When it rains…

If you’ve been following my Twitter feed or Facebook, you might know I was hoping to get to the doctor today.  I hardly slept last night due to sinus issues – apparently I have some kind of an infection, and it was actually quite painful.

But I called the doctor throughout the morning and couldn’t catch anyone in to make an appointment.  I tried again after our sessions were done for the day – but nobody was there.

So I decided to go to the store to see what I could find that would tide me over until Monday (I got something – we’ll see how it works…).  I also picked up some things for our Sunday meal at the church tomorrow.

I was getting gas and just about home.  On the highway to my right, a vehicle rammed into a motorcycle with two passengers.  The two went flying, and I thought that was the end of that.  The vehicle that hit them didn’t stop for a moment, but flew on down the highway (yes, someone got the license plate number).

Thankfully, they weren’t killed (in spite of the fact that, as is usual, they were wearing no helmets).  I didn’t run over immediately, because there were quite a few people around.  I watched to see how they were (they were hurting, but more on that in a moment).  It didn’t seem like anyone was checking them out too carefully.  The police truck came, stopped momentarily for information, and then sped off to catch the vehicle (I have a feeling they were too late, but who knows…).

My gas tank was filled by this time, and the situation changed slightly – it was raining a bit.  One man was lying in the middle of the highway, and the other sitting by his side.  I grabbed the emergency pack from our van (thanks, Petro Points), and pulled out a blanket.

We covered the one man, and I checked them out a bit and asked how they were doing.  The one man claimed to be fine (other than some scrapes), although I hope they check him out more later because I’m not so sure.  The other man seemed fine, except for a very sore leg (most likely broken).  But they were stable.

So, I helped direct traffic for a bit, since we were still in the middle of the highway (it’s been a while since I’ve done that – I have renewed respect for police who do it well!).  Then the rain really started to come down, so I pulled out a – what do you call it?  One of those hypothermia blankets.  And we held that over the guys to keep them dry.

Finally the ambulance showed up, and got a splint onto the man’s leg (poor guy – it was pretty painful), and put him on the stretcher.  We did our best to keep the rain off of them.

Someone got the motorcycle off the road and I think they were working on the two men in the ambulance for a while, because they hadn’t gone anywhere when I last saw them.

Here motorcycles weave in and out – usually fairly carefully – but usually without helmets – and sometimes recklessly.  Almost hitting one is, I’m afraid, a very common occurrence for all of us.  Thank God He has kept us safe, and thank God that this accident wasn’t worse than it was.

I got home, and dried off.  Praying for those involved.  Reminded again that life is fragile.