Time To Blog

Yesterday evening, I returned home from a nearly 6-day stay in the hospital after having been shot in the chest while attempting to obtain Chinese take out at China Dragon , on Broadway and Hancock in Louisville, KY.

For the next couple of weeks, as I recover, I won’t be able to get around too well. So, in my restlessness, I’ve decided to start a blog to document the recovery process, reflect on the event that will almost certainly have a significant, lasting impact on my life, and to express deep gratitude towards all of the people who have stepped up to support me and my family.

It probably makes sense to start by recounting the events on the evening of November 3, 2009:

Earlier in the day, my wife phoned me at work to suggest that I pick up Chinese food for her later that evening. She was studying for medical school block exams and was feeling too stressed to leave the house. Only a couple of days earlier, I had received a text from a friend suggesting that I try the newly re-opened Cafe Mimosa. However, fearing that the restaurant could very easily spontaneously combust, I decided to play it safe and try China Dragon. After having lived around the corner from China Dragon for two years, I had always meant to try it and thought that this would be a good occasion.

I arrived at China Dragon ~ 9:15pm. The sign on the door stated that the dining room closed at 9:30, so I decided to place my order at the counter instead of using the drive-through window. This was likely a poor decision, but the outcome may have been just a grim had I been a sitting duck in my car. In any case, I looked over the menu and place my order: 1) Beef with vegetables and 1) Chicken with broccoli and an order of crab rangoons as the wife had requested. The kind woman at the counter commented that I appeared unfamiliar and asked if I was a new customer. She politely switched out white rice for the included fried rice and sent me away with a smile.

While I had been sitting and waiting for my order, I noticed two young men pass by on the sidewalk on the west side of parking lot. I didn’t think anything of it, but did note it. Upon stepping out in the to parking lot, I noticed these same two young men in the southwest corner of the parking lot standing near the dumpster. Before I could get to my car though, the two started running towards me. They were both yelling something to the effect of “give me everything”. I immediately noticed that one of the two had a gun trained on me. As they got closer, between 5-10 feet from me, I could see that they were visibly agitated. Their tone of voice was angry and they were yelling to me to give them my wallet, my car keys, everything. I told them that I only had a debit card and some Chinese food. At this point, the young man on my right, had his gun pointed gangster style at my chest and was becoming more upset. Clearly, something I had done had greatly upset them. I was stunned and do not remember exactly what I said. I do remember reaching into my coat, presumably to retrieve my wallet. I was not armed (as I do not own weapons other than kitchen knives), however, I believe the other unarmed gentlemen yelled something to the effect of “he’s going for a gun”. I could be completely wrong about that bit, as it all happened so quickly, but whatever I did at that point seemed to result in the armed man firing his gun.

Upon first seeing the two fellows coming towards me, I experienced a deep sense of forboding. However, upon noticing the weapon, it looked pretty puny. In fact, I told the responding officer that I thought it might have even been a starter’s pistol. Nevertheless, as they ran towards me, I knew that no good was going to come of the experience. I can’t say with absolute confidence that I knew I was going to get shot, but it certainly crossed my mind. And sort of hung heavy in the fore of my consciousness for the next several moments.

Getting shot was surreal. The bullet hit between my right nipple and armpit. I believe I turned my body away from the shooter right as he discharged the weapon. The impact felt like an extremely tight punch to the chest. I certainly felt an incredible burst of energy as it hit me. It knocked me back a few steps, but I don’t remember feeling an intense burning sensation, nor do I recall feeling the bullet tear through my chest. In fact, I couldn’t find the bullet wound at all initially.

After having fired, the two gentleman ran south towards Finzer St. While I may have run after them under different circumstances, I did not fancy getting shot again. Shocked, I turned towards the restaurant doors and noticed the 3 employees standing inside the doorway looking somewhat startled. I walked towards the door and asked them to let me in. I told them that I thought I had been shot and asked them to call the police. At this point, I was beginning to feel feverish and weak. I laid down on the floor between the doors and started to drift off. One of the employees woke me up and encouraged me to move to the chairs at which I had been sitting waiting for my food. Once laying across that bank of chairs I started to drift off again. I had convinced myself, at one point, that this was just a dream. However, after waking up laying across a row of chairs at a Chinese takeout restaurant, I knew something was off.

By this time, my right lung had collapsed as the bullet had hit it pretty directly. Unbeknownst to me, my other lung was filling with blood as the bullet had also knicked my heart, causing it bleed into my chest. Still, I tried to remain alert. At the time, I thought it was really only a minor injury. When the police officer arrived, I attempted to provide a full description of the two fellows who had ruined my night. I told the officer that I didn’t think the gun was even real and that, even if it was, it seemed pretty small and cheap. By this time, I had found a bullet wound though. Had I been more lucid, I would have noticed that it appeared to have entered going across my chest from the right to the left. I tried to stand, but the officer encouraged me to lay dow and wait for EMS. I asked him to call my wife and gave him her number. He was supportive and kind, as were the people working at China Dragon. Never before, had I been so relived the see police officers.

I’m not sure when the ambulance arrived, but by then, I was fading pretty quickly. The two women with EMS asked me some questions and encouraged me to stay conscious. I don’t think that they were fully aware of the extent of my injuries at the time, but they must have noticed my vital signs plummeting.

When I got the ER, I had pretty much lost my vision. Someone asked me my name and social security number. The responding officer, who had already gone to retrieve my wife, appeared to let me know that my wife was in the waiting room. At this point, I began to experience some of the most excruciating pain of my life. Since I likely hadn’t been breathing too effectively for minutes, I believe the trauma team was forced to cut tubes into my chest to drain the blood. They also inserted a catheter, and I believe, a main line in my groin area somewhere. The last thing I remember was groaning in intense pain. Then, nothing.

When I came to next, I was in the ICU, still groaning; though now, I was groaning for morhphine. Not sure how I knew that morphine was what I needed it, but I was begging for it. My requests were satisfied. I remember my family being there. I remember my wife seeming inexplicably ecstatic. Over the next 12 hours, I was still pretty stoned, but I remember a parade of loved ones appearing by my side. I felt strangely serene and happy. It probably had a lot to do with the drugs, but I had a distinct feeling of contentment that I don’t remember ever having experienced before. It was like I had always expected to feel on Christmas morning as a child, but without the stupid, selfish disappointment of not having received that one transformer or that completely unrealistic-because-it-hadn’t-been-invented-yet helicycle. I remember feeling that things had changed.

So, clearly, my injuries were more severe than I had originally thought. After assuring my wife that I was going to be fine, I believe the responding officer went back to his duties. Unfortunately, I had fooled him. I wasn’t so okay. Expecting to see me shortly after arriving at the ER, my wife grew increasingly concerned as she heard nothing from the hospital and as a parade of surgeons seems to flood into the ER. The first word she and my parents heard, shocked them profoundly: I was in a critical condition and they should prepare for the worst. My wife was inconsolable. Her despair was such that others in the waiting room were moved to tears of sympathy. I’m really, really glad I was not there to witness that. I really can’t imagine such an awful update. Hours passed before another update was provided. My family noticed one surgeon after another trickling out. They took this as a good sign, as they were not prepared for the alternative. Finally, after, what must have seemed like days, the responding heart surgeon emerged to tell them that I had been stabilized. The ER trauma team had stabilized me by draining the blood from chest cavity and re-inflating my lung. However, not aware of the extent of my injuries and fearing irreparable damage to my heart, they sent me to surgery.

In surgery, I was treated to a sternotomy and thoracotomy, the routine means of access in open-heart surgeries. Fortunately, having been knocked-out, paralyzed and having had my body temperature dropped, I don’t remember any this. I had tubes place on the sides of rib cage and a y-tube in the middle of my chest. After having opened me up, the surgeons found that the bullet had only grazed my left ventricle. My heart had already clotted. After having hit and collapsed my right lung, the bullet came to the rest beneath (or perhaps in or just outside of) my left lung. It turns out that the ER trauma team, in stabilizing me, had saved my life. I am deeply grateful to everyone I encountered that evening (with two notable exceptions). From the responsive employees of China Dragon (who could have kept their doors locked and hid in fear of being shot themselves), to the supportive responding officer, to the EMS responders to the trauma team, everyone played a necessary role in saving my life. I was extremely lucky and hope to repay all of those people in some way.

That about does it for the first post. I’m sure I’m leaving things out. I’ll add more details as time goes on. Thanks for reading and thanks for supporting me.

Tags: shooting