A Scary Phone Call

I’ve been dreading a phone call like this ever since Wade started cycling last year.

It’s Saturday morning. I’m at home getting ready for my productive day of errands when the phone rings and I notice it’s Wade’s cell phone. Here’s what I hear:

Loud outside background noise and commotion.

Female voice: Who am I calling?

Wade (in the background): My wife.

Female voice: Mrs. Strzinek, this is a student nurse. Your husband has been in a bike accident. He’s OK, just really scratched and banged up and might have a head, leg, or hip injury. We’re loading him into an ambulance and figuring out what hospital to take him to. Here he is.

Wade: Babe, I’m OK. Just call my dad (who’s a doctor) and meet me at the ER.

CLICK.

So, as I’m about to get sick with panic. I realize I have no idea where he is or where he’s going. This probably ranks in my Top 10 lifetime moments of panic.

Long story short…I got a hold of the nurse again to find out the ambulance was headed to Baylor Dallas. So, the following frantic hour drive to the hospital ranks as another Top 10 moment of panic as my mind starts thinking of every horrible scenario possible (from a broken leg or hip to internal bleeding). Why do we do that to ourselves????

I arrived at the hospital to find Wade in a neck brace and on an X-ray machine stretcher. I was a little relieved when the first thing he said to me (with a smile) was “Are you mad at me?” Realizing it wasn’t life-threatening, I said, “We’ll see after we know how this all turns out.” :)

After a few hours in the ER, we received great news that nothing was broken. Wade has a pretty huge and intense road rash and bruising all along the right side of his body. He said the part where the nurse had to clean it out hurt almost more than the accident. But, we are SO thankful that it is something that’s not permanent and will heal.

I have to give him credit. This wasn’t from cycling at crazy speeds or doing anything dumb (although in my opinion, the entire sport is a tad crazy). He unfortunately was going through an intersection and hit an oil patch in the road. He said it was like hitting ice all of a sudden. The people who saw the accident said his bike went right out from under him, and he slid almost 20 feet along the road.

Not to be too melodramatic, but I know that it could’ve been so much worse. So to answer his first question am I mad…as of today, not mad, just so thankful he’s going to be OK.

We’ll see if that changes in a couple more days. :)