How to feel like a space case

[annathepiper]

You want to know how to feel like a space case?

Make an appointment to pick up stuff from a cop at the local police station, and then absolutely and utterly forget to do it until you find said cop's voice mail an hour after the fact on your cell phone. Call non-emergency dispatch number to convey message to said cop, apologize profusely, and agree to offer to come get stuff an hour after the fact. Show up as requested, only to get honked at by passing vehicle in the corner closest to the cop station, and pull into the parking lot praying that the three deputies standing outside waiting for you with the bike and backpack aren't about to chastise you for your driving.

(Which they didn't, thankfully, otherwise I would have had a small heart attack on the spot. But I mean, damn. And I was nervous, too, about how we wound up having to stuff the bike into the trunk and hold it sort of shut with the bungee cords from the back of the bike. Which also meant that I couldn't see jack out my back window. I made a point of asking for a confirmation about whether this was going to be a traffic problem, and the deputy who helped me get the bike into the car said that as long as I was only driving to Uplake and his partner didn't see me and stop me, he was cool. So.)

Anyway. I have Dara's bike and backpack now, and now that I've seen the bike, I can see what the cops were saying in terms of "didn't sustain damage consistent with being struck by a vehicle". Apparently what looked like a badly bent back wheel to me at the time of the accident must have been a) me freaking, and b) the bike lying all weird and bent, because now that I've had a look at it in a saner frame of mind, the frame and wheels look more or less okay. I am informed by said cops that the only damage it seems to have sustained is to the brakes and that the back tire is now flat. I suppose this is a tiny bit of reassurance in that we will not have to get Dara a brand new bike. (Though honestly, I won't blame her if she wants to scrap-heap this one.)

Meanwhile, Dara herself remains on the breathing tube as of my leaving the hospital this evening. She had a breathing trial this morning, which went more or less okay although she wound up having to work at the breathing towards the end of it. It is my understanding that there should be another breathing trial tomorrow, but the nurse sounded dubious about the possibility of her coming off the tube tomorrow. We'll just have to see what happens.

I had the day shift by myself while spazzkat took a much-deserved and much-needed break, and I will be doing the same again tomorrow. It has helped today that I finally got to the point of deciding "okay, as long as I'm going to be here and Dara is asleep and stable, I am damn well going to get some writing done", so I worked a lot on editing while I was hanging out in the ICU. I expect this will also help get me through tomorrow and Sunday. How next week and my next round of updating the boss as to why I am not at work is going to go remains to be seen.

Much love and thanks to waysofseeing, mamishka, and sksouth for showing up and providing conversation, snackies, and hugs. Thank you all.