The Seat Belt
The Laugh
My teenaged daughter has a chronic illness (PoTS) and she requires weekly IVIG infusions usually done on the weekend at the hospital. She has a Port where the IV goes in and we were having a rough morning, she could not find the numbing cream for her Port and it is very painful when the IV is attached, so we were feeling very stressed and there were some tears.
We live in a rural area and the hospital is a 30-minute highway drive from where we live. We head off to the hospital in a typical Canadian winter ice storm. I drive white-knuckled the whole way.
We decided it would be best to drop my daughter off at the front door as the ice was atrocious in the parking lot. So, I pull up to the drop-off area near the entrance, get her power wheelchair out of the back of our van and get her ready to go. She enters the hospital and I pull away from the door to find a parking spot; the parking lot was full. I finally find a spot, put the van in park. I take a big breath to ground myself. I am feeling heavy in the heart as we have five hours of infusion ahead of us.
I unbuckle my seatbelt and jump out of the van, not paying attention to the ice below. My feet come out from under me, my purse gets tangled in the seatbelt and I end up literally hanging out of the driver’s door by my purse and the seatbelt. Every time I try to get up my feet slide out from under me as it appears that I parked on a one-inch thick slab of ice . What is a woman to do?? Finally, after ten minutes of struggling against the ice, my seatbelt, and my purse I manage to flip myself out of my jacket and get untangled.
I check myself over making sure nothing is dislocated. I do my best to try and collect what pride I have left and proceed to walk into the hospital to meet up with my daughter. The attending nurse says, “Jen you look like you were in a fight!!” I responded with “Yes I was - didn’t you see the seatbelt kick my a** in the parking lot??? ”
The Lesson
No matter how frustrated and stressed you are, check your surroundings , take a breath and take your time. Even when in a hurry, it is best that we leave our vehicles slowly and with awareness of our surroundings
From time to time, sh_t like this happens to all of us. If you see someone doing battle with their jacket/seatbelt/purse, help them get untangled, check that they aren’t hurt and then share the laugh with them
The Iteration (i.e., how to make it better next time)
There are specific strategies one can take to safely walk on ice including walking like a penguin and wearing shoes or boots with large treads and raised patterns. For solid guide for walking on slippery surfaces check out these notes from the Huffington Post
When seeking parking spots in the winter, if it is possible, park in areas that are cleared of snow and ice or areas where you can see ice and therefore take steps to walk around it or adjust your approach to walk safely on and over it