« Katamari Damacy: Tetris 2004? | Main | Week 6 Is Habit Forming »
April 20, 2005
I wasn't even on the clock...
D., as told to Rock Heals
So, I’m walking to my car and this homeless guy on the street stops me -- Hey, are you a doctor? (I was wearing my EMT shirt.)
Well, no. Not --
He didn’t really register what all I was saying -- he was onto his next sentence before I’d answered -- Can you look at something for me?
He was already bending down a little -- then he pulls his pant leg up and... Christ!
His leg was black. Not gangrene -- beyond that. (Ed note: don’t type “gangrene” into Google Images.) But more than anything it stank. I mean stank. It had gone through infection, through early gangrene with all its beautiful colors, through later gangrene where things turn chalky white, through gross, to just DEAD. I’ve seen things, but never have I smelled anything like this.
I tried to keep the all-pro face -- but it was clear that I was disgusted. I reflexively turned away with my hand over my nose and mouth.
After a moment passed, I was back and started asking him how it happened (heroin addict, injecting into a vein, vein collapses, keeps on injecting into the developing sore, straight up WRONG -- I’m piecing that together from a mess of an explanation), how long it was like this (2 weeks in that condition -- so it’d been dying for like a month), did it hurt (yeah, and it was “a little bit squishy”) and so on.
He asked me if it would go away. Now, mind you, this wasn’t going away. What was going away was his leg up to the knee. But this guy was straight-out thug and I wasn’t about to give him the good news.
Man you gotta see a doctor about that. And I’m just a student. You should go to the hospital and get that looked at right away.
We were walking along and happened upon some cops at this point, who more or less took over the situation and got the guy out of there.
Crazy.
POSTSCRIPT, three weeks later: I see the dude hanging out on the street, no leg to the knee and out-of-his-mind high.
Also in Week 6
Katamari Damacy: Tetris 2004? (a review)
Previously on Rock Heals
Week 5: Yankees In Last! (But so are the Sox) with a short play from Brian Calandra and a recipe
Week 4: Perdue, the Pope and Bellows. Oh my! with 911 Diaries, Mike Grau, and music from M_GP
Week 3 Waits Patiently for Spring Weather with a comic from John Shanchuk
Week 2 In the Time or Rock Heals with poetry from Justin Sirois; and
Week 1 Where it All Began with poetry from Mark Wallace
Posted by Rock Heals at April 20, 2005 12:20 AM
