Bridal Show Debacle with a Trip to the ER

I'm normally not one for events that require hundreds of people (especially women) to be shoved into a space, barely tip toeing through the crowd just to look at "stuff".  After Sunday afternoon, I'm especially not a fan.

All this wedding hub bub got me thinking that I should just check out the local bridal show.  I decided last minute to venture to the Oklahoma Bridal show this past Sunday afternoon.  My plan was like how I handle shopping...with a purpose.  Look and leave as quickly as possible.

Three other girlfriends and I met at the show and very slowly and barely got through the crowd of wedding crazy hungry brides.  I thought the space would be bigger and have more vendors, but it was really cramped.  All the people walking around made it really difficult to get to each vendor even if you did want to retrieve some detailed information...except Lindi.  My friend Lindi is already married but we lost her in the crowd to EVERY vendor that had any free food or drink available.  She always managed to get through the crowd for free food.  The great thing was that if you could get through to the vendor, most of them offered up discounts for attending the show.  Me loves discounts.

So, after a full one and half hours of nothing but wedding stuff, my friends and I were ready to ditch the crowd.  We exited the building and stood outside and started talking since we could hear each other finally.  We were standing to the side of the entrance trying to stay out of the way of people entering and exiting the event and trying to also stay out of the street.

In the midst of conversation, a woman working the event came up to us and suggested we move over a bit because she was afraid the 15 ft tall steel metal contraption holding the bridal show sign located not too far from us would blow over. 

This is the metal sign contraption that fell over on us. 
This picture was taken as we left and
they had already started to take it down.

So we did.  We scooted over.

but not enough...

About 10 or so minutes later, my friend Kristen started screaming to watch out and my other friend, Lindi  grabbed me to pull me toward her.

All I felt was a huge hard thump on my left upper back area.  I was so startled and didn't know what had happened.  I looked over to my right and my other friend, Bridget, was on the ground with the huge sign laying on top of her!

I instantly ran to her and attempted to lift the sign enough to scoot it off of her.  She laid there for a moment stunned and then she finally sat up.  Her elbow was bleeding and she was holding her head.  The sign had hit her in the head and knocked her to the ground. 

At this point, there were many other people who had seen what happened and the event and hotel staff were all there trying to help.  We were all really concerned about Bridget since the stupid sign fell on her head.  We had to fill out paperwork and Bridget got doctored-up by a staff member.  The bridal show and hotel staff were all very helpful and sympathetic, which helped.  They urged for Bridget to go to the ER.

So we did.  Another friend, Lindi, toted us to the ER, where we both got checked out just in case.  Some of the nurses couldn't help but laugh when we tried to explain what happened.  I don't blame them. 

Nurse:  "Hi, Mam.  How can we help you today?"
Us:  "ummmm, we were at the bridal show across the street, and a 15 ft steel metal sign thingy fell on top of us."

chirp
chirp

Nurse:  giggle giggle
Long story short, although Bridget was pretty beat up, the ER doc prescribed us both some muscle relaxers and sent us on our way.

After I got home, I finally got a chance to get a look at my back.  When I took off my shirt and barely turned to look at my back, I could instantly see the big bump on my left shoulder blade area.  It was gross looking.  I knew my left side had gradually started to hurt more and more, but I didn't think I'd have something growing out of it! 

My muscle contusion.  ew.

That night, my left arm and fingers started to tingle.  The sensation was the equivalent of a limb waking up from being asleep for a few minutes and it feels like needles are poking around the area.  I ignored it for then, but the feeling was still there when I woke the next morning.  I waited until I got to work to see if the tingling feeling would subside.  It didn't.  So, I called my primary care Dr. and made an appt for that afternoon.

The Dr. said I do have muscle contusion right in the left shoulder area where some main nerves are located.  But nothing serious it seems since I have full function of my arm and hands.  He does predict that the tingling feeling will probably not go away for about 2 weeks.  awesome, right?  He said the muscle relaxers probably won't do any good and prescribed some anti-inflammatory instead.  I have yet to take any of it.  I'm not much for drugs...especially muscle relaxers.  I might give in to the anti-inflammatory though.  :(

So, today, I still have a little bit of tingling in my left hand.  My back keeps bothering me, though. My neck and lower back have started to bother me.  Nothing major I don't think.  I'm hoping I'll probably just need to get a really good massage once the soreness and bruising go away  from my "muscle contusion".  lol.

I checked with Bridget yesterday morning and she said she was sore.  Her head was obviously sore and so was her leg.  But she's such a trooper and still got up and went to work yesterday!



Bridget being a good sport while being doctored up by the event staff.


So, we're all good in the hood.  Throughout the whole ordeal, we couldn't help but laugh.  I mean, who goes to a bridal show and has the huge bridal show sign fall on them?!!  We do!  I've been friends with these girls for a long time and through all our adventures, which include rocking climbing, running, and traveling across the US and in different countries, we come home unscathed...but go to a local bridal show and we end up in the ER!

Some people have joked that I should get a free wedding out of this, but I'm happy with just having them pay for the ER visit and moving on with our lives.  I mean, I wouldn't object if the Bridal Show people so kindly offered up some kind of awesome deal...but I won't go asking or expecting.  cough. cough. eh hem. eh. hem.

One of the reasons we couldn't help but look at the bright side was that we were ironically grateful it hit Bridget and me rather than our friend Kristen who happens to be 3 months pregnant.  That would have been bad news bears for sure.  So we joked that Bridget took one for the team.  I guess we're kinda glass half full people.

But we probably won't be going to anymore bridal shows.

Keep on Keepin on.