Our little family had a pair of shoes to return to the local Nordstrom, and opted to go to Southcenter because there was another store in the area we wanted to visit.
We seldom go to that location because there have been incidents in the past of "problem solving by gunshots" and we're just not into that.
After the shoes were returned, we opted to make a loop thru the mall to see if there were any interesting stores. It's still the pandemic and we haven't been anywhere in a while. We picked up a cute custom shirt for the peanut and she bought an art piece from a vendor. We decided to stop in one last store for summer clothes and Jason said he would meet us back at Nordstrom. He went in search of a nice loo.
After finishing up at the short/cheapo summer shirt store Lucy and I were walking towards Nordstrom when we heard the gun shot. We stopped, then heard a second and saw people running. My childhood training of "walk don't run" failed to come back to me because my instinct was to grab that kid and RUN.
We made it to the door of the Nordstrom, but I'm not a runner and when my feet hit the marble of the store doorway, down I went. I dislocated my shoulder in the process, and broke the humorous. This took x-rays at the ER to confirm, but I was acutely aware that I was hurt. During the fall my purse went flying but my phone was in my line of sight and I was able to scoop it up and drop it in one of the shopping bags.
The really terrible thing was that Lucy and I got separated and she ended up outside the store with strangers, but without her mom or her dad. These folks had no idea why the store was evacuated and a kind woman let Lucy borrow her phone so she could call her dad.
I was ushered thru the store via the back hallways to the same door that Lucy exited and was there pretty quickly. Then, as I fished my phone from the shopping bag, I see the text from Jason. "They are evacuating Nordstrom, see you at the car." Clearly, the folks inside the Nordies did NOT know what had happened, which I guess is good. The fewer people running and panicking the better.
Jason thankfully had a set of car keys and kept his cool while he drove a very upset Lucy and a hurt TPgal to the ER. We opted to go to the one near our house vs. the one near the mall. I knew I wasn't in a life threatening situation, so I didn't want to be the least hurt person at the nearest ER. I had no idea how many people might have been hurt. It was a long drive with me doing lots of breathing to meditate the pain away.
It's been 13 days and I'm still in a sling. The bruise from the dislocation is rather epic (below) and the doc says that it's expected. Sleeping is getting easier but it hurts.
I see the orthopedist again on the 25th and start physical therapy that week. He says it's almost a mirror image of the break from 2019. He finds that funny, but the only comfort I take is that that break healed without surgery and other than minor stiffness when I try to hold my arm straight up it feels 100%. This break is on my non-dominant arm, which makes life easer this go-round, but he said that rehab will be harder because of that, and because of the dislocation complication.
As for Lucy, we are seeing a therapist to talk about the scary thing that happened to us and she's open to those conversations. She needs to be able to go back to a mall without it being frightening.
So, that's where we are. I'm purple & gold, Lucy hates shopping even more than she did before and Jason is doing all the cooking and cleaning. The Nordies people found my purse and Jason was able to pick it up the next day. I'm still updating the automated credit card payments for the card that was cancelled.
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| 8 days out |
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| 13 days |
