are.”

I knew she was right but I didn’t want to have a bunch of strangers seeing me as Beverly. I realized that I had no choice and allowed her to help me get into her car. All the way to the hospital she kept assuring me that the hospital staff, especially those in the ER, had seen people like me before. That really didn’t help me feel any better, but at that point I had no choice.

My appearance created some problems at the hospital in that Pam was calling me Beverly as she spoke to me and my look said ‘female’. But as I was being admitted and being asked questions the confusion set in momentarily. I was asked my name, and since I knew that this was going to go on my insurance I knew I had to give the legal information. So I told the admitting nurse my male name and watched her facial reaction go from confusion to recognition.

“Would you prefer to be addressed as Beverly?” she thoughtfully asked.

I was in so much pain that I really couldn’t answer at that point so Pam replied “it might be easier until we get her changed.”

“That won’t be a problem as we can’t very well put an ID bracelet on her arms right now. So you can do the talking to the doctor and I will tell the other nurse who will be working with Beverly,” Nurse Amber replied.

Amber asked Pam to help her get my coat off gently as I sat on a gurney. I just about passed out from the pain during the ordeal. Then they removed my boots as I laid down.

“We won’t worry about the rest of her clothing just now. They will want to get x-rays but can do that with the sweater on most likely,” Amber stated as she covered me with a white sheet.

Dr. Wagner, the on-call ER physician came in a few minutes later. He talked to  Pam and allowed me to just quietly lie there. A couple of times, as he examined both arms, he called me Beverly. I wasn’t sure if he knew differently at that point as I wasn’t really focusing too well then.

“We are going to take you to x-ray now and get a better look at those arms. I’m thinking that your left arm is probably just sprained and not broken. The x-ray will tell us for sure. Your right arm is definitely broken but I can’t tell how bad yet. As soon as Nurse Kelly gets here we will go,” the doctor stated reassuringly.

As if on cue, another nurse, Kelly I presumed, walked in. “I will be taking Beverly down to x-ray now,” she said after introducing herself. Since she hadn’t looked at any chart, and was calling me Beverly, I knew that she had spoken to Nurse Amber. I wondered how quickly news of me was spreading through the ER. “Pam, you can come with us and wait in the waiting room there. Then we will take Beverly into another room as the doctor looks at the x-rays and decides further treatment. Sorry we can’t give you anything just yet for the pain, Beverly. But as soon as we can, I will get you something.”

I don’t know how long I was in x-ray as I somehow managed to sleep, or more likely pass out. I remember the pain as they moved my arms around. I don’t remember hearing the x-ray technician speak to me or comment to anyone about me. I think that perhaps he had been informed of me privately.

Soon I was being told that I was going to sit up so that I could be undressed and put into a hospital gown. Nurse Kelly asked another nurse, I never got her name, to help her. Once again I assumed she had been told about me because she didn’t act surprised during the undressing process by my change in apparent gender.

Pam was in the room with us and tried to keep things light by commenting on my sexy underwear. “Beverly, I had no idea that you were wearing such nice things to come visit me,” she joked as my sweater and skirt were removed, revealing the matching set of bra, panty, and garter belt.

“Looks like you won’t be wearing these stockings again,” she stated as she showed me the holes in the knees.

I don’t even know if I was able to blush at that point. I remembered that a few days earlier I was worrying about our upcoming Super Bowl party where I knew I was going to be appearing as Beverly in front of friends and family. Now I was in the hospital where doctors and nurses were seeing even more of me. And all I could do was lay there.

“I’m afraid we are going to have to remove your bra and breast forms,” Kelly gently informed me. At that point I didn’t care about keeping up appearance. “You can keep your panties on under the gown,” she smiled.

I don’t know how they were able to remove everything so gently without causing me great pain. But they were truly professional in all ways. Not once did I feel embarrassed by my appearance, even as Beverly was stripped away. As they were fastening the gown in back the doctor reappeared.

“As I thought, your right arm is broken just below the elbow. It is a clean break and will only require setting it, no surgery. The left arm is not broken, but you do have a pretty severe sprain. I will wrap it to keep it immobile. It will have to stay wrapped for two to three weeks so you will be pretty limited in what you will be able to do for awhile,” he informed us. “We can get you into an operating room in about 30 minutes, so we can get that arm set and put into a cast. I want to keep you overnight because you have had so much trauma. I just want to make sure everything else is alright. Kelly will tell you about getting you released tomorrow. Any questions?” he asked.

I shook my head no and he left. Kelly said that she would be back shortly and asked if I needed anything. Pam seemed to read my mine as she asked Kelly if she could bring us a pan of water and a wash cloth. She knew I wanted to get my make-up off and return to my male self.

“Don’t worry, Bev. I will stay with you tonight until you are ready to sleep,” Pam said as she washed away the make-up. “Then I will be here to take you home tomorrow. I think you should plan on staying with us until Linda gets back. Oh, and I will call Linda and tell her what happened as well. I will swing by your place in the morning and get you some clothes to wear home and at my place,” Pam reassured me.

Fortunately, the rest of the day and evening was pretty much a fog to me as I was put under while they set my arm, then I slept the rest of the afternoon and evening. I guess that is the body’s way of coping with trauma and stress. I was very thankful for it.

^ More to come ^

The Whats & Whys

I am sure you are all wondering what the hell happened to me and why haven’t I been updating my blog. The answer is that a lot has happened that has kept me from writing. I will address the ‘what’ first, then try to fill in details to the best of my ability.

I live in the Midwest, in Iowa in fact. And, as in much of the U.S. this  year, winter has not been kind to us… lots of snow and ice coupled with cold temperatures and wind. Not the most pleasant place to live this time of the year. On January 26^th I became a casualty of winter. I fell on the ice in my driveway, breaking my right arm. The break required setting the arm and applying a cast. I was fortunate that it did not require surgery as I went through that ordeal years ago on a broken leg. In this fall I also badly sprained my left wrist that required wrapping it in an elastic bandage. The accident left me without the use of my arms for over 2 weeks. I am now able to use my left arm limitedly. So I have not been to type until now. Even this update is taking an extremely long time as I try to type with my left hand. Did I mention that I am severely right handed as well?

Ok, now you know what happened and my reason for not blogging. Let me try to tell the story that has taken place since the fall as I know many of you have written asking about the Super Bowl details. Here goes…

As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, Linda started a new position at work right after the first of the year. This new position is a great promotion with lots of potential for advancement into upper management (as well as a hefty raise!!). We also knew that with the promotion came added responsibilities including frequent overnight and multiple days travel out of state. Linda has had only limited travel opportunities in the past so she was really looking forward to this part of the promotion.

Linda was leaving on a trip on that fateful morning of January 26 and wanted me to take her to the airport so she wouldn’t have to leave a car there. She was going to be gone for three days. Since I didn’t have much going on; work had slowed down for me and my housework was caught up; I had arranged to spend part of the day at my sister’s house enjoying a little sisterly ‘girl time’. Because of that, I had dressed in a pretty but simple skirt and sweater. My make-up was done to perfection and a new experimental styling of my hair had turned out great with a short and sassy spring to it. Meghan has been helping me let my hair grow out longer and it had finally grown  past my ears with full bangs, kind of a Meg Ryan look if you will. Linda was really pleased with my look as we grabbed our coats and headed out to the car.

I really hadn’t talked to her much about her trip and what it entailed, so during the drive she filled me in on details of what she was going to be doing and where she was going to be staying. She was headed to Atlanta to visit with an important company client that she would be responsible for. It was then that I learned that she was not traveling alone. A co-worker, Mike, would be showing her the ropes as he turned this client over to her. I didn’t know Mike so I asked Linda about him.

“Mike is 5 years older than me and has been with the company four years longer. He is very well thought of because he has been successful, is aggressive, confident, and very well respected by upper management. I am willing to bet that he will be the next VP and probably before the year is out,” she explained. I noticed that she was leaving out any physical details, but I didn’t want to pry so I remained quiet as she continued.

“Mike and I have had some friendly rivalries over a couple of clients last year. And he has won out each time. That is why our boss is send me out with him, so I can learn to be more like Mike, more aggressive I guess,” she said. “Maybe you will meet him someday. I think you would like him. Everyone does.”

Changing the subject, she turned to me as I drove and asked, “so what are your plans for these three days while I’m gone. Is Pam the only person you will be spending time with, or do you have a date planned?”

I knew (or hoped) she was teasing as I hadn’t even talked to any ‘guys’ lately, so of course I had no date plans. I began to wonder if she had planted any seeds that I wasn’t aware of .

“My only plans are to spend a few hours with Pam today and then just stay home. The weather report isn’t all that good over the next day or two so I don’t plan to venture out. Pam and I don’t really have anything planned for today either. She just asked me to come over for coffee and to chat as we haven’t hardly seen each other since Christmas,” I replied.

Upon arriving at the airport Linda told me what airline to drive to and that I didn’t need to get out of the car since she could handle her bag just fine. I was glad to hear that as I had not planned on getting out of the car at the airport at eight o’clock in the morning with hundreds of people walking by, not while I was dressed as Beverly. We talked about when she would be returning and me meeting her at the curb by baggage return. Just as she was about to lift her luggage out of the trunk I heard someone call out her name.

“Hey, Linda! Hi. Let me help you lift that out. Wow, did you pack for a month?”

A good looking guy in a grey turtleneck and black slacks was helping her with her bag. I guessed that it must be Mike. I remembered that Linda had avoided mentioning anything about his looks or physical details. And now I knew why. Can you picture  Matthew McConaughey in about 10 years? Can you say HUNK?? I was glad that I was behind the wheel so I didn’t have to face him. But just then Linda walked back up to the passenger’s side door and opened it.

“Beverly, say hi to my friend and co-worker, Mike,” she grinned. Oh, she can’t be doing this to me. But she was.

“Mike, this is Beverly,” she innocently introduced us. I suddenly realized that she hadn’t said ‘who’ I was, not husband or partner, just my name.

Mike leaned into the open door and reached his arm out to shake hands with me. I softly shook his hand as I noticed the powerful grip he had. He didn’t squeeze my hand so much as that I could just tell that there was a lot of strength there. He smiled warmly at me, then glanced at my legs as my skirt had ridden up quite high on my thigh as I leaned across the car. Then his eyes left my legs and returned to meet my eyes. I felt an uncontrolled shiver rush through me as he again smiled before releasing my hand and stepping back.

“I’ll see you Friday,” Linda said as she tried to act innocent about this impromptu meeting between her sissified husband and hunky co-worker.

“Linda, why don’t I just give you a ride home when we get back,” Mike offered. “That way Beverly doesn’t have to drive all the way out here and sit around waiting for you.”

Linda quickly agreed, leaned down to say goodbye to me as she blew me a kiss, then closed the door without giving me a chance to respond to all that had just taken place.

And with that, I was left alone with my thoughts. I wondered why Linda hadn’t told me about her co-worker being so good looking. I didn’t know if he was married (or even if that mattered to him). I hoped that their travels together would be few, maybe even just this once. I also remembered that Linda and I hadn’t been intimate for the past few weeks and she hadn’t been with Darryl or any man in a long time. I hoped she wasn’t feeling horny while heading off to another city hundreds of miles from me. A lot was going through my mind as I drove to my sister’s house.

Pam could tell something was bothering me as she opened her door to let me in. We spent the next hour with me telling her about meeting Mike as well as my thoughts and fears. She tried to assure me that I had nothing to worry about, but I could tell that there was uncertainty in her voice.

I spent three hours with Pam, just two sisters chatting away. It was really great and I appreciated a closeness with her now that I never had growing up as her brother. We could talk about so many things so easily, and nothing was off limits with us. We talked about clothes, movies, sex, guys, sex… well, you get the idea. I never thought I would share intimate details with my sister. But, after all, she had seen my wife naked in front of another man while I was serving them. And she had assisted in spanking me that day. It doesn’t get more intimate then that.

As she got up to check on something she was fixing for dinner, I looked out the window and realized that it was snowing pretty heavily.

“I think maybe I should be going as it is really coming down out there,” I explained. We hugged each other in a very warm embrace, exchanged our ‘I love you’, and I headed home, having no idea of what awaited me and the changes that were about to be thrust upon me.

This is a good place to stop for now as this has taken me several hours to type. A lot more to come. I hope you will stop back.